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 11th 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)
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