Homeboy Thanksgiving

Playwright Jose Zaraté and director Rhiannon Cooper debut a masterful production, Homeboy Thanksgiving, at this year’s Fringe Festival.

Two brothers, Ernesto and Ray (Silas Gordon Brigham and Luis Avila) have deadlines to meet and they need each other’s help to complete them by the end of the day. Ray, an avid, talented online gamer must finish his guild application so he can play his massive multiplayer online role playing game with the elite 30-10 Armageddon Guild. The guild is an infamous group of top tier players known for leaving nothing but burning digital villages as a consequence of their raids. His application with the additional leveling of Ray’s avatar by forty levels must be completed by midnight.

Ernesto, a former gang member and convicted prisoner has been given a job through a priest, Father G. If Ernesto can deliver cooked food to the church by 6 p.m. then he may have a promising opportunity for job advancement. At 1:10 pm, in walks a complication, Mousey (LaTisha Harvey), a foster child sent by Father G to help Ernesto and Ray with cooking the food. A fight between the three of them breaks out, Ray’s hand is badly hurt, and the clock is still ticking! The tension almost made me stand and shout, “You’ve got to start cooking!” Luckily for them I regained my composure repeating the mantra to myself “This is what theatre is supposed to do.”

This comedy of errors is set in the living room of Ray’s one bedroom apartment. I was doubled over in laughter many times during the show, I advise you not to keep anything in your laps. Especially because of the scene where Ernesto reveals the secret technique to his blackened stuffing with the line “I figured if I turn the oven twice as hot then it’ll cook twice as fast!”

Some time ago, the brother’s parents were innocent victims of a drive-by shooting. Their mother dies and after their father recovers he is deported. Around the same time, Ernesto is sent to prison for two years, found guilty by association to a false brotherhood. Father G extends a helping hand, leasing an apartment to the jobless, non credit-worthy seventeen year old Ray. Now Father G’s request is felt as an imposition on Ray who just wants to finish his application. The parallels of the guild application and gang initiation processes bring back unsettling memories of the lengths I pursued to convince people I barely knew online to accept me.

Homeboy Thanksgiving is a smart, hilarious production with an engaging cast. Funny? Yes. But ultimately, the reflection that Homeboy Thanksgiving shines on us under the stagelights of the Bedroom is one of our own privilege. How nice are our lives, not perturbed by the workings of the Justice System and Immigration Services.

Take me to the DCTS 2014 Capital Fringe Guide