EXPLORE THE THANKSGIVING PLAY

Larissa FastHorseis a Sickangu Lakota Choreographer and Playwright based in Santa Monica, California. She is the first  female Native American playwright to be produced on Broadway in 2023. Also in 2023 she became a professor at Arizona State University. In 2024 she adapeted the book for the muscial Peter Pan to provide positive representation and to undo the harmful stereotypes of Native Americans for an international tour. FastHorse Grew up in South Dakota where she studied and taught Ballet but was forced to retire due to an injury. She then turned to writing and started an organization with Ty Defoe called Indigenous Direction which is a consulting firm to help those wishing to create accurate work for, by, and with Native people. They have worked with the Macy's Day Parade to give the first ever land acknowledgment statement for the parade and Gutherie theatre. She stands as current vice chair of the Board of Directors of Playwrights Hoizon. FastHorse has also been a delagate to the United Nations to speak on cinema's impact on Indigenous people. Before The Thanksgiving Play  lauched her to fame she had written many othe rplays and stories. Some play include What Would Crazy Horse Do?, Vanishing Point, and Cherokee Family Reunion. The reason she was not shot into fam with these wonderful plays is because there seemed to be a misplaced idea that the theatre companies would have a hard time finding any Native actors. She wrote The Thanksgiving Play in response to this notion crafting a play that delivers Native American issues without needing Native actors.