Julie Bowen leads a farce lacking polish

When it comes to Indigenous identity, who get to be the arbiters of legitimacy and why?

That fraught question sits at the heart of Fake It Until You Make It, the new play from Larissa FastHorse (The Thanksgiving Play) currently making its world premiere at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.

Set within a building that houses the offices of multiple non-profits, the play centers on the rivalry between River (Modern Family’s Julie Bowen), a white woman who heads an organization focused on Indigenous culture, and Wynona (Tonantzin Carmelo), an American Indian whose organization, N.O.B.U.S.H., is working to combat the ecological impact of butterfly bush. They share their space with two other leaders, Grace (Dakota Ray Hebert) and Krys (Brandon Delsid). When the two women find out they’re in direct competition for a federal grant, they work to undermine each other, their tactics escalating into farcical hilarity. 

FastHorse’s play has a lot of potent and timely ideas at its heart — questions of race shifting, claiming identity for personal gain, and the complex conversations around race and ethnicity within Indigenous communities. Native Americans consider their identity a political, rather than a racial affiliation, and the play digs into the implications of that. From the problematic nature of DNA testing within Indigenous communities to questioning who has the right to do work in a particular space, FastHorse covers a breadth of deep, thorny subjects.

There is also a subplot involving River’s cat, Pusila, that creates ample opportunity for obvious jokes, which feel altogether too on the nose. With a play bursting with sharp cultural commentary, it’s a bit jarring to also dedicate so much run time to a tired and unoriginal joke.

Still, in spite of that, the material is superb in the ways it bobs and weaves through its concerns. Yet the execution is lacking. Farce is a perfect genre for exploring more taboo or difficult topics, but it is also the hardest style of theater to do well. To truly land, farce must have the precision of a sharpshooter. For both the verbal and physical comedy to have their full impact, the entire production needs to be airtight. That level of alacrity and impeccable timing is, sadly, lacking in Michael John Garces’ direction.

To be generous, this could be the fault of limited rehearsal time, a common challenge in modern theater, or maybe it was simply opening night jitters. Still, whatever the reason, within the messier chaos of the production, one can make out a farce with excellent potential if someone were to tweak, tighten, and sand its rougher edges.

The ensemble cast is largely operating at the top of their game. Bowen brings the sly wit and dry cunning that made her a standout on Modern Family to the character of River, a well-intentioned white woman inserting herself into spaces she does not belong. This marks Bowen’s theatrical debut, and at first, that fact seems to have her playing catch-up — but once she finds her rhythm, Bowen delivers a hilarious, honest portrait of an insufferable, yet well-meaning woman lacking essential self-awareness.

Hebert is appropriately absurd as Grace, a woman who believes in “race shifting” and likens race to gender — a concept assigned at birth but not an immutable identity. She indulges in the ludicrousness of such an idea, while also occasionally making insightful points amidst her madness. Hebert plays Grace as an eternally sunny bubble-headed woman, someone who believes in race-shifting the way that the girl you hated in high school believes in the toxic positivity of her MLM.

She’s well-matched with Delsid’s Krys, an advocate for the Indigenous concept of Two Spirit, a person who embodies both a masculine and feminine spirit. Delsid blends Krys’ joy in celebrating this identity with a deliciously biting tongue that earns him some of the biggest laughs of the night. Delsid is clearly living his best life, and audiences all get to benefit from that effusive enthusiasm oozing from his performance. He’s paired with Eric Stanton Betts’ Mark, a hunky late addition to the proceedings who expertly reveals hidden depths beneath his pretty face.

Noah Bean also shines as Theo, the boyfriend of Wynona who is dragged into her plotting against River. He’s adorable as a portrait of positive masculinity, a guy just trying his best to get it right. His ability to infuse Theo with a genuine curiosity and kindness contrasts to River’s guilt-driven self-serving approach. His comedic timing is precise, and he often keeps scenes moving along at a clip that maintains their buoyancy and sense of humor. 

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Unfortunately, the play’s moral heart, Wynona, is the weakest of the bunch. Carmelo makes an admirable attempt, but her talents might be better suited for more dramatic material. Her performance reads as more strained than authentic (ironic given the themes of the material), particularly when her character is meant to be angry. However, her biggest shortcoming is her wonky comedic timing, which often robs her scenes of their humor and is the primary culprit when it comes to the deflation of the show’s farcical elements.

There’s a lot to love in Fake It Until You Make It, not the least of which is the ways it presents fraught social and cultural issues through the easily digestible lens of comedy. Even though it’s shaggy in its execution, it is still a funny play, earning hearty laughter throughout. But this production seems to be taking its title too much to heart, faking its way through the farce and complex style of the writing, hoping it will make it. Grade: B–