HAPPY THANKSGIVING
By Tim Boland
HAPPY THANKSGIVING is a full-length play set on Thanksgiving Day, 2016, two weeks after the highly divisive U.S. presidential election.
A Michigan-state (Blue state turned Red!) married couple, two conservative Republican parents, are holding their annual Thanksgiving dinner for their three adult children coming back to Jackson, Michigan (often branded as the birthplace of the Republican party): their first-born, a liberal firebrand Hillary-supporting daughter, along with their middle child, a gay Republican son, and the baby of the family, a Sandernista democratic socialist daughter.
Annual Thanksgiving family gatherings are normally fraught with enough anxiety for this diverse and politically-conscious family, but after the long and contentious presidential campaign of 2016, this post-election turkey get-together threatens to be a disaster in the making. One American family and their binds of marriage, parenthood, brother and sisterhood will all be tested as the family members are challenged to answer the ultimate question, which comes first, party, candidate, country or family?
Performed by the Quarantine Players
Directed by Leslie Ross
Produced by A. J. Campbell, Quarantine Players
Available on our podcast:
https://anchor.fm/qplayers/episodes/Happy-Thanksgiving-by-Tim-Boland-emoh12
ARTHUR HOLDEN — (D. Scott Graham) Early 60’s. Family patriarch. Old school traditionalist. Still, open-minded. Steely. With a soft side.
BEV HOLDEN -(Lori Balash Muhlstein) Early 60’s. The real family boss. Simple but wise.Path-of-least resistance peacemaker personality. Hidden rebel.
DEBORAH HOLDEN GONZALEZ (Caty Nicholson) Early to mid 30’s. Daughter. Liberal firebrand, passionate to the point of neuroses. Glass half-empty.
ROBERT HOLDEN — (Matthew Marcus) Mid 30’s. Son. Conservative. Republican. Gay.
SARAH HOLDEN HENDERSON (Becca Harney) Later 20’s. Baby of the family. Bernie Sanders acolyte. Socially engaged. Still, a realist.
HECTOR GONZALEZ — (Ricardo Padillo) Mid-30’s. Latino. Husband to Deborah. Progressive liberal. Less fiery than his wife. Glass half-full.
MALIK HENDERSON — (Chaz Pando) Later 20's-Early 30’s. Black. Husband to Sarah. Very well-read. An anarchist at heart. Passionate, playful, humble.
About the Quarantine Players
https://anchor.fm/qplayers
https://www.facebook.com/QuarantinePlayers
Quarantine Players are a group of directors, playwrights, actors, and technicians from all over the U.S. who have gathered to keep the ghost light on for you. We work to create weekly podcasts and video readings of new plays so you can get your theatre fix! Till we are back in our seat with you, we will leave the ghostlight on.
About The Playwright, Tim Boland
TIM BOLAND is an award-winning playwright, who has written for theatre, film and television. His original play, IN THE NAME OF THE PEOPLE, was selected as the national contest winner of the Acme Acting Company’s Third Annual New Play Festival, where it received its World Premiere at the Colony Theatre in Miami Beach. IN THE NAME OF THE PEOPLE received its West Coast premiere at The Road Theatre Company of Los Angeles. He subsequently adapted his play IN THE NAME OF THE PEOPLE for film for CBS Productions, which produced it, starring Scott Bakula, Amy Madigan and Richard Thomas. His one-act ACCEPTANCE SPEECH was part of an evening bill of one-acts called TAKE THREE, directed by Paul Lazarus, that played at the No Smoking Playhouse in NYC. ACCEPTANCE SPEECH was subsequently produced as part of a production of the author’s one-acts, NIGHT VOICES, staged in San Francisco at Shelton Studio Theatre. His play LOVE MAD received its world premiere at the Cast Theatre in Los Angeles where it enjoyed an extended run. His “HAPPY THANKSGIVING” was the co-winner of the Long Beach Playhouse 2018 New Works Festival, where it received a public staged reading. His SANCTUARY won the 2018 3rd Place Prize in Montreal’s Infinitheatre’s Write-On-Q annual play contest and was a Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center Semifinalist at their 2019 National Place Conference semifinalist and was a 2019 Ashland New Play Festival Semifinalist. His political comedy, HAIL TO THE CHIEF, received a staged reading production with Canada’s Brave New Productions. His romantic comedy DIVORCE HONEYMOON received public staged readings in Florida and Los Angeles and THE HOUSE received a public staged reading at the Little Victory Theatre in Burbank. He participated in the Bay Area Playwrights Festival where LOVE MAD was first presented. The film WELCOME HOME, for which he was original co-screenwriter, starring Luke Perry, was filmed for UPtv. He was a member of the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop where SUBURBAN GOTHIC was showcased at the Edison Theatre as part of BMI’s Spring Showcase of new works. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Writers Guild of America.
