The Thanksgiving Play, performed November 18-21, 2021
In Fall 2021, we worked with the SDSU Theater department on a production of The Thanksgiving Play by Larissa FastHorse. We developed a pre-show experience that would provide context for the play and help the audience members build connections between the issues on stage and in their own backyard. Featuring historical documents and images as well as clips from our oral history interviews, the exhibit explained historical events and depicted the contemporary reality for Indigenous peoples.
Photos of Pre-Show Experience
Overall View
On Larissa FastHorse
On Larissa Fast Horse
Caden's Lessons (historical references)
Caden's Lessons (historical references)
Caden's Lessons (historical references)
Redface in Hollywood
Redface in Hollywood
Plymouth, Massachusetts
Closer to Home (Indigenous history in South Dakota)
Closer to Home (Indigenous history in South Dakota)
A Thanksgiving Education (Education Room)
Racist and Irresponsible in the Classroom
- Oceti Sakowin: Essential Understanding and Standards (OSEUS)
- SSS (South Dakota Social Studies Standards)
- Working group incorporated language from of the OSEUS
- SDDOE (South Dakota Department of Education)
- Removed most references to Oceti Sakowin culture
- Document comparing SSS and SDDOE
- Argus Leader report
A Closer Look
- Lakota Times article on Fort Laramie Treaties
- Smithsonian Fort Laramie Exhibition
- Horse Creek Treaty (1851)
A Closer Look
- Later De Bry Engravings: Fact or Fiction?
- First-hand account of the Rio Grande episode referenced in The Thanksgiving Play
Telling Stories (Video Room)
Reel from Exhibit:
Program for The Thanksgiving Play
Land acknowledgement shown before all performances by Dr. Tasha Hauff, SDSU’s Assistant Professor of Lakota and American Indian and Indigenous Studies