"The Thanksgiving Play" is on stage at Steppenwolf Theatre
CHICAGO (CBS) — Thanksgiving was never like this.
In a satiric comedy, Steppenwolf Theatre is serving up a hilarious way to re-examine the holiday.
2's Got Your Ticket to "The Thanksgiving Play" and a conversation with the production's playwright.
It's a wickedly funny send-up of political correctness that's also a myth-busting examination of the holiday's backstory.
A troupe of well-intentioned educators and actors try to stage a woke-to-the-max Thanksgiving pageant.
The efforts of four white people trying to stage a play about Native Americans have them twisting as pretzels not to offend.
The satire was written by MacArthur Genius Larissa FastHorse.
"I had so many plays that I was getting commissioned to do, but they were only getting first productions. And they would never get produced again. And the number one reason I heard for why my plays weren't being produced was casting," FastHorse said.
The playwright was frustrated.
"They said they couldn't find Native American actors, which is frustrating because it's not true. We all know that now but we didn't know that six, seven years ago when I started this play. So I made this challenge for myself. To write about the contemporary indigenous experience using all white presenting cast members," FastHorse said. "And that's 'The Thanksgiving Play' which I really love and I'm thrilled it came out this way."
It has become one of the most produced plays in the United States, but FastHorse didn't know it would be so popular.
"I was creating a crazy little comedy within a satire that I thought maybe I'll get a few extra productions. I had no idea that it would be on the most-produced list in America, year after year," FastHorse said.
Why is it so popular?
"I think that the number one thing is that people want to see this play because they actually want to learn about Native American issues, and there's nowhere else to do that. Our education system has failed us. It doesn't teach us about the land that we're standing on. It doesn't teach us about the people who were here before 1776. We tend to start history really late in the game in the education system. And we start it after the white folks have arrived," FastHorse said. "There was a whole rich history before that.
With "The Thanksgiving Play," FastHorse became the first Native American female playwright to have a show mounted on Broadway.
The Steppenwolf Production of "The Thanksgiving Play" runs through June 6.
