Playwrights Horizons Offers Live For Five Lottery For Larissa FastHorse's THE THANKSGIVING PLAY

Playwrights Horizons will, from today, October 1, through Thursday, October 4, accept entries for the Live for Five online lottery, giving out $5 tickets to the world premiere production of Larissa Fasthorse's The Thanksgiving Play. Directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel (Hand to God and Present Laughter on Broadway), this side-splitting comedy satirizing the performance of contemporary white liberalism begins October 12 and runs through November 25. Playwrights Horizons created Live for Five in 2007 as part of their Arts Access program to reach out to those who may not be able to afford the cost of a full-price theater ticket. Since its inception, over 3,000 theatergoers have been able to attend the theater thanks to the initiative.

Live for Five makes a limited number of $5 tickets available for the first preview performance of each Playwrights Horizons production through a lottery via the company's website (www.phnyc.org). The Live for Five lottery for The Thanksgiving Play will be for tickets to the first preview on Friday evening, October 12 at 7:30pm in the Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Playwrights Horizons (416 West 42nd Street). The production has an Opening Night set for Monday, November 5 and will play through Sunday, November 25. Details for the Live for Five lottery are as follows: beginning today, October 1 at 12 Noon, theatergoers can enter the lottery by filling out an entry form at www.phnyc.org/L45. Entries will be accepted until Thursday, October 4 at 12 Noon. Winners of the lottery will be notified via email no later than 3pm on Thursday, October 4 with instructions on how to book their $5 tickets; they will have until Friday, October 5 at 12 Noon to book tickets. Unclaimed tickets will be offered via email to a limited standby list starting Friday, October 5 at 3pm on a first-come, first-served basis. One or two tickets may be purchased by winners for $5 each.

The Thanksgiving Play follows well-intentioned white teaching artists as they scramble to create an ambitious "woke" Thanksgiving pageant that also celebrates Native American Heritage Month...and quells their white guilt...and satisfies their lofty artistic impulses...as part of an "All School Turkey Trot." Caden, an elementary school history teacher, offers rich historical context that spirals into unproductive tangents; yogi-actor Jaxton's performance of political correctness comically complicates the process; Logan, a high school drama teacher, wants to "elevate" the play by engaging a single Native American actor; and Alicia just wants to be onstage. The comedy follows their process of devising this cutting-edge Thanksgiving performance-allegedly for children-and flailing as privilege-checking and self-importance collide and get in their way.

The Playwrights Horizons staging of The Thanksgiving Play marks FastHorse's first full production in New York. Now based in Santa Monica, FastHorse grew up in South Dakota and is an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Sicangu Lakota Nation. She came to theater in her 30s, after having sustained a career as a ballet dancer, then having written for the small screen. Feeling that the stories she wanted to tell-whether speaking with specificity to Indigenous experiences, or lampooning unjust structures-would inevitably be watered down in Hollywood, she turned to playwriting, penning works including What Would Crazy Horse Do?, Urban Rez, Landless, Average Family, Teaching Disco Squaredancing to Our Elders: a Class Presentation, and Cherokee Family Reunion.

The Thanksgiving Play's cast includes Jennifer Bareilles (Valer, Maybe Tomorrow) as Logan; Jeffrey Bean (Broadway: Bells Are Ringing, Amadeus) as Caden; Greg Keller (Broadway: Our Mother's Brief Affair; Off-Broadway: The Humans, Office Hour) as Jaxton; and Margo Seibert (Broadway: In Transit, Rocky) as Alicia.

The creative team includes Wilson Chin (scenic design), Tilly Grimes (costume design), Isabella Byrd (lighting design), Mikaal Sulaiman (sound design), and Katie Ailinger (Production Stage Manager).

Playwrights Horizons 2018-2019 season of "topicality and risk" (The New York Times) continues after The Thanksgiving Play with Noura, the New York premiere of a new play written by and featuring Lucille Lortel Award winner Heather Raffo, directed by Joanna Settle, produced in association with Shakespeare Theatre Company (November 27-December 30, 2018; opening December 10); If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhfucka, the world premiere of a new play by Tori Sampson, directed by Obie Award winner Leah C. Gardiner, and choreographed by Raja Feather Kelly (February 15-March 31, 2019; opening March 11); The Pain of My Belligerence, the world premiere of a Playwrights Horizons commissioned new play written by and featuring Halley Feiffer, directed by Obie Award winner Trip Cullman (March 29, 2019-May 12, 2019; opening April 22); and A Strange Loop, the world premiere of a new musical with book, music, and lyrics by Michael R. Jackson, directed by Stephen Brackett, and choreographed by Raja Feather Kelly, produced in association with Page 73 (May 24-July 27, 2019; opening June 17).

Performance Schedule and Ticketing

Performances of The Thanksgiving Play take place October 12 - November 25: Tuesdays through Fridays at 7:30pm, Saturdays at 2pm and 7:30pm, and Sundays at 2pm and 7pm.

Tickets for preview performances start at $39 and tickets for after opening, November 5 onward, start at $49.

A Six-Show Subscription package to Playwrights Horizons' 2018-19 season is now available ($310, four Mainstage and two Peter Jay Sharp Theater productions). In addition to discounts on all season productions, subscribers receive priority booking and seating, ticket exchange privileges, parking and dining discounts, and exclusive mailings of Playwrights Horizons Bulletins. Flex Passes (customizable bundle, $220+) and Memberships ($45 to join, $25 preview tickets) are also now on sale. Patron packages start at $1,800. Packages are available at www.phnyc.org.

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