Multiple mistaken identities, a slew of slammed doors, and plenty of physical comedy spark Larissa FastHorse’s hilarious if not quite fabulous World Premiere satiric culture-clash farce Fake It Until You Make It at the Mark Taper Forum.

 Meet archrivals Wynona (Tonantzin Carmelo), the Native American head of an ecological preservation nonprofit called N.O.B.U.S.H (acronymous for Natives Opposing Buddleja and Uplifting Sovereign Habitats), and her not-so-Native blue-eyed blonde nemesis River (Julie Bowen), in charge of a rival nonprofit known as Indigenous Nations Soaring.

Not only are these two archenemies competing for the same government grant from their side-by-side offices, River has complicated matters by obtaining a restraining order to prevent Wynona from coming anywhere near her cat Pusila.

 It’s a rivalry written in farce heaven, and about to get even fiercer thanks to Wynona’s Caucasian boyfriend Theo (Noah Bean), whom River has mistaken for the Native American she’s hoping to hire as her organization’s executive director, and without whom she’ll lose the aforementioned grant, one of whose prerequisites is that the organization be 50% Native-led.

Despite Theo’s initial wariness about continuing to pose as “Mark Short Bull,” a scheming Wynona persuades him to not only continue the charade but deliberately sabotage River’s presentation, thereby securing the grant for N.O.B.U.S.H.

A trio of supporting characters add to the comedic mayhem: Indigenous, gender-fluid Krys (Brandon Delsid); the similarly two-spirited Mark (Eric Stanton Betts), whose shared first name with Theo’s “Mark Short Bull” may or may not be coincidental (and whose attraction to Krys is undeniable); and Grace (Dakota Ray Hebert), who may have been born Native American but doesn’t plan to let that get in the way of “shifting” into whatever race she makes the “personal choice” to be.

 To playwright FastHorse’s credit, Fake It Until You Make It features such farce prerequisites as characters either accidentally mistaken for or deliberately pretending to be who they aren’t, an abundance of doors to burst out from a second after another character has slammed another one shut, and an abundance of physical comedy shtick.

 FastHorse hits the mark too in satirizing such controversial topics as race shifting and cultural appropriation without fretting too much about political correctness.

And with director Michael John Garcés keeping things moving fast and furious, the laughter rarely lags as Bean, Betts, Bowen, Carmelo, Delsid, and Hebert give it their fabulous, frenetic best if not always entirely intelligibly due in part to the Taper acoustics.

That’s not to say that Fake It Until You Make it couldn’t use some tweaking.

 A brisk eighty-minute running time may ensure that FastHorse’s play doesn’t outstay its welcome, but she introduces her six characters, their jobs, and their individual interests so quickly that audience members can be excused for wondering just who is who and what is what.

The playwright also assumes that audiences will already be familiar with Native American concerns like the invasive species Butterfly Bush and English Ivy, which is why those who aren’t may be a tad confused by their mention.

Finally, as a devoted cat daddy, I for one don’t find the animal abuse perpetrated on River’s beloved if cantankerous kitty (played thank goodness by a stuffed animal) all that amusing, though apparently the avowedly “not a cat person” playwright does.

On the plus side, Fake It Until You Make It scores top marks for Sara Ryung Clement’s saturated-color Native American art-covered set, E.B. Brooks’ equally colorful costume design mix of contemporary and traditional Native wear (with special snaps to Krys’s hybrid looks), Tom Ontiveros’s vibrant lighting, John Nobori’s electrifying sound design mix of music and effects, and Janell Turley’s hair, wig, and makeup design, in particular Graces’ “race-shifting” looks.

Fake It Until You Make It is produced by Center Theater Group in association with Arena Stage. Edward Landa is fight director. Casting is by Josh Bywater, Kim Williams. Aleisha Force, Burundi Trejo Phoenix, and Kenny Ramos are understudies. David S. Franklin is production stage manager and Miriam E. Mendoza is stage manager.

Fake It Until You Make It may not reach the heights it could attain with some savvy rewrites (and minus its unnecessary animal cruelty), but for farce lovers like this reviewer, even imperfect, it guarantees a whole lot of laughs, and some post-performance discussions to boot.

Mark Taper Forum, 35 N. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles. Through March 9. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursdays, and Fridays at 8:00. Saturdays at 2:30 and 8:00. Sundays at 1:00 and 6:30.
www.centertheatregroup.org

–Steven Stanley
February 5, 2025
Photos: Makela Yepez

Tags: Center Theatre Group, Larissa FastHorse, Los Angeles Theater Review, Mark Taper Forum