PCS Second Stage’s The Thanksgiving Play Serves Us Comedy, Crisis, and Cultural Blind Spots

by Meg Bryan

Being politically correct is incredibly important to our society, especially in this day and age where cancel culture runs rampant. When it comes to being politically correct, the line between acting with pure intentions and acting “performative” is extremely thin. In many cases, those who are acting with good intent come off as performative allyship, making that line even harder to discern. The Thanksgiving Play by Larissa FastHorse is a satirical comedy where four well-meaning white theater artists navigate this exact conflict when trying to craft an educational play that encompasses the celebration of the first Thanksgiving while also being mindful of Native American Heritage Month. As Director Natalie Payán states in her program note, this play “offers a front-row seat to conversations that are all too familiar in white-dominated spaces”, showing us how this troupe of characters’ intense desire to be politically correct and not upset anyone with their statements and actions “outweighs the desire to actually listen, change, or take risks”. These conversations are important to draw attention to, so that we as white people can make a concerted effort to take actions that are genuinely helpful instead of hyperfocusing on surface level correctness.

The set, designed by Floyd Walston and constructed by Walston and cast member Dan Jankauskus, places us in a school classroom, decorated colorfully by assorted educational materials, motivational posters, and theater memorabilia on the walls. The teacher’s desk was cluttered with books and various classroom tools, supplied by Props Designer Mark Plaugher. Additionally, there was a TV off to the very right side of the stage area displaying open captions during the show. The audience was informed by a member of house staff that this as the first time this accessibility tool has been used by PCS, using this past weekend was a trial period for the captions. While some slight mishaps made the screen distracting at times, it was a very nice touch and made me happy to see more theaters incorporating tools to make theater more accessible. The music and sound cues, designed by Marcus Dominguez, fit their respective scenes perfectly, supporting the actions of the cast and never feeling distracting. Lighting cues, designed by Daniel del Busto, were fairly minimal as most of the story took place in a classroom, but the changes felt natural when they occurred. Scene changes were also minimal as most movement of furniture was done by the cast as a part of the story, but the show ran incredibly smoothly with no awkward pauses in blackouts which is in no small part thanks to Stage Manager Hope Smalley (and Rehearsal Stage Manager Jalina Wayser). Payán’s direction utilized every inch of the space, keeping the audience’s attention with exaggerated movements and travelling that is clear and purposeful. I especially enjoyed the choice to have the “entrance” to the classroom be placed in the center aisle of the audience. The Second Stage space is already quite intimate, but having the actors actually travel through the audience helped us to feel even more a part of the story.

The cast was magnetic from the very first scene where we see drama teacher Logan (Taylor Kellar) and her yoga instructor boyfriend Jaxton (Nolan Maher) setting up the classroom for their first meeting about their “devised” Thanksgiving play. We learn through their conversation of Logan’s strained relationship with Thanksgiving as a loud and proud vegan, Jaxton’s side profession as a street performer, and the existence of a petition to get Logan fired from her job. Knowing of the petition helps us understand exactly how much is riding on Logan producing a successful educational play. They are joined by elementary history teacher and aspiring playwright Caden (Ethan Goonewardene), acting as the group’s history specialist to assist in realistically portraying a Thanksgiving celebration. The final addition to the group is Los Angeles based professional actress Alicia (Amelia (Lee) Talbot), whom Logan hired with earned grant money with the intent of highlighting a Native American voice in her production. Unfortunately for her, it turns out that Alicia is not actually Native American, only sometimes portraying Native American characters. After this discovery, the team scramble to devise a historically accurate, culturally sensitive, and school appropriate Thanksgiving play, discovering how little they actually understand about what genuine activism, as opposed to the performative alternative, looks like. In between scenes, the school ensemble (Dan Jankauskas, Ellie Knickman, Michaela Morgan, Jeffrey Perkins, Autumn Scouten, Micah Wagman, Tabbie Wismer, Sharon S Yun) takes the stage as students of multiple different ages to portray some problematic Thanksgiving themed educational songs. These excerpts are, as FastHorse states in the script, “sadly inspired by the internet, mostly current teachers’ Pinterest boards”. Choreographer Jessi Dominguez does an exceptional job of putting movement to these song excerpts, and I especially enjoyed the music choices for these songs given to us by Marcus Dominguez.

Kellar’s performance as Logan is stellar and ever-captivating. Her comedic timing was sharp, unapologetically leaning into the absurdity of the character’s dialogue. She brought a consistent frantic energy to Logan that made her entire performance electric, from the spiraling monologues caused by insecurity to the sudden emotional outbursts. Her dynamic with the rest of the troupe was effortless, especially in moments where Logan attempts to maintain a position of authority among the group. It can be easy to make a character written this way into a caricature, but Kellar toes that line expertly, painting Logan as an extremely familiar figure in many white-dominated arts spaces. Another wonderful tightrope walk of this line comes from Maher’s portrayal of Jaxton, revealing a character that wholeheartedly believes he’s doing and saying the right things even when he very clearly is not. His oblivious confidence is hilarious to watch, especially the small moments of acting competition with Alicia. Maher did an exceptional job of showcasing Jaxton’s rollercoaster of a personality through his contradictory statements and actions, showcasing the “holier than thou” attitude many of these types of social justice warriors display.

Talbot is a comedic highlight as the eccentric Alicia. Their physicality and vocal inflections lend beautifully to the character’s quirks, completely believable throughout as the conceited actress stereotype. They move with a sultry confidence and speak with sincerity, making them all the more eye-catching to the audience and, apparently, to the other characters within their group, shown by the moments when Alicia shamelessly flirts with Caden and sometimes Jaxton, much to Logan’s dismay. As Caden, Goonewardene takes on the “straight man” role for the majority of this comedy, but rest assured that is not all encompassing of his story. He shows us multitudes to the character, from the nerdy information dumps whenever another character misses a historical detail to his awkward attempts at theater improvisation. His tentative yet passionate mannerisms serve as an engaging difference to the ridiculousness of his three companions. The school ensemble brings a new kind of electricity to the stage each time they entered, embodying the chaos and unpredictability of a school group presentation. They move as a unit, successfully illustrating the mannerisms of school children from elementary students fighting for the spotlight to middle or high school age kids working together to rebel against the school administration with their outlandish artistic choices.

Costumes, hair, and make-up for this production were done by Autumn Scouten who is also a part of the school ensemble. Her choices, from Logan and Jaxton’s hippie inspired fashion to Caden’s sweater vested school teacher look and Alicia’s form fitting ensemble accented with a bright red, made each character beautifully individualistic as well as visually representing their own distinct personality. Her work with the school ensemble also translated wonderfully, making the group look cohesive but not identical. Fight/Intimacy Director Sean McGarry along with Fight/Intimacy Captain Amelia (Lee) Talbot clearly did incredible work with this cast as a whole, seeing as how the moments of physical conflict both within the main troupe and the school ensemble felt natural. There was no moment of fight or intimacy that felt forced or uncertain which is very telling of how comfortable the cast felt working with one another.

This production was equally hilarious as it was eye-opening. While stories like this can be difficult to watch for some, that only proves how important it is to tell them. Whether you have a chance to see this show or not, I ask you to take a moment to reflect on what you do or can do to truly be an activist in your community. PCS makes a clear effort to do so themselves, including a land acknowledgment in their preshow speech as well as the inclusion of open captioning. Actions such as these bring to light the worthwhile kind of activism we should all take on. Contrary to Jaxton’s closing remarks in the show, we will not be a part of the solution if we choose to do nothing at all. The Thanksgiving Play runs now through Saturday November 29th, you can purchase tickets here: https://ci.ovationtix.com/117/production/1238681