A groundbreaking satire straight from Broadway with the American origin story in its comedy-crosshairs

By LARISSA FASTHORSE
Directed by RAZ GOLDEN


ABOUT THE PLAY

See one of Broadway’s newest plays in Dorset! MacArthur Genius Larissa FastHorse’s shocking and hilarious satire flips the bird on one of America's most prolific myths.

An undeterred elementary school teacher desperately attempts to devise a pageant about the first Thanksgiving - one that challenges stereotypes, meets all the requirements of a Native American Heritage Month grant, and pacifies the parents. Wanting to avoid any culturally appropriative missteps, three “woke” white thespians quickly find themselves sabotaged by myth, confounded by history, and drawn into a hysterical roast of the politics of entertainment and well-meaning political correctness alike. The American origin story is in the comedy-crosshairs In Larissa FastHorse’s groundbreaking satire.

Very, very funny. Larissa FastHorse’s The Thanksgiving Play skewers liberal pretensions with glee – this clever satire is something for which to be truly thankful.
— Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter

ADVISORY: This biting satire contains mature themes and mild adult language about America’s sometimes troubling history. It also contains Thanksgiving reenactments depicting violence.

The Thanksgiving Play is produced by Dorset Theatre Festival.

INDIVIDUAL PRODUCTION SPONSORSHIP PROVIDED BY:

CLICK HERE to become a Season Sponsor.

The Thanksgiving Play is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com

Playwrights Horizons, Inc., New York City, produced the World Premiere of The Thanksgiving Play in 2018. 

The Thanksgiving Play was commissioned and originally produced by Artists Repertory Theatre Damaso Rodriguieze, Artistic Director; Sarah Horton, Managing Director Portland Oregon.

MEET THE CAST

  • New York: Greater Clements (Lincoln Center); The 39 Steps (Off B'way, New World Stages); The Farnsworth Invention (Broadway); The Merchant of Venice; Much Ado About Nothing (TFANA); Happy Birthday, Wanda June (Wheelhouse); In Quietness (Dutch Kills); Primal Play (New Georges). Television: The First Lady (Showtime); TURN: Washington's Spies (AMC); The Knick (Cinemax); Madam Secretary (CBS); FBI; Law and Order: SVU; Chicago Justice (NBC). Film: Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret; Cryptid; Ghosts of Christmas Always (Hallmark); The Magnificent Meyersons (upcoming). Selected regional credits: Barrington Stage, Denver Center, Williamstown, Hartford Stage, Long Wharf, Syracuse Stage, Westport Country Playhouse, CATF, The Kitchen, McCarter. Kate has a BA from Wesleyan University and an MFA from NYU Grad Acting. (she/her)

  • Stephen is excited to return to Dorset after previously appearing in the world premier of Mrs. Christie by Heidi Armbruster. Broadway: Death of a Salesman (starring Wendell Pierce). Off-Broadway and Regional theatre: Obie Award winning world premiere of Rajiv Joseph’s Describe The Night (Atlantic Theatre Company), world-premier of Rajiv Joseph’s Archduke (Mark Taper Forum and TheatreWorks Silicon Valley), Shakespeare Theatre Company, Alley Theatre, Portland Center Stage, TheatreWorks Hartford, Williamstown. International: Gung Ho Productions in Beijing and Chengdu, China, and Shakespeare Theatre Company in Macau, China. TV: “The Good Fight,” “Z: The Beginning of Everything.” MFA: NYU. @stephenstocking

  • Isabel Pask is a Brooklyn-based, Texan-born actor, writer, and producer with Puerto Rican roots. Regional/NY Theatre credits include: Ars Nova ANT Fest, McCarter Theatre Center, Santa Cruz Shakespeare, Chautauqua Theatre Company, Ashland New Plays Festival, Quantum Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre of NJ. Film/TV credits include: Life & Beth (Hulu), Succession (HBO), the independent feature Revelations of Divine Love, and the upcoming Paul Schrader film Oh, Canada. Isabel is a contributing artist for the femme-millennial production company CNT Productions, a member of the theatrical collectives The Bellwether Project and Notch Theatre Company, and the producing associate for The Sol Project. She is also a cast member and creative producer for the interactive live show Please Don't Kill Us. Education: Carnegie Mellon University. Big love and gratitude to my family, Eric, and DGRW. isabelpask.com

  • Selected Credits: New York: Fault Line Theatre, Wheelhouse Theatre, Irish Rep, 59E59. Regional: Cape Playhouse, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Chautauqua, Trinity Rep, Kitchen Theater, Hangar Theater, Arrow Rock Lyceum. TV/Film: “Wu-Tang: An American Saga” (Hulu), “The Blacklist” (NBC), “Power Book III: Raising Kanan” (Starz), “American Genius” (NatGeo), Rear View, The Automatic Hate, Girlfriend. Craig is Founding Director at Fault Line Theatre, an off-Broadway company. www.faultlinetheatre.org

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM

  • Bio coming soon…

  • Bio coming soon…

  • Sasha (she/her) is a theater scenic designer and artist inspired by family and how spaces tell stories. Selected designs: Off Peak (59e59), My Cousin Nelu is Not Gay (The Brick), What the Constitution Means to Me (City Theatre), Heisenberg (Northern Stage), Dear Jack, Dear Louise (Virginia Theatre Festival), Kentucky (Pittsburgh Playhouse), the dance floor, the hospital room, and the kitchen table (Kelly Strayhorn Theater), The Devil is A Lie (Quantum Theatre). Recognition: 2023 Prague Quadrennial Featured Emerging Designer, 2022 Theatre Communications Group Rising Leaders of Color Cohort, 2019 Lloyd Weninger Award for Stage Design, 2019 USITT Young Designers Forum, 'Mixed Family Portrait' featured at Pittsburgh MuseumLab. Sasha is an advocate for inclusivity and accessibility within theater teams and more representation of BIPOC and queer voices in the arts industries. Education: BFA Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama. www.sashaschwartzscenic.com

  • Item description
  • Philly based, recent designs include: sandblasted (Theatre Horizon), Red Riding Hood (Arden Theatre Co), Head Over Heels (Theatre Horizon), One-Man Nutcracker (Theatre Exile), KrymovLabNYC (La MaMa), The Mousetrap (Hartford Stage), TOWN (Theatre Horizon), Letters You Will Not Get (American Opera Project), Threshold of Brightness, It is a Comfort to Know (Beth Morrison Productions), Ni Mi Madre (Rattlestick Theater), Zoetrope (Exquisite Corpse Company), Coop (Paradise Factory), At Black Lake (The Tank), Twelfth Night (Two River Theater Little Shakes), Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (Triad Stage), Stinney: An American Execution (Prototype Festival), Twin Size Beds (The Public Theater). Company Member of KrymovLab NYC. Resident Artist with Exquisite Corpse Company. Artistic Team member of Rattlestick Theater. Founding member of BDLP. Proud member of USA 829. MFA Yale School of Drama. www.KristaSmithLD.com

  • Megumi is a NY-based sound designer. Her credits include DORSET: Laughing Wild, Queen of the Night. OFF-BROADWAY/NYC: The Light in the Piazza (Encores!), Regretfully, So the Birds Are (Playwrights Horizons), The Nosebleed (LCT3), for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf (Public Theater), The Life (co-design, Encores!), The Gett (Rattlestick), Romeo and Juliet (NAATCO), Signature Theatre, Ping Chong + Company. REGIONAL: Cambodian Rock Band (co-design, at Alley, Berkeley Rep, Arena Stage, and 5th Avenue/ACT), Studio Theater, Woolly Mammoth, Everyman Theatre, Arena Stage, Alley Theatre, Geva Theatre Center, Long Wharf, Yale Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Kansas City Rep, Denver Center, Berkeley Rep, Two River Theater, Chautauqua Theatre Company, Virginia Stage Company, Skylight Music Theatre, and more. MFA Yale School of Drama.

  • Item description
  • has been casting with Dorset Theatre Festival since 2009. RECENT THEATER: Kerrigan/Lowdermilk/Lauren Gunderson’s Justice (Arizona Theatre Co.); Madeline Sayet’s Where We Belong (Woolly Mammoth tour); Lloyd Suh’s Bina’s Six Apples (CTC/Alliance); Mike Lew’s Teenage Dick (Woolly Mammoth/Huntington/Pasadena); Antigone, Light It Up, and The Three Musketeers (Cleveland Play House); and A Christmas Carol (McCarter). TV/FILM: Hallmark’s Redemption in Cherry Springs, Big Dogs season 1(Amazon), One Moment with Danny Aiello, Separation, Hurricane Bianca, Lost Cat Corona, Gold Star. Artios Award nominee for Best Webseries Casting, PT Barnum Award recipient. Former faculty with Columbia University’s MFA film program, Harlem School of the Arts, & NYU/Strasberg. www.judybowmancasting.com

  • Playwrights Horizons is dedicated to cultivating the most important American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, as well as developing and producing their bold new plays and musicals. Tim Sanford became Artistic Director in 1996 and Leslie Marcus has been Managing Director since 1993. Under their decades of leadership, Playwrights builds upon its diverse and renowned body of work, counting 400 writers among its artistic roster. In addition to its onstage work each season, Playwrights’ singular commitment to nurturing American theater artists guides all of the institution’s multifaceted initiatives: our acclaimed New Works Lab, a robust

    commissioning program, an innovative curriculum at its Theater School, and more. Robert Moss founded Playwrights in 1971 and cemented the mission that continues to guide the institution today. André Bishop served as Artistic Director from 1981-1992. Don Scardino succeeded him and served until 1996. Over its 47-year history, Playwrights has been recognized with numerous awards and honors, including six Pulitzer Prizes, 13 Tony Awards, and 39 Obie Awards.

Also from Director Raz Golden at Dorset Theatre Festival:

QUEEN OF THE NIGHT


2021

“playwright tate, and Director Raz Golden have taken on the challenge of their outdoor setting, this fractured country and searching their hearts to create a first-class work of art.”

— PATRICK WHITE, NIPPERTOWN

SCHEDULE

WEEK ONE: 

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 - 7:30 PM (PREVIEW) 

*SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2 - 7:30 PM (OPENING NIGHT) 

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 3 - 2:00 PM 

WEEK TWO

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 - 2:00 PM 

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 - 7:30 PM 

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 - 7:30 PM

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 - 7:30 PM 

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9 - 2:00 PM

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9 - 7:30 PM 

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 10 - 2:00 PM


NEWSROOM

Coming Soon….


2023 BOX OFFICE

Get the best seats at the best prices! Memberships and Subscriptions available March 22 - Single Tickets available April 19.

DONATE TODAY

2023 donors will allow us to go further in bringing professional theatre BACK to Southern Vermont.