We stepped into Generic Theater on Sunday afternoon to find a playing field/basketball court set up as the stage, complete with a press box and various high school fight songs blaring over the speakers – getting us hyped up for the battle to come.  And boy was a battle brewing.  You might not expect it, but “A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of the Greatest of the Great Lakes” really has very little to do with the weather, the outdoors, or any lake activities – but rather, the key word is “November”.  Yes, this is an absurdist take on that tradition unlike any other – the struggle that is a family Thanksgiving dinner. 

The play begins with our two sportscasters, Robert Torres and James McDaniel, taking their seats in the press box, where they will proceed to narrate the entire Thanksgiving Day of the family who takes the field below them.  McDaniel really nails the vibe of the play-by-play guy, while Torres plays a bit more of the straight man color commentator.  Their chemistry (and stamina) is important, as they pretty much talk to you for the entire hour and a half show, giving you stats and analysis throughout.

Meanwhile, on the gridiron below, we are introduced to Andreyah Perry (playing “Cheesecake” – just accept the names, meant to indicate what archetype within the family the role is playing), Alex Weller as “Trifle”, and Emery Montalvo as “Cherry Pie,” three adult sisters who together have taken on the role of matriarch of the family.  Perry (“Cheesecake”) is hosting Thanksgiving dinner, and doing her darndest to make everything go smoothly, becoming the emotional center of the show (and Perry thrives in the role).  The sisters’ dynamic is familiar to those of us with siblings – they bicker, they help one another, they gossip, and they tend to revert to the roles they played as children when they get together.  But don’t expect that to be portrayed in a typical, dialogue-y sort of way.  No, in this absurdist play, pretty much everything is acted out by the actors, but in a new and different way then you might think, and most of the dead air is filled by the sportscasters in the booth. 

Soon enough, the rest of the family starts to arrive.  Ann Heywood is imposing – if not in stature, definitely in emotional gravitas – as the newly blind SnapDragon (aka mother to the three sisters), and arrives with her nearly deaf husband GrandDada (played by the expressive and bespectacled Bob Cohen).  Laura Pohl in the role of “Republican’s Wife” arrives with her husband and a big (and I do mean BIG) glass of wine.  Bethany Biggs as the clumsy and accident-prone “Gumbo” shows up (late, of course).  And the rest of the ensemble (meaning, five roles each) is filled out by the multi-faceted performances of Journee Berry and Michael Stypulkoski.  Oh, and, perhaps having been in the house from the start (but not in the kitchen), is Joanie Brew as “Fred, Ed, and Ned”, a trope on having the three sisters’ husbands all being essentially the same personality – i.e. ready to help as necessary, but basically, just trying to get through the day while ensuring the drama isn’t going to be about them. 

With so many different personalities in the room, you can imagine how the cooking (and the day) goes.  In fact, you likely don’t have to imagine – it felt as familiar as any big family gathering that I’ve been to.  The absurdist style, while generally not showing things directly being acted out, did successfully capture the feelings associated with those things happening – and the audience can always rely on those broadcasters to give us the proper context and family history necessary to fully grasp the moment.  The style of this particular absurdism involved a ton of physical comedy – something this cast really leaned into and pulled off.  And director Shelley Nowacek deserves a lot of credit for figuring out ways to embody that organized chaos on stage, which would suddenly organize and create sudden and unexpected specific moments that stood out. 

Now if you think that what we covered in this review sounds like the extent of the absurdism of this play, you’d be in the same boat as us… right until the last fifteen minutes or so, when things really take a turn into deep absurdity.  Don’t say you weren’t warned – there will be a lot to think about and talk through on the drive home regarding the perhaps confusing and unsatisfying ending.  But I think that’s sort of the point – to be like your real Thanksgiving dinner, which may also have a confusing and unsatisfying ending.  I do hope for all of our sakes that our Thanksgiving ends with the pie though, and not how this one shakes out.

In summary, I think all I can say is what many people will be saying to their coworkers when they get back to the office on Cyber Monday – “Family, am I right?”  Oh, and – as someone who visited Duluth exactly once, and thus is an authority on the matter – how can this play claim that Lake Michigan is the greatest of the great lakes?  That title is clearly reserved for Lake Superior.  (Comments – off.  Just try to come at me you Lake Michigan apologists.)