A Realistic Piece that States Facts Through Comedy
A Blog View by Alejandra Enciso-Dardashti
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The Thanksgiving Play. Photo by Jason Sullivan |
The Thanksgiving Play is a 90-minute piece with no intermission that is full of truth, creative criticism, and education regarding the material put on the school stages, the "new" and "woke" theatre that came after the George Floyd tragedy, and some musty vices that still pop up in the industry. Logan (Samantha Ginn) is a teaching artist at a public school that just received her umpteenth grant. She is very excited to be making her directorial debut for a Thanksgiving play that will be devised within the creative team made up of her boyfriend Kenny (Bordieri Jaxton) a street performer and yogi, Caden (AJ Knox), an elementary history teacher who dreams of working in the theatre and, Alicia (Erica Marie Weisz) a hired professional actress. Because Logan is a woke, white ally, she uses her grant money to hire Alicia, a Native American actress, and get the other perspective on Thanksgiving by bringing some sort of stand through public school theatre. When the work devising starts and clarifications occur, things go differently than planned.
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The Thanksgiving Play. Photo by Jason Sullivan |
Daniel Jáquez directs a fine company of actors who complement each other with great comedic moments and deep reflections on beauty standards, and actors' resumes that come out between the layers. Jáquez's style is clean and forward having the piece grab its groove and flow. Michael Wogulis's set design of a school rehearsal room that includes a glimpse of a hallway is realistic and pops with Annelise Salazar's lighting design with a bright white, very school/hospital-like and changing to a performance setting that used dark tones to deepen the frame when kids do their Thanksgiving shows. As a kid, and/or having kids, younger siblings, nieces, or nephews, could mean most of us have been and/or seen these types of school talent shows with an off-pitch, a missed queue, and of course, a cry. The play carries that accurately while Evan Eason's sound design captured that essence, giving the theatre a school gym or auditorium vibe.
Sandra Ruiz rounded out the character personalities with the costume design having Logan in a jumper and Kenny in all browns with rolled-up, relaxed pants. Caden is more business/teacher-esque with a sweater, shirt, and pants. Alicia with evident sex appeal, has fitted jeans, a red top, and black booties. In the performance I saw, an unexpected burp came from among the actors and it was immediately meshed into the scene flawlessly, adding even more fun to the performance.
New Village Arts has moved the needle these past years by bringing works like Desert Rock Garden and 1222 Oceanfront: A Black Family Christmas, amongst others. They started this season on the right foot indeed. The Thanksgiving Play is the first work they produce by a Native American woman, hoping it is the first of many with Daniel Jáquez as director. And, not having seen Daniel direct a show since Huracán at Cygnet in early 2023, I hope we see many more works directed by him as well.
The Thanksgiving Play is currently playing until November 3. For more information please CLICK HERE.
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