In 1998, a tragedy of violence and brutality catapulted Laramie, Wyoming, the prototypical American small town, into the national spotlight. On October 6, 22-year-old Matthew Shepard, was found beaten and nearly lifeless, tied to a ranch fence where he had been for nearly 18 hours. As most people now know, Shepard was the victim of an apparent hate crime committed against him because he was openly gay.
"The Laramie Project," Theatre~Intime's latest production, which opened on Oct. 9 and will run again Oct. 16–18, returns to this unassuming Midwestern town to explore the impact of Shepard's death on his family, friends, neighbors and even the young men — Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney — convicted for his muder.
Written by Moises Kaufman and the Tectonic Theater Project, "The Laramie Project" is a collection of interviews with Laramie residents. Actors from the Tectonic Theater Project traveled to Laramie to conduct the interviews, and the play itself details not only the thoughts and feelings of the Laramie residents but also the actors' own reactions to their research.
Monologues cover a variety of topics, from what people thought happened the night Shepard disappeared to the morality of homosexuality. Actors portray many different characters, a feat that the Intime cast pulls off quite successfully.
Unaided by extensive props or elaborate costumes, the actors are forced to depend solely upon their acting ability to help the audience visualize and understand the perspectives of their multiple characters. Many of these characters are tragic, but humor is never forgotten. They are achingly real — both in their ability to make us laugh and their ability to make us cry.
The acting grew in strength throughout the production, a particular high point being cast member Charif Shanahan's '05 monologue as Dennis Shepard, Matthew's father.
"Dennis Shepard was just moving to perform," Shanahan said. "I felt like I just had to think about what I was saying and do it rather than act. There is such an emotional pull to that monologue."
Though slightly bogged down in one or two places, the play is generally well-paced and energized, propelling the audience from one monologue to another in relatively quick succession.
"The idea is that things are constantly in motion; that is what tragedies do," said director Branden Jacobs-Jenkins '06. "Tragedies spread like ripples in a pool. There is a feeling of locomotion, that everything is connected."
The set itself, designed by Jacobs-Jenkins, Rebecca Simson '04 and Edwin Davisson '06 is stunningly bare. The outer edges of the stage are concealed by a white backdrop but the middle is cut open to reveal black flats covered with pipes, chain link fencing and other rusted industrial objects.
"We wanted the set to have an immaculateness and cleanness and then have it as if someone had punched a hole through it," said stage manager Zachary Woolfe '06, who worked with Jacobs-Jenkins, Simson and Davisson to pull together the show's aesthetic. "There is a rusting, industrial background beneath the surface of the picturesque town. The question is: when we look beneath the surface, are we happy with what is there?"
Stark in its simplicity, "The Laramie Project" is a production that raises many questions but gives few answers.
"I hope that after seeing the show the audience walks away questioning themselves; I don't want them to have answers," said Jacobs-Jenkins. "I think that it's important that people form their own answers. Defining what you think is part of being an individual."
In "The Laramie Project," Shepard is neither a saint nor a martyr, and though he has become an important symbolic figure in the debate over civil rights and hate crime legislation, the play shows that he has also become a symbol of a very human town torn apart by a tragedy that left its citizens dazed and wounded.
"Zubaida Ula, a University of Wyoming student and an interviewee in 'The Laramie Project,' says about the beating of Matthew Shepard: 'We need to own this crime. I feel. Everyone needs to own it. We are like this. We ARE like this. WE are LIKE this,'" said cast member Scott Elmegreen '07 in an email. "This truth summarizes the importance of "The Laramie Project" and this is what I hope people take from the show."
In an age when much theater is ostentatiously intellectual, "The Laramie Project" is moving in its honesty and simplicity.
"This play has a lot to make you laugh and cry about at the same time and that's life," Jacobs-Jenkins said. "There's not a lot of method in our approach to acting — it's all about doing."
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