The Laramie Project
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The Laramie Project is a play by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project about the reaction to the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming, widely considered to be a hate crime motivated by homophobia (see the Shepard article for more on the incident). The play draws on over 200 interviews conducted by the theater company with inhabitants of the town, company members' own journal entires, and published news reports. Eight actors portray more than 60 characters in what have been described as scripted "moments," rather than traditional acts and scenes.
The play premiered at the Civic Center, Denver in February 2000 and was then performed in the Union Square Theater in New York City before a November 2002 performance in Laramie itself.
As a result of the play's success, HBO commissioned a 2002 film of The Laramie Project, also written and directed by Kaufman, starring Christina Ricci, Steve Buscemi, Camryn Manheim, Bill Irwin, Summer Phoenix, Joshua Jackson, Clea Duvall and Janeane Garofalo. The film employs a documentary style but includes actual events re-enacted by actors. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2002 and was broadcast on HBO in March 2002.
The Laramie Project was performed in Hamilton, New Zealand in June 2006 by Theatre Studies Students of Waikato University and Directed by Gaye Poole.
In July of 2006, The Laramie Project will be performed at French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts in Hancock, New York.
High School and College performances
The play was performed by the Carl Sandburg High School Theater department in Orland Park, Illinois for its 2001 fall play.In fall 2002, Naperville North High School in Naperville, Illinois, ran a production of the play. North's production was later selected for the Illinois High School Theatre Fest in early spring of 2003.
In the fall of 2002, Astoria High School in Astoria, Oregon put on a production of the show. Astoria's production was selected as the closing-night show of the Oregon State Thespian Conference and performed there in the spring of 2003.
The play was performed at the Lydia Mendelsohn Theatre in Ann Arbor, Michigan on November 17-20, 2005 by students from the Department of Theatre and Drama at the University of Michigan.
The highly-acclaimed, award-winning Westmont High School drama department in Campbell, California, directed by Jeff Bengford, performed The Laramie Project in January 2006 as part of their Unity Week celebration. ([Click for photos.])
Performances of the play have sometimes generated controversy. When the Southridge High School theatre program, in Beaverton, Oregon, requested rights to perform the play for their Spring 2006 production, a major outcry from fundamentalist Christian organizations followed. Groups travelled to protest the event, including Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church from Topeka, Kansas, from http://www.Godhatesfags.com With support from community activists and the repeated efforts of the school's theatre program, the production proceeded to open on May 26, 2006.
In their 2007 drama season, both Lincoln High School and Jesuit High School in Portland, Oregon will perform the play. This also is expected to generate controversy, as JHS is a Catholic school. Cabra Dominican College is also another school, located in South Australia, which performed this play and received high praise in the fall of 2006.
The Laramie Project will be performed in the UK by Xpress Theatre Company, Surrey. They are touring the production in schools to try and increase awareness of this type of bullying that still occurs in schools.
External links
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