THE THANKSGING PLAY presented through special arrangement with Concord Theatricals, Inc. Design & Layout: inkfish design
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT: LARISSA FASTHORSE
Larissa FastHorse grew up in South Dakota, where she began her career as a ballet dancer and choreographer. Returning to an early interest in writing, she became involved in Native American drama, first in the Native film community, but she found her artistic home as a playwright. Her satirical comedy The Thanksgiving Play was one of the top ten most produced plays in America. She is the first Native American playwright in the history of American theater on that list. FastHorse also co-founded Indigenous Direction, a consulting firm that helps organizations and individuals who want to create accurate work by, for, and with Indigenous peoples. Personally, FastHorse challenges every theatre she works with to be sure that her work isn’t the only Indigenous art in the building and that she isn’t the only Indigenous person being paid in that season.
A 2020 MacArthur Fellow, some of FastHorse’s other produced plays include What Would Crazy Horse Do? (KCRep), Landless and Cow Pie Bingo (AlterTheater), Average Family (Children’s Theater Company of Minneapolis), Teaching Disco Squaredancing to Our Elders: A Class Presentation (Native Voices at the Autry), Vanishing Point (Eagle Project), and Cherokee Family Reunion (Mountainside Theater).
DIRECTOR'S NOTE
Here on the Mendocino Coast we live in a bubble. We have a community that is small enough that you can find your allies. The folks that think like you, do things you like to do, seek out similar interests. And right beside you are people that think differently, enjoy different activities. In a small community though, those different people have faces you recognize, share the school district with you, work in the restaurants, markets, post offices, etc. Our differences are present but there is a level of consciousness that is more tangible than in the enormity of the news of the world.
Yet, still, right here, we have an absence of awareness. We think we are doing the “right thing” and we err nonetheless. Our best intentions are often filled with a lack of awareness. Thanks to Larissa FastHorse we have an opportunity to look at ourselves, see the fallacies of our ways, and still get a laugh out of it. Not to just chalk it up to our upbringing, but to give us an opportunity to see it, look at it, take ownership of our actions and try to move forward in a more cohesive way.
Working on this play has been a wonderful experience. I have a great cast. We have explored the fallacies of our characters, sought to show how we try so hard, yet inexplicably fail in our good intentions. Enjoy this show and hopefully, in your conversations in the future, recall these characters, maybe sometimes recognize yourself in some of them, and seek out conversations for growth.
– Betty Abramson, Director
BIOGRAPHIES
JANICE CULLIFORD (LOGAN) - Janice has been singing, dancing, juggling, costuming, and performing locally for 20+ years with the Mendocino Women's Choir, Gloriana Musical Theatre, Mendocino Theatre Company, Mendocino Chamber Opera, and the Mendocino Music Festival. She was part of the Ensemble with the Kaministiqua Theatre Lab, and worked Tech at The Shaw Festival, The Avon Theatre in Stratford, Ontario, and the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto. In the 70's, in Humboldt County she performed and traveled with the Kit-and-Kaboodle Clown Theatre, and did a TV commercial. She also saved drunken sots, sang and played the Melodian with The Hallelujah Sisters at the Dicken's Faire in San Francisco. In the Mid 80's, Janice co-founded the Institute for Psychic Development in Berkeley, and was on KEST radio in San Francisco with a Spiritual call-in show. She also performs with the Institute for Living Arts and Eyes and Ears Foundstion. Janice sang at Carnegie Hall with several Women"s Choirs. She wrote and directed a play called Murder at Langston Manor which she presented as part of MTC 's 2018 Reading Series. She has two beautiful daughters and 5 wonderful Grandkids living in the area. Please enjoy the show!
RAVEN DEERWATER (JAXTON)
- Raven is a white actor with a Cherokee name. He came to his name when it appeared in a dream of his ex-wife’s in Oklahoma City, OK and was further refined in Flagstaff, AZ. In his first production at the Mendocino Theatre Company in 1999, he played Scanlon in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and shared the stage with an actual Native American actor. He has acted as a white male in many MTC productions, most recently as Derek/Zombie Butler/Masked Man in Ripcord. Other favorite roles at MTC include Brock in Ideation. Luigi in They Don’t Pay? We Won’t Pay!, Joe in Becky’s New Car, Lenny in Rumors, Mr. Birling in An Inspector Calls, Mr Daldry in In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play), and Philinte in The Misanthrope. Raven has directed a staged reading of 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche and was one of several directors for Autobahn. He has appeared as Fred in two different MTC Christmas productions: A Christmas Carol and Miracle on 34th Street. Outside of MTC, Raven is a remote coach of mathematics teachers, having recently retired as an enrolled agent with a tax practice in Mendocino. Currently Vice-President of the MTC Board of Directors (and a former President), Raven has an undergraduate degree from Harvard and a PhD from the University of Chicago. He and his wife Rebecca met at MTC and live on the coast..
LILA SISK-POPOW
BIOGRAPHIES cont.
(ALICIA) - Lila grew up with the Mendocino theatre scene and is more than excited to join her talent fellow cast members as she returns to the MTC stage. (And yes she does know that it is spelled with an ‘re’ and not an ‘er’. She’s a true thespian). At an early age she started in school plays and then made a transition into dance at Second Story Studios. A few of her most famous , favorite, and memorable shows have included: Bleezers Pizza Parlor, Dog Sees God or Confessions of a Teenage BlockHead, Baby With The Bathwater and The Odd Couple (Female Version). In all of her spare time Lila also enjoyed playing sports including ice hockey, couples tennis, fencing, and is a champion pole vaulter. And If you think any of that is true you don’t know her very well. She hopes you sit back and enjoy the show in all her and its ’Simplicity’.
BETTY ABRAMSON (DIRECTOR)
BRADY VOSS
(CADEN) - Brady is thrilled to be returning to the Mendocino Theatre Company after getting to play Will, in Born with Teeth earlier this season. He is a graduate of Southern Utah University where he earned his two bachelor’s degrees, in Theatre and Dance respectively. Through his career he has had the fortune to work at PCPA Theatrefest (Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Ragtime, Kiss Me Kate, Urinetown), the Utah Shakespeare Festival (Pippin and All's Well that Ends Well), Spreckels Performing Arts Center where he played Damis in The Metromaniacs and Snoopy in You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown as well as completed the west coast touring production of The Jungle Book: Rudyard Revised with EnActe Arts. Some of his other favorite roles include Bobby in Cabaret and Ponyboy in SubUrbia and Don John/Verges in Much Ado About Nothing at New Canon Theatre Company
- Betty moved to the Mendocino Coast in 1993, and after getting her bearings, began participating in theater—a love of hers since childhood. Thinking that acting was her desire Betty learned her true gifts were really were backstage. For many years, and many plays, she was a Stage Manager. That experience gave her an insight into all the levels and intricacies of theater magic. She debuted as a director at the Mendocino Theatre Company with Copenhagen in 2005. Many plays followed, some favorites being Quartet, The Oldest Profession, Or, and last year’s production of The Seafarer. Along with her directing tasks Betty is an Artistic Director for the company. She is forever grateful to the Mendocino community for enabling her to make her theater dreams come true. Along with all the people that create this magical experience, a special thanks goes out to her partner Chuck for his patience and support.
BIOGRAPHIES cont.
DIANE LARSON (PUPPET DESIGN & CREATION)
- Diane has designed sets and costumes for local opera and stage productions since the early 1990's. She has a B.A. from U.C Berkeley in painting and studied fashion illustration at Chouinard's Art Institute. She has served as a board member for the Mendocino Music Festival, and for Gloriana Musical Theatre Company, and co-founded with Geogia Lucas the Performing Arts Production Alliance (PAPA) for companies to share the cost of storage and use of theatrical sets and costumes. Her first experience as a set designer was with Mendocino Theatre Company's production of Uncle Vanya. Other MTC productions include Hurricane Diane, A Thousand Clowns, Of Mice and Men, Lend Me a Tenor, Sylvia, A Perfect Ganesh, Copenhagen, Quartet, 1959 Pink Thunderbird, Trying, Trip to Bountiful, Doubt, and Master Class. A few favorites for other companies include Lonely Planet, Dream of a Common Language, Hamlet for Warehouse Repertory Theater Co.; Rent, Next to Normal, Company and Peter Pan for Glorana Musical theatre; and the operas Carmen, Tosca, The Magic Flute, Die Fleddermaus, Don Giovanni, and Madama Butterfly for Mendocino Music Festival and Opera Fresca. This season I have enjoyed mentoring two possible future designers for MTC. Byron Greene and H Gealey. I have had the pleasure of working with H Gealey, a recent graduate in Architecture and a tremendous talent as we created the set for Hurricaine Diane!
JASMINE DIAZ (STAGE MANAGER)
Jasmine is incredibly excited to be a newcomer at The Mendocino Theatre Co. They are returning to the theatre after years away but gained their love of Stage Managing doing One Act Plays in a small town high school in Texas. They are very grateful to be working with such an incredible cast and crew and hope to be around for years to come!
Diane and her puppets!
A BOUTIQUE HOTEL & RESTAURANT IN THE HEART OF
BIOGRAPHIES cont.
KEN KRAUSS (STUDIO ENGINEER/VOICE RECORDINGS)
- Ken has worked on numerous productions for Mendocino Theater Company, beginning with the role of Al Paradisio in the 2003 production of Warren Leight's Sideman, and continuing through roles in 2015's Mauritius, and 2018's Rumors . He moved behind the scenes as Sound Designer for productions of The Miracle Worker, The Tempest, The Laramie Project, Tuesdays With Morrie, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Paradise, The Children, Hurricane Diane, .and many others. Ken also has performed in MTC's reader's theater productions. He has worked as production engineer for MTC's "Readings on the Radio" and "One Minute Radio Theater" for KZYX public radio broadcasts. Since 2010 Ken has performed with the Mendocino's improv comedy ensemble Hit and Run Theater, and will be with them for shows coming up November 8th and 9th at Caspar Community Center. He is a voice artist and narrator, working on commercials, audiobooks, and web videos. He was a voice artist and segment producer for five years on the locally produced podcast SnapSessions!, available at www.thesnapsessions.com. Ken enjoys photography, music, films, his wife Bessy and his cockatiel Gimpy.
JEFF ROWLINGS (SET AND LIGHTING DESIGN)
- Jeff is a San Francisco and Mendocino based set & lighting designer, and production manager. Mendocino Theatre Company designs include Born With Teeth, Paradise, Woody Guthrie, Dolls House Part 2, Ideation and Rumors.
Jeff was the Production Manager for American Conservatory Theater; Production Manager/ Resident Designer for San Diego Rep; and Production Manager/Resident Designer for the Magic Theatre. He co-founded Foghouse Productions which produced R. Buckminster Fuller: The History (and Mystery) of the Universe in San Francisco, Chicago and Seattle. Recent designs include lights for Dan Hoyle’s Talk To Your People at the Marsh in SF; set & lights for Viola Davis’ west coast premiere of Paradise in Los Angeles; set for Aurora Theatre’s 1984 and lights for Born With Teeth, Temple, Detroit ’67 and Eureka Day ; lights for Word for Word’s Retablos and Smut ; and lights for Marin Theatre Co’s Hotter Than Egypt, Jazz, The Oldest Boy and Magic Forest Farm . Additionally, Jeff is President of the Board for Mendocino Theatre Company. .
BIOGRAPHIES cont.
ELIZABETH “BETH” CRAVEN (SOUND DESIGN & PRODUCING DIRECTOR, MTC) -
Beth is a theater artist, teacher and administrator. This season's Born With Teeth was her second play on the MTC stage, the first being Woody Guthrie’s American Song. Shortly before coming to MTC, Beth had retired as Artistic Director of Main Stage West in Sebastopol, CA. (April 2010 until March 2020) where she produced and/or directed and/or designed over 70 productions. She returned to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2005 after ten years as Head of the International MFA Actor Performance Program at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, recently named one of the top 13 Theater Programs in America. While at UT she was the resident director of Clarence Brown Theatre Company a LORT company in residence there. While at UT, she directed 16 main stage productions, many of them international collaborations. Her very first production as faculty at UT was awarded a performance at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington DC with the American College Theater Festival. Earlier, while on the full time faculty at Sonoma State University Theatre Arts Department (1987-1995) she won her first coveted KC invitation with an award winning production of the Russian play Strider.
Some of Beth’s recent directing awards and recognitions include: The Dean Goodman Award for Directing, SF Bay Area Theater Critics Awards including Outstanding Overall Production; Theater Bay Area Awards for Overall Production, Direction, Ensemble Performance, and Theater Design and Marquee Theater Awards.
Beth and her husband John split their time between their home in Santa Rosa and their tiny house rental in Noyo Harbor.
SUSAN COLLINS (COSTUME DESIGNER)
Susan has been costuming for the Mendocino Theatre Company and Gloriana Music Theatre for over twenty years. In that time she has gotten to know many theatre people and learned about all aspect of theatre. Susan enjoys working with specific historical eras, her favorite being the 1040s. Some of her recent shows include Born With Teeth Home, I’m Darling, Woody Guthrie’s American Song, and Born Yesterday for MTC and Anything Goes for Gloriana. In addition to designing, Susan helps manage and maintain the costume and properties storage facility known as PAPA in Ft. Bragg.
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MURRAY CIRCLE [$10,000+]
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[$300 - $499]
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