Curio Theatre Company Presents 'The Thanksgiving Play'

'The Thanksgiving Play' turns the stage into a classroom at the Calvary Center for Culture and Community.

Tim Martin is directing the production.

The play was written by Larissa FastHorse, a Lakota playwright.

"She wrote a play about four white people," says Martin. "They're tasked with making a culturally sensitive Thanksgiving play for elementary school students."

These four would-be playwrights don't want to ruffle any feathers.

"This is just a hilarious cast," he says.

There's Logan, an elementary school drama teacher, and her boyfriend Jaxton.

"Sort of super woke activists," says Martin.

"I'm playing Caden Green who is an elementary school teacher, but an aspiring actor as well," says actor Paul Harrold. "And he knows so much about American history."

"I'm playing Alicia, who is the one professional actor who's been hired," says actor Felicia Leicht.

Alicia got the job because Logan thought she was Native American.

"My look is super flexible," says Leicht as Alicia.

"It's absolutely a comedy," says Martin. "They show us the myths that we all learned in elementary school, which were absolutely just false."

When the play opened on Broadway last year, Larissa FastHorse became the first known Native American playwright to have a show produced on Broadway.

"At the heart, they're all four very, very well-meaning people," says Martin. "We think about everybody else's stories in terms of ourselves, and through this play, one of the things that we learn is how to listen to those stories that aren't being told."

Curio Theatre Company presents 'The Thanksgiving Play', October 23-November 9 at the Calvary Center for Culture and Community in West Philadelphia.

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