Frank Henry Kaash Katasse on navigating the irony of theater

This is Tongass Voices, a series from KTOO sharing weekly perspectives from the homelands of the Áak’w Kwáan and beyond.

Frank Henry Kaash Katasse is an Indigenous actor and playwright who incorporates Lingít language into plays performed on Juneau’s stages and airwaves. Now, he’s directing a play written by another Indigenous playwright, about white people putting on a Thanksgiving play. 

He says the play is full of humor and irony, but at its core, it gets at the question of who creates theater and who is in the audience watching. 

“The Thanksgiving Play” opens on Friday, with a pay-as-you-can preview on Wednesday. 

Listen:

Frank Henry Kaash Katasse: Kaash áyá ax̱ saayí. Dleit Ḵaa x̱’éináx̱ Frank Henry Kaash Katasse. Hi, I’m Frank Katasse. Frank Henry Kaash Katasse. I’m directing the play, “The Thanksgiving Play” at Perseverance Theater. 

It’s written by Larissa FastHorse. This play, this “Thanksgiving Play,” has been kind of like a darling across the country. It was, you know, it’s a very top produced play across the country, had a Broadway run within the last few years. 

And it’s funny. It’s a really, really funny play. The play is about, basically, it’s about four white people trying to put on a traditional Thanksgiving play without any Native people in it, and the struggles of trying not to offend anybody. And it’s all very farcical and it’s really, like, line-by-line, it’s a really, really funny play. 

There is a certain amount of irony within this play, especially that it’s, you know, it’s a written by a Native person about white people trying to do a Native play without any Native people. But, and that can be — that’s a tricky thing to navigate. And one great thing about Perseverance is that, you know, bringing in a supporting cast of Indigenous perspectives and BIPOC perspectives and so not just me, you know, helming as the director, but you know, we have cultural consultants that are going to come in.

And Perseverance Theater spends a great amount of resources and energy educating and discussing whose land that we’re on and how It’s important to tell these stories in Lingít Aaní, so this play, you know, it seems like to make fun and poke at some of those ideas, but Perseverance Theatre, I think, takes it very seriously. 

And I think it helps having, you know, a Native director like to understand some of the subtleties within the comedy. I’m like, “Did they understand this joke, like when they did this in Plano, Texas, or whatever, by a completely white cast and production team? Did they understand some of these jokes?”

These are really, really funny and, and we’ve got to try to highlight some of that Indigenous humor that’s built into the script. And there’s a certain amount of irony there. I think it is trying to hold up a mirror to society, and I think it’s my job to make sure it does that thing. 

I think Juneau will like it. I explain it to people just like I explained it here. It’s four white people trying to put on a Thanksgiving play, and they’re like, “that’s a funny premise.” And you’re like, “yeah, it is.” And they’re trying not to offend anybody. And of course, it’s always offensive. 

I think people are going to be surprised on how funny this play is.