The Laramie Project

By: Moisés Kaufman & the members of Tectonic Theatre Project
Director: Sarah Ripper

Arena Theatre
Clayes Performing Arts Center

ON OCTOBER 7, 1998, a young gay man was discovered bound to a fence in the hills outside Laramie, Wyoming, savagely beaten and left to die in an act of brutality and hate that shocked the nation. Matthew Shepard's death became a national symbol of intolerance, but for the people of Laramie the event was deeply personal, and it is their voices we hear in this stunningly effective theater piece.

Moises Kaufman and fellow members of the Tectonic Theater Project made six trips to Laramie over the course of a year and a half in the aftermath of the beating and conducted more than 200 interviews with people of
the town. From these interviews as well as their own experiences, Kaufman and the Tectonic Theater members have constructed a deeply moving theatrical experience. The Laramie Project chronicles the life of the town of Laramie in the year after the murder, using sixteen actors to embody more than sixty different people in their own words--from rural ranchers to university professors. The result is a complex portrayal that dispels the simplistic
media stereotypes and explores the depths to which humanity can sink and the heights of compassion of which we are capable.

This play explores themes and content such as adult language, hate crime violence (verbal and physical), religious viewpoints, and homophobia.

The Laramie Project, directed by Sarah Ripper and performed by the second-year BFA acting students will be presented in the Arena Theatre in Clayes Performing Arts Center this week on Thursday-Saturday nights at 8 p.m., and next week on Wednesday-Saturday nights at 8 p.m. On October 27, the performance will be followed by a talkback led by Heather Denyer, and the November 3 performance will include ASL interpretation.

Please visit the event website for ticketing and complete information.