The Thanksgiving Play NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (152)
See it if you want to laugh from beginning to end; you're happy to poke fun of liberal white Americans
Don't see it if you're expecting something profound; you don't like off-Broadway plays; you only like musicals
See it if you'll enjoy laughing at mockery of systems of oppression, performative wokeness, and theater people.
Don't see it if you aren't able to laugh at yourself or find grim humor in difficult truths, or if you're a MAGA turd (though maybe you *should* see it).
See it if you want a fresh, creative, funny, zany satire exploring cultural sensitivities written by a Native American woman. I loved it.
Don't see it if you're too easily offended? Idk, that's a stretch. No reason not to see it in my mind. Read more
See it if you want to see a satire about the genocide of the Natives, Veganism, white-male-privilage, PC culture. Written by a Native American.
Don't see it if you have no sense of humor! Read more
See it if you love smart, funny comedies with great acting, writing, and direction; you enjoy laughing, cringing, and thinking simultaneously.
Don't see it if you want to miss a great evening of theatre & experience FOMO when it sells out; you want a serious, dramatic, or mindless theatre.
See it if you enjoy a very timely comedy
Don't see it if you do not like rapid-fire comedy
See it if you'd like a little bit of levity to ease you into the holidays.
Don't see it if you don't have an appreciation for ironic humor. Read more
See it if This play depicts the constipation of discourse that occurs in politically correct environments. If you're tired of that, you'll love this!
Don't see it if You are a snowflake, or if an honest depiction of the backhanded censorship we now endure might be troubling or discomfiting to you.
Critic Reviews (29)
"Thanksgiving is not the only object of the satire, and to the extent the play sometimes seems to miss its mark, it’s because the mark keeps moving...That this aspect of the satire works as well as it does is a credit to the swift pacing of Moritz von Stuelpnagel’s production and the acuity of his casting...The problem for 'The Thanksgiving Play' is that, in splitting its satirical attention, it shortchanges the nominal subject."
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"FastHorse may have had good intentions, but 'The Thanksgiving Play' is neither funny nor humane. Its humor is snide and forced...Director Moritz von Stuelpnagel is milking the comedy as hard as he can, but the cow is dry, and in the process he’s pushing Bareilles, Keller, and Seibert into the kind of parody where the zaniness feels ungrounded and lifeless...FastHorse hasn’t figured out how to make her characters grow and change, so the whole endeavor feels dull and arcless."
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"It's very, very funny...Not all the jokes land, and even with its brief 90-minute running time, the evening ultimately has the feel of an overextended sketch. But the play delivers plenty of uproarious moments and, under the expert direction of Moritz von Stuelpnagel, the performers' uproarious turns make their characters as endearing as they are daffy."
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“An uproarious elementary school backstager, it is by far the funniest satire yet written about the ‘woke’ warriors sleepwalking through American society...Von Stuelpnagel provides an energetic staging that skirts the line between ridiculous and all-too-real...FastHorse leaves room to sympathize with her characters...’The Thanksgiving Play’ delightfully skewers fashionable correctness...FastHorse is clearly unrestrained by fear, making her voice a refreshing addition to the NY theater.”
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“Fasthorse’s comedy of social justice warrior errors...Von Stuelpnagel keeps the characters sympathetic...The concept of seeing well-meaning white liberals through the eyes of a member of a group they're trying to support is a subject ripe for meaningful satire. But despite some interesting moments and a few good laughs, ’The Thanksgiving Play‘ dilutes the concept into pretty standard sketch comedy.”
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“So packed with up-to-the-minute laughs that watching it, I half-wondered if the script had been completed that afternoon...von Stuelpnagel has assembled a quartet of actors perfectly in synch with FastHorse's faultless ear for fatuous speech. As Logan, Bareilles effortlessly delivers such mouthfuls...’The Thanksgiving Play’ --which doesn't overstay its welcome, even for a second --is a living hell for her characters, but a holiday for the audience.”
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"Larissa FastHorse's extremely amusing and thoughtful satire...She aims to present a Thanksgiving play that will tear down the white-guy constructs that endured for centuries and willfully misrepresented the Native American view...It's a nimble production, directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel with the same comic verve he exhibited in 'Hand to God,' and acted by a quartet that are in exquisite sync...FastHorse raises tough questions even as she keeps us laughing."
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"FastHorse deals out a bright satirical notion that tickles up plentiful laughter during its initial scenes. Then the show and its humor gradually wind down as 85 minutes tick away. The piece registers finally as a clever sketch that proves insufficiently developed...Although 'The Thanksgiving Play' does not achieve its potential as a satire—and the acting of this production is surprisingly indifferent—at least it contemplates an important subject."
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