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LEHIGH VALLEY WEATHER

Theater Review: ‘Thanksgiving Play’ bastes the holiday

Few would question that respect for other races and cultures is a good thing, but even a good thing can be overdone.

“The Thanksgiving Play” by Larissa Fasthorse is a satirical comedy that shows the overly-sensitive, and unhelpful, attempts at political correctness by people presenting a Thanksgiving play for children.

The play, which premiered on Broadway this year, continues in its Lehigh Valley premiere through Nov. 19, Between the Lines Studio Theatre, Allentown, in a production directed by Jason Roth.

In “The Thanksgiving Play,” Logan (Veronica Bocian) is directing a play for Native American Heritage Month. The cast includes street performer Jaxton (Heath Mensher), fellow teacher Caden (Zack Einstein) and Alicia (Jen Santos), a would-be Hollywood star who was hired with funds from a grant.

Logan and Jaxton painstakingly work on creating a play that will not offend anyone. They discover that Alicia is not actually Native American, which causes them to be even more cautious.

Caden, who is a frustrated playwright, has written many scenes that are historically accurate, but are too outlandish for elementary students. The possibilities of coming up with a coherent play diminish over time.

There are two characters in this production that were not in the original play. In between scenes, Bill Joachim and Trish Kane Steele come on dressed in varied costumes and act out real-life examples of cultural insensitivity, like singing traditional songs with excruciating lyrics taken from the website www.songsforteaching.com.

There are some funny scenes as tensions get high. The neurotic Logan begins to scream at one point when the other cast members reenact a bloody scene from history. Since there are no Native American actors in the cast, they cannot appear onstage for the children, and efforts to work around this problem become more and more outrageous.

There are also dramatic moments. Logan and Jaxton’s relationship, never fully explained, comes to a head as they argue about the play. Alicia, who seems shallow and ambitious, helps the overly intellectual Logan to understand herself and realize some of her potential. There are also touching scenes as Logan and Jaxton seem to reconcile.

“The Thanksgiving Play” provided a varied buffet for those looking for something different in the holiday season.

“The Thanksgiving Play,” 7:30 p.m. Nov. 17, 18; 2 p.m. Nov. 19, Between the Lines Studio Theatre, 725 N. 15th St., Allentown. Tickets: www.betweenthelinestheatre.com

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO BY TERAWILLIAMS PHOTOGRAPHY From left, front row: Trish Kane Steele (Facilitator), Veronica Bocian (Logan) and, second row, Bill Joachim (Facilitator), Jen Santos (Alicia), Heth Mensher (Jaxton), Zack Einstein (Caden), “The Thanksgiving Play,” Between The Lines Studio Theatre.