Theater of Thanks

Posted by on November 24, 2011

Thanksgiving-themed theater is simply not a bustling subject. Some likely excuses: a lot of theaters are dark over thanksgiving. Christmas plays tend to start touring around thanksgiving. Colleges aren’t in session, so no Thanksgiving plays there either.

Well, I tried…

 

August: Osage County, Tracy Letts. Not specifically set at Thanksgiving, but a model modern dysfunctional family mealtime mess.

 

Story of the First Thanksgiving

http://www.kidsinco.com/2008/07/story-of-the-first-thanksgiving/

More of a tableaux vivant than a play, this free online pageant scenario contains less than two dozen sentences, all intoned by a narrator while the story is silently acted out by a flexibly sized aggregation of pilgrims and Native Americans (here labeled “Indians.”)

 

How I Learned to Drive, Paula Vogel.

L’IL BIT: We missed you at Thanksgiving… I did. I missed you.

PECK: Well, there were… “things” going on. I didn’t want to spoil anyone’s Thanksgiving.

L’IL BIT: Uncle Peck? Please don’t drink anymore tonight.

PECK: I’m not… overdoing it.

L’IL BIT: Why do you drink so much?

PECK: Well, L’il Bit—let me explain it this way. There are some people who have a… a “fire” in the belly. I think they go to work on Wall Street or they run for office. And then there are people who have a “fire” in their heads—and they become writers or scientists or historians. You. You’ve got a “fire” in the head. And then there are people like me.

L’IL BIT: Where do you have… a fire?

PECK: I have a fire in my heart. And sometimes the drinking helps.

 

The Happy Journey to Camden and Trenton by Thornton Wilder. They’re going on a Christmas trip, right? But it’s just as Thanksgivingsy.

 

The Thanksgiving Visitor by Truman Capote. Originally a short story, later adapted for the stage by Chicago’s Provision Theater, for a double bill with A Christmas Memory.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>