Wildfires couldn't stop this playwright from opening her new production: 'This is a beautiful way for us to come together'

For playwright Larissa FastHorse, staging her newest play, Fake It Until You Make It, has not been without its challenges.

The Sicangu Lakota writer, who is mounting the production in Los Angeles through March 9 and then in Washington, D.C., had to contend with tragedy in the form of devastating wildfires that consumed parts of L.A.

“There were people here on our production team and on staff and our cast that were evacuated. Some lost their homes, some didn't lose their homes [but] their family lost their home,” FastHorse told Yahoo Entertainment. “It's been a stressful time to do this.”

FastHorse, whose 2023 production of The Thanksgiving Play marked the first Broadway play by a female Native American playwright, looked to her team, including director Michael John Garcés, before making her next move.

“I hate to sound like that person, but theater can be really healing and especially doing a comedy like this,” said FastHorse, who is also the first Native playwright to be staged at Los Angeles’s Mark Taper Forum. “So we took one full day off [during the] wildfires — the day after they exploded and everything was just so scary and uncertain here in L.A.”

After talking to her cast and crew — they decided to move forward, calling the theater a “safe space” and a “happy place.”

“They said … ‘These fires are not going to last forever but this play can have really long-term effects, and we want to be a part of it,’ so that's what we did,” she said. The play began previews at the Taper on Jan. 29 and officially opens Feb. 5.

Julie Bowen stars as River, a white woman running the Native American-focused nonprofit Indigenous Nations Soaring, who has a rivalry with Native nonprofit leader Wynona (Tongva actress Tonantzin Carmelo), who runs N.O.B.U.S.H., an organization that combats the invasive butterfly bush plant. The satirical farce takes on identity conflicts and the lengths people will go to “shift” their race.

“[River and Wynona’s] escalating rivalry ensnares colleagues and bystanders, leading to the unraveling of secrets that highlight the absurdities of ambition and authenticity,” the play’s description reads.

What could otherwise be seen as weighty and touchy is played for laughs — on purpose — to offer an accessible and nuanced way into these often sensitive topics.

“We're thinking a lot about who's laughing at what when. Is that OK? Is it not OK? My plays ask a lot more questions than they answer, but we also make sure it's the right questions,” FastHorse said, “and it's a little trickier in something as broad as a farce.”

The play uses humor to engage conversations like the effect so-called “Pretendians” (non-Native people who claim Indigenous ancestry) have on Indigenous people and resources, as well as people who don’t feel entirely comfortable in their own race.

FastHorse also takes the opportunity through her work and collaboration with Garcés to spotlight Indigenous artists in the cast, crew and overall set design, which works to further “Indigenize” the theater space.

After the play’s run in Los Angeles, Fake It Until You Make It will be staged at D.C.’s Arena Stage from April 3-May 4, when Amy Brenneman will take over for Bowen. The rest of the cast and director remain unchanged. While FastHorse hopes audiences gain new insight into an Indigenous perspective, she hopes her play, first and foremost, serves as a reminder that going to the theater can be enjoyable.

“I honestly always want people to walk away and say, ‘Why don't we go to the theater more? This is so much fun,’” she said. “We've been through so much here in Los Angeles specifically, but in our country, there's a lot going on and so this is a beautiful way for us to come together no matter what your previous background is, no matter what your political affiliation is, no matter any of your previous beliefs before you walk in this theater.”

She added, “I want you to be able to come in and have a good time and have fun and say, ‘Gosh, we've got to do this more often.’”