USM Department of Theatre Theatre Opens THE THANKSGIVING PLAY On November 3

USM Department of Theatre kicks off '22-'23 season, "The Stories We Tell", with the wickedly funny satire from Larissa Fasthorse, The Thanksgiving Play.

The Thanksgiving Play by Larissa Fasthorse launches the '22-'23 season of "The Stories We Tell". Through four very different plays, the company explores the questions of what stories we choose to tell, who tells them, and how the lenses we use in our storytelling change the way we understand the world.

The Thanksgiving Play asks what happens when a vegan, a street performer, and an elementary school history teacher attempt to devise a play that tells the "truth" about one of America's most beloved founding mythologies. Good intentions collide with absurd assumptions as this troupe of terminally progressive teaching artists scramble to create a pageant that somehow manages to celebrate both Turkey Day and Native American Heritage Month.

Director Rachel Price Cooper says, "Larissa Fasthorse manages to use satire and comedy to engage with some really serious, deep-seated issues about America's gory colonial history and continued subjugation of indigenous people. The comedy allows the audience to laugh at the absurdity of the situation but also reflect on the very real things that the play is satirizing."

Price Cooper says that one of the most challenging points of the piece is letting the cast, crew, and ultimately the audience feel that they have permission to take part in the satire. "Larissa Fasthorse, a Sicangu Lakota playwright and choreographer, wrote the play to be performed by actors who read as white, and does not not shy away from cringey moments of cultural appropriation and ego-driven, performative, political correctness. So much of college is about asking students to reckon with their own positioning and intersectional identities. This play asks that of all of us. It makes us question what it actually means to be an ally and to reckon with our own positions of privilege, bias, and the historical narratives that have indoctrinated us into society from a young age."

As part of USM's Gloria S. Duclos Convocation, "The Rivers to Which We Belong: Grounding Indigenous Presence and Sovereignty", there will be a talkback with director Rachel Price Cooper and Shannon Epplett, Ph.D., Instructional Assistant Professor in the School of Theatre and Dance at Illinois State University and member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians following the November 18th performance. The talkback will focus on Indigenous representation in the arts.

The cast includes USM Theatre students Emma Graffam as Alicia, Brooks Ewald as Jaxton, Will McPherson as Caden, Arianna Kroutrokois as Logan, with Lucky Densmore and Salena Goodine as understudies.

The production team includes USM Theatre faculty Rachel Price Cooper (director), SeifAllah Salotto-Cristobal (lighting), Kevin Hutchins (costumes), Andy Johns (technical direction), guest artist Janie Howland (scenic design), and USM Theatre students Alyssa Folger (projections design) and Ryan Kohnert (sound design).

The Thanksgiving Play opens November 3rd and runs through November 19th. All performances take place on the USM Gorham campus in historic Russell Hall.

This show is appropriate for ages 13 and up. To purchase tickets, or for more information, visit USM Theatre online at usm.maine.edu/theatre, or call the USM Theatre Box Office at (207) 780-5151. For more information on USM's Department of Theatre events and programs, click here.

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