Show and Tell: The Laramie Project

            For my Show and Tell post, I read The Laramie Project. The play was written using moment work by the Tectonic Theater Project based in New York City.  The head writer, Moisés Kaufman and his team, consisting of recent LSU visitor Leigh Fondakowski and over ten others, visited Laramie, Wyoming after the tragic and brutal murder of a twenty one year old gay student named Matthew Shepard.  By utilizing interviews and journal entries by residents of the small town and the team themselves, Tectonic compiled a documentary-like play.  There is no dialogue. There are no interactions between “characters,” which are based on real people. It reminded me of how Elephant’s Graveyard was written and performed.

            The Laramie Project opened in February 2000 at the Ricketson Theatre by the Denver Center Theatre Company. It then moved to the Union Square Theatre in New York City. Eventually in 2002 there was a performance in Laramie. Now the play has been brought about internationally with performances in Canada, The UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.  In 2002 a film of the play was aired on HBO.  On the 11^th anniversary of Shepard’s death, a piece entitled The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later was written and debuted as a reading at over 150 theaters. 

            The first act introduces the town. There are interviews from various workers, students, etc.. We get an incite to the small town life of Laramie where everybody knows everybody.  One resident, Jedidiah Schultz describes the town: “A town with a strong since of community…a town with personality…Now, after Matthew, I would say that Laramie is a town defined by an accident, a crime” (9). They interviewed a wide variety of people, from sheriffs to college students to bar tenders to preachers of all types of religions, they hit every type of person in Laramie. We get to hear from Matthew’s friends, and see what type of guy he was like. Finally, towards the end of the act, we hear the description of how Matthew was found and the state he was in.  Act two got more reactions and opinions from the town inhabitants. We got more information about the two boys that murdered Shepard: Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson.  It also discussed Matthew’s life in the hospital.  The last act followed the trial of McKinney. He was spared the death sentence because it isn’t what Matthew would have wanted and the dad would have preferred McKinney wake up every day knowing what he did.

            The most obvious dramaturgical choice that the team made was not having interactions with each other.  It made the show really intimate.  I could picture the lights coming up on each individual person and I don’t know it would just be so real and empowering. It’s as if they’re one on one with you actually conducting the interview yourself.  The stage directions also aid in this. At one point they say that “this moment should feel like an invasion and should be so perceived” (46). 

            Another dramaturgical choice would be that various ensemble members play most people.  For example, the guy that plays Russell Henderson also plays Aaron McKinney.  Each person is a narrator as well.  This creates the sense of community and collaboration that Laramie is so well known for at the beginning of the play. Even after the tragedy, we see the town growing together as well as the country.  Matthew’s death had a huge effect on people all across the world as shown by the vigils in act two and so everyone came together as an ensemble. 

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Laramie_Project)

Motifs - Horby Response

Every time we see Nena in Conduct of Life, she’s hidden, or covered. This portrays her clear fear that fills this poor girl. This strong and powerful image resonates with the audience because it is that powerful. The first time she’s introduced, she is wearing an “overlarged uniform” and then “gets away from him and crawls to the left” (51).  Later on Orlando enters the room thinking that she has escaped, when in all actuality she is hiding behind the boxes. Another time he assaults her, she’s fully dressed.  Her hidden body through her clothes and physical form is a recurring motif that represents and reflects her fright.

For the film motif, I’ll go with a broad and general one.   In the show Dexter, there’s a recurrence of Harry Morgan, Dexter’s dead father.  For those of you who don’t know what the show is about, it follows the life of Dexter Morgan, a blood spatter analyst for Miami Metro Homicide during the day and a vigilante serial killer by night, meaning he only kills those who are guilty of killing an innocent person but got away with it.  Harry enters the scenes when Dexter is questioning himself, and Harry attempts to lead Dexter onto the right path and follow “the code” in order to keep him out of trouble.  It’s easy to bring back Harry every now and then in order for Dexter to realize that he’s a monster and needs to control himself and stay true to what he is actually supposed to do.  The character development and evolution takes a while and after seven seasons, it’s still going on. Therefore if it were in a play or script, it wouldn’t have the time needed to really expand the life (or afterlife, rather) of Harry Morgan.

How I Learned to Drive

I’m not going to lie. I didn’t finish this play until about an hour ago, so about a week after we were supposed to have posted about it.  So, I was there the day we discussed it in class. Laine said something really interesting in class that stuck in my mind as I was reading the play.  Her idea about the “Greek” chorus was that they were her memories.  Her main focus was the story between her and Uncle Peck. Everyone else involved was just a memory.  People were blurred together and faces weren’t engrained into her thoughts. Why would they be? With something so serious and life changing, their faces seem so trivial. 

Another thing I sort of though about was that they were “Vampires.” If you’ve ever seen/heard the musical [title of show], you’d catch my drift here. Vampires are anyone who tries to get in your way or tell you that what you’re doing isn’t right or good enough.  So for example, when Female Greek Chorus explains how to drink a certain way or how Male Greek Chorus tries to convince Li’l bit that college doesn’t matter and that “she’s got all the credentials she’ll need on her chest” (1595). They get in her head and she has to fight them away.

I guess something that didn’t make sense to me was how people let this go on. There was a whole monologue with Aunt Mary about how her husband was constantly used by women and she knew that Li’l bit was doing the same. Her mother knew it was inappropriate for her eleven year old daughter to be spending so much time alone in a car with an older, married man.  I’m sorry but this sort of thing is not okay by any means and is beyond frustrating.  I couldn’t handle some of this play because I was so flabbergasted by the way people reacted and just sort of brushed this aside without doing anything about it.  It isn’t okay under any circumstance! I guess Vogel’s purpose of this was to really get people to think and be disgusted the way I was. Other than that, I have no idea why or how something like this could happen.

Conduct of Life

I think that one of the strongest dramaturgical choices in this play would be the constant (fade to black)s after every scene.  When we were first introduced to Nena and saw what Orlando was doing to her, the scene ended on a (fade to black) and I took a breath and went “Whoa.  That was really intense.” I don’t know if it would’ve had the same effect had the lights not faded as she screamed because we, as an audience, don’t know what happens next.  It’s up to our imagination. Does he continue? Does he beat her? Does he finish and then go about his business?  

However, Fornes chooses to end every single scene on a fade out.  Each scene is in a completely new place.  Clearly, the fade allows for a scene change, but there’s more to it.  When a blackout occurs, you know you’re in a new place; a completely new place.  You go from one scene to another, changing moods, situations, people, and everything. One moment Leticia and Olimpa are going over their grocery list and then BAM, black out and Orlando is raping a twelve year old again.  They seem like two different worlds, almost, and the black out takes you from one to another.

            I think the title is called The Conduct of Life because of the quote that stood out to me. There’s an episode of Family Guy when Peter is self-aware when he says something along the lines of how he always notices when the title of a movie is said in the script, and then later on mentions the phrase “Family Guy.” Well whenever I saw this quote, it was that moment.  Nena says, “I want to conduct each day of my life in the best possible way” (1495). It’s the over all message I took away from the play. Even when your life sucks, if you can find some sort of life and purpose then you’re set.  You can be happy. 

I'm trying to catch up on my blog posts. I'm so sorry!