Her authorship of “The Thanksgiving Play,” alongside a myriad of feats of great theatrical grandeur, such as an adaptation of Peter Pan on Broadway, makes Larissa Fasthorse more than worthy of our praise and recognition through the Brandeis Creative Arts Award. The Award has been previously granted to notable figures including Leonard Bernstein, Charles Chaplin and Stephen J. Sondheim, with our newest recipient showing her might on equal footing. Fasthorse’s ceremony was held in the afternoon of November 21, 2025 and soon thereafter, she would attend the opening night for the Brandeis Theater Arts Department’s production of “The Thanksgiving Play.”

After being introduced as a member of the Sicangu Lakota nation and the first Native American Broadway playwright, she positioned this identity at the center of her writing career, with “The Thanksgiving Play” holding a certain pedestal at the ceremony as the major talking point. A dancer, choreographer and attempted actor, Fasthorse recounts her audition for the character of “PocaHottie,” a demoralizing characterization that further pushes forward the fetishization of native women. After a heated discussion with the casting directors, she realized if she wanted better native characterization in the performing arts, then she would need to be the agent of this change. Thus comes her first Broadway show, a satirical portrayal of how liberal politics address the native cause. 

The narrative centers around the character of Logan, a theater teacher from Jefferson High, played on Brandeis’ stage by Samantha Landay. Our protagonist attempts to devise a Thanksgiving play, hence the title, and was awarded several identity-based grants, including one that sought to empower native stories. She uses this money to hire a Los Angeles-based actress, Alicia, who posed with a “native look” for her headshot. Jaxton, Logan’s partner, attempts to address her with his liberal logic and ultimately discovers that Alicia is not native in the slightest. She had just posed for the headshot with turquoise as per her manager’s instructions. The woke couple is thrown into disarray with Logan’s utmost concern surrounding being terminated from her job and the social turmoil she might face. A guest history teacher falls into the background, and when he attempts to pull the story back into reality rather than these farcical concerns, Jaxton promptly nibs that he has to “loosen up on the facts, dude.” 

Through their devising process, they decided that portraying native characters wouldn’t be red-face, it would be displaying empathy. Then, when that idea got overthrown, they decided to mute the native’s part of the dialogue and let their silent absence speak for them, a sharp and symbolic criticism of the silencing of native voices. In an absurd but predictable turn of events, the he-him decoupled major-corporation-hater, Jaxton, decides that native silence was too powerful, and this unlevelness was racially based discrimination. In the end, their play was literal nothingness. They decided to have a show where nothing happens, no one acts, just total and complete nothing. In a simple rewording of the Fasthorse narrative, the point becomes blatantly clear: This self-eating liberal logic does nothing for native people. 

In her ceremony, the playwright addresses that her satire was born out of the complexity of American politics for the native cause. Most of the self-righteous virtue-signaling is rendered useless in practicality but the matter is far more intricate. She states that liberals, feeling threatened by the current administration, are now playing an actually-helpful role for the cause. What’s more, she highlights that conservatives are powerful allies since they encompass the tribes into their overall “Americana” values and their America-first handling of funds. She specifically cites the National Rifle Association as having made significant donations to her fight. While she comprehends that this truth may be uncomfortable for the non-native audience, Fasthorse does not seek to change this discomfort: It is a necessary step for the betterment of our characters to be useful supporters of the movement. Instead, to nonetheless attract the audience, she makes use of her great wit and leans into more farcical comedic writing. 

To this effect, Larue Vigil and Sam Taxman, who respectively portrayed Alicia and Jaxton on the Brandeis stage, perfectly portrayed this comedy. Vigil’s acting is nothing short of phenomenal, one of the few instances in our campus where the actor was so connected and conveyed realism so well that audiences were transported into the world of the play; her acting was so precise and flawless to such an extent that we could forget that Alicia wasn’t real and that Vigil was the one gracing us with her presence. Yet, Taxman’s sharp and motivated movements made every beat worthy of meaning, of reflection. Whether he instantly and almost robotically raised his fair fist in his claims of being an “enlightened white ally” or basking in the glory of being a straight white male finally feeling oppressed, Taxman’s portrayal of Jaxon brought every literary device of the play into life; by his every move, we burst into laughter and fell deep into pondering.

Whether as literary drama or narrative performed, “The Thanksgiving Play” should be recognized as “one of the greats,” and thus it makes no less than complete that Fasthorse is our current awardee. Fasthorse’s activism, which often accounts for 100% communal involvement in her tour across the native nations, reservations of the United States, is a clear example of Brandeis’ value of justice and intent and devotion to fixing the world or Tikkun Olam, in the Jewish vernacular. As a Brandeis student, I am proud to see that our founding virtues remain strong even amidst the complexities of our modern world. We welcome Fasthorse’s voice and will enthusiastically await her return as a creative resident of our campus.