Preview: Larissa FastHorse’s ‘Fake It Until You Make It’ to Take Charge at the Mark Taper Forum

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Native American playwright Larissa FastHorse has become quite the force in contemporary theatre, shining a well-deserved spotlight on indigenous identity, as well as deeper topics onstage, all the while keeping the audience guessing with regard to how she might approach some of the scenarios she’s crafted, just like in previous works of hers like The Thanksgiving Play.

Preceded by the promise of FastHorse’s ironclad reputation, the world premiere of Fake It Until You Make It is primed to be a high-energy farce that is socially conscious and satirizes the dog-eat-dog world of the nonprofit sector. With rapid-fire wit and rambunctious chaos, the play underscores the lengths people will go to project success, even if it means coming across as less than authentic. Running at Center Theatre Group’s Mark Taper Forum through March 9th, the production is expected to be both hilariously entertaining and thought-provoking.

L to R: Tonantzin Carmelo and Julie Bowen in Larissa FastHorse’s world premiere of Fake It Until You Make it at Center Theatre Group’s Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, CA. Photo credit: Makela Yepez

Michael John Garcés directs the 90-minute play which specifically examines the rivalry between Wynona (Tonantzin Carmelo), the Native American owner of N.O.B.U.S.H., and River (Julie Bowen), her white analog at Indigenous Nations Soaring. As four other characters get caught in the crossfire, events escalate into a tumult of competitive chaos as motivations are divulged and the absurdities underlying what it means to be someone else versus one’s self comes into acute focus. Amidst the comedic melee is the moral of honest communication especially in a world where identity is often manipulated for gain.

Among the talented ensemble cast is Eric Stanton Betts, who plays Mark, a character entangled in a feud which has much meaningful messaging to impart. He’s joined by an impressive lineup of performers, including Bowen of Modern Family, Carmelo (Into the West), Noah Bean (The CW’s Nikita), Dakota Ray Hebert (Run Woman Run), and Brandon Delsid (This is Me…Now), all of whom bring a vibrant energy to this exploration of ambition, authenticity, and identity.

We recently asked Betts, among other questions, how he approaches his role, how his background informs his performance, and what it’s like to be part of such a timely and funny production.

Eric Stanton Betts stars as David in Larissa FastHorse’s world premiere of Fake It Until You Make It, which is running now through March 9th at Center Theatre Group’s Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, CA. Photo by Dexter Brown

For those who don’t know what to quite expect from Fake It Until You Make It, what past work or production would you say it is most comparable to, and why?

Betts: Fake It Until You Make It is, at its core, a classic take on the satirical farces we have seen in the past — William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night comes to mind. Ken Ludwig’s Lend Me a Tenor is another comparable piece specific to a niche market — that being Italian opera.

In Fake It’s… case, the story takes place at a common workspace among Native American nonprofits in Los Angeles. One lie snowballs into another and it’s in everyone’s (well it’s in Wynona’s) best interest to keep up the ruse in the hopes it will work out in the end. It’s a fast-paced case of mistaken identity and a comedy of errors. It should make you laugh and then cause you to think to yourself, ‘Should I be laughing at this?’

L to R: Dakota Ray Hebert, Brandon Delsid, and Tonantzin Carmelo in Larissa FastHorse’s world premiere of Fake It Until You Make it at Center Theatre Group’s Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, CA. Photo credit: Makela Yepez

The show seems to tackle the notion of people who “fake it” to get ahead. Do you think society pressures us into this mindset, or are these characters just trying to navigate a world where authenticity may feel more difficult to grasp than ever?

Betts: The reality for these characters isn’t actually a facade. Grace, for example, deeply believes in her cause and doesn’t ‘fake it’ for any other reason than to feel radical acceptance for herself and hopefully help others find that too. Unfortunately, I think far too often people tend to compare themselves to others and think, ‘If I do what they’re doing I will get what I think I want.’ In actuality, nothing is going to work the same from one person to the next and the most gratifying way to achieve something is going to be the path that challenges us and gives us something to work toward.

In the end, feeling like we really earned the accolade will help sustain our insatiable need to do more or be better, briefly. With social media and our infinite access to other people’s lives, I often believe that the person someone chooses to be online is exactly who they think they want to be — but I don’t think they realize that person isn’t who they are meant to be.

L to R: Dakota Ray Hebert, Brandon Delsid, Eric Stanton Betts, Noah Bean, and Tonantzin Carmelo in Larissa FastHorse’s world premiere of Fake It Until You Make it at Center Theatre Group’s Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, CA. Photo credit: Makela Yepez

As a mixed BIPOC artist, Larissa FastHorse’s Fake It Until You Make It offers an opportunity to explore identity and rivalry in a unique and humorous way. How does it feel to explore these complexities in a manner that resonates with the audience?

Betts: I am Cherokee Indian from my father’s side. I have lived a fairly ‘traditionally American’ life. I grew up in a mostly white town, played sports, went to church, celebrated national holidays and, unfortunately, growing up I didn’t have a direct connection to my Native heritage. It wasn’t something impressed upon me to take interest in, or to experience culturally. I remember the first example I feel like I really had of indigenous people in a contemporary setting was reading and watching the Twilight Saga. Before that, for me, Native Americans were always some distant thunder that roared throughout our history but always in the past. Western movies of the early pioneers, or figures at the Natural History Museum, brought them to life but as if they traveled through time.

There is a scarcity of Native American stories and experiences because for so long the people telling the stories also considered us as something from the past, but we aren’t. We are alive. We are here today. What should resonate with the audience is that this story shows them our presence in the world today. We get to see each other through the white man’s gaze as portrayed through Julie Bowen’s River; however, even her character takes great pride and care in uplifting the Native people as we exist today. Additionally, the audience gets to see themselves through the gaze of Tonantzin Carmelo’s Wynona, a native woman constantly undermined by her white neighbor and fighting for the indigeneity of her homeland — an ecological warrior in her own right. There may be some absurdity to the story being told, but the topics are relevant now and should permeate our daily lives and discussions even after we leave the theatre.

L to R: Julie Bowen and Noah Bean in Larissa FastHorse’s world premiere of Fake It Until You Make it at Center Theatre Group’s Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, CA. Photo credit: Makela Yepez

You play Mark in the production. How have your lived experiences, as well as expertise as a writer and filmmaker, informed the way you’re approaching Mark? What would you say is the main commonality you share with him, and perhaps a trait that you don’t?

Betts: There is a naïveté to Mark that I do and do not identify with. We are afforded to go through life and be critical thinkers and investigate our surroundings. Mark has done that; he’s applying for a job under a woman he has looked up to and respected for most of his life, but when they tell him this woman is in fact someone else entirely, he relies on that naïveté to survive the moment. He doesn’t have to believe what they are saying is true in the moment in order to continue investigating his surroundings and get a grasp on the chaos that he has put himself in among these founders in the nonprofit sector.

Additionally, there is an element to farce comedy that I, Eric, the intellectual actor, cannot get caught up in for risk of ruining the illusion. In some cases, the job of the actor is to say ‘yes,’ because in this case my experience isn’t the most important; its the experience of the audience, and I have relied heavily on our force-of-nature director, Michael John Garcés, because the style and nature of a show like this is drastically different from a drama or even a traditional comedy.

L to R: Noah Bean and Tonantzin Carmelo in Larissa FastHorse’s world premiere of Fake It Until You Make it at Center Theatre Group’s Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, CA. Photo credit: Makela Yepez

You’ve worked with diverse teams on projects like Kinky Boots, Tyler Perry’s Joy Ridge, and Holiday Down Under. How do you see the diversity of this cast and the exploration of Indigenous heritage in Fake It Until You Make It influencing the broader conversation about representation in theatre?

Betts: Our playwright, Larissa FastHorse, has already made such a name for herself in the world of theatre. Her name alone has invited the audiences and the gatekeepers of theatre to start a wider conversation. She’s made history as the first Native American playwright featured at the Mark Taper Forum in DTLA; so, this already begs the question, ‘why?’ Why have we spent hundreds of years keeping these stories untold?

We also have to ask what it means to be the first to showcase this story, by this playwright, at this time. I also find it so interesting how we have let the white man tell everyone else’s story for centuries but when we finally invite a person of color to tell a story we often ask them to ‘stay in their lane.’ There is an interesting dichotomy represented there, and it is compounded by the fact that I find a lack of arrogance in the storytelling done by my POC colleagues. I mean, we must admit, there is a veil of arrogance in much of our media showcasing the stories of people of color and constantly telling those stories through the straight, white gaze. Where did they ever get the gumption to sit down and write a story about someone or something they have little to no experience or knowledge of?

When I worked with Tyler Perry, he explained it so simply to me because he’s been creating theatre, television, and film for decades and he was told ‘no’ over and over again. He has been raked through the coals by critics but he said these words to me and I understood how he stays motivated and encouraged to remain resilient in his creativity. ‘I don’t write stories for them. That’s not my audience.’ That’s when I understood most how important representation continues to be. There will always be a underrepresented group out there and if you don’t create a space for them, who will?

L to R: Eric Stanton Betts and Brandon Delsid in Larissa FastHorse’s world premiere of Fake It Until You Make it at Center Theatre Group’s Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, CA. Photo credit: Makela Yepez

Lastly, world premieres can be a wild ride. What’s the most unexpected or exciting thing that’s happened during rehearsal in bringing this play to the Mark Taper Forum?

Betts: This interview is taking place during our week of previews. I have actually been a part of many shows that had ‘previews.’ In those cases, it was mostly just the term we used to invite a paid audience and shake some last minute jitters, but in this case, we are two previews in and today have been given a brand-new scene to work on. A world premiere like this is expected to continue to change as it keeps evolving from one space to the next.

It’s incredibly exciting and sometimes terrifying knowing we have only a few hours to bring to life a new scene that we only received earlier that day. I think what was most surprising to me was my ability to jump into something so new to me. I didn’t really understand the physicality of this play when I was auditioning for my part, which looking back, I’m glad they had faith that I could bring what they were looking for. It’s incredibly fun, challenging, and a real team sport up on that stage each night and as an athlete I understand the importance of teamwork. Reaching the end of the show feels like a league championship because we all put our best effort into it and got each other there. It’s a true thrill, and I am so grateful to be here.

Cover image caption: Left to right are Dakota Ray Hebert, Tonantzin Carmelo, Eric Stanton Betts, and Brandon Delsid in Larissa FastHorse’s world premiere of Fake It Until You Make it at Center Theatre Group’s Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, CA. Photo credit: Makela Yepez

For more information on Larissa FastHorse’s world premiere of Fake It Until You Make It, and to purchase tickets, visit centertheatregroup.org.

Imaan Jalali
Imaan Jalali
Imaan has been the Arts & Culture Editor of LAexcites since the digital magazine went live in 2015.

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