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The Thanksgiving Play
The Thanksgiving Play
by Larissa FastHorse
Directed by Dev Luthra
Assistant directed by Gabrielle Hatcher
Stage Managed by Heather Hamilton Gallagher
Show Dates: November 7 - 22, 2025
Cast:
Logan - Brit Barone
Caden - David Foster
Jaxton - Kenny Kelleher
Alicia - Sarah Logsdon
Larissa FastHorse’s shocking and hilarious satire flips the bird on one of America's most prolific myths. Four well-intentioned white creatives set out to devise a politically correct Thanksgiving play that honors Native American Heritage. As their misguided attempts spiral into absurdity, their earnest efforts expose the pitfalls of performative activism and the comedy of trying too hard to “get it right.”
FastHorse’s sharp, fearless wit turns this classroom rehearsal into a riotous reflection on privilege, identity, and the uneasy dance of cultural representation. The Thanksgiving Play invites audiences to laugh, cringe, and question—sometimes all at once.
Content Advisory: Please be advised this production includes the use of recorded gunshots.
While the play is written to tackle topics such as diversity, indigeneity, and equity with humor, note that the content and language may be upsetting for some audiences, particularly those who identify as Indigenous. We encourage you to put your own self-care first if this material is challenging or activating.
Photo credit: John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Larissa FastHorse (playwright)
Larissa FastHorse (playwright)
Larissa FastHorse (Sicangu Lakota Nation) is a 2025 Guggenheim Fellow, 2020 MacArthur Fellow, a Professor of Practice (Literature) in the Arizona State University Department of English, an award-winning writer and choreographer, and co-founder of Indigenous Direction, the nation’s leading consulting company for Indigenous arts and audiences.
FastHorse made her Broadway debut in the 2022-2023 season with her satirical comedy The Thanksgiving Play, becoming the first known female Native playwright to be produced on Broadway. The Thanksgiving Play is one of the most-produced plays in America, at 300 productions and counting.
Other produced plays by FastHorse include Fake It Until You Make It, For The People, The Democracy Project, What Would Crazy Horse Do?, Landless and Cow Pie Bingo, Average Family, Teaching Disco Squaredancing to Our Elders: a Class Presentation, Fancy Dancer, and Cherokee Family Reunion. She develops work with top U.S. theatres including Center Theatre Group, The Public Theater, Second Stage Theater, Yale Repertory Theatre, Cornerstone Theater Company, and Arena Stage.
Meet the Creative Team
Throughout the coming weeks, we'll spotlight a member of the creative team on our Facebook page as well as update here.
Dev Luthra (director)
Dev Luthra (director)
Dev brings an exacting humor, sharp insight, and playful precision to his direction of The Thanksgiving Play—skewering privilege with a smile. You won’t want to miss it!
Dev trained at East 15 Acting School in London, England and at Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, MA.
Directing credits include Doubt (New Hampshire Theatre Project); Alice in the Looking Glass (Underground Railway); As You Like It (Merely Players), as well as touring productions of Romeo & Juliet, Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Macbeth with Shakespeare Now!. From 2005 to 2022, Dev served as Production and Artistic Director of And Still We Rise, a theater company whose actors were all impacted by the prison system.
Dev has performed on stage with many companies including the Apollinaire Theatre Company, Actors Shakespeare Project, Arlekin Players, and Hub Theatre.
Burlington Players audiences may remember Dev onstage in his excellent autobiographical, one-man-play ‘Secret Asian Man’, co-produced by the Burlington Players and the Asian American Playwright Collective as part of The Dragonfly Plays.
Gabrielle Hatcher (Assistant director)
Gabrielle Hatcher (Assistant director)
Gabrielle is a Cambridge-based interdisciplinary artist, actor, & educator. She’s taking on her first directing role with this production, bringing her signature creativity, excellent taste, and distinct artistic voice. She’s also had a hand in just about everything: from set dressing and scenic painting to props, hair & makeup, and costumes!
Talk about multi-talented. We’re absolutely thrilled (and so grateful!) to have her on the team!
Some of Gabbie’s favorite onstage roles include Lucy Westenra in Dracula, A Feminist Revenge Fantasy (Umbrella Stage Company), Sara in Stop Kiss, and Reggie in Some Girl(s) (Hovey Players).
Her recent design work includes costumes for Appropriate (Hovey Players), hair and makeup for Sense and Sensibility (Concord Players) for which she won a DASH Award, Middleton Heights and Dracula, A Feminist Revenge Fantasy (Umbrella Stage Company).
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