THE LARAMIE PROJECT
Written by
Moisés Kaufman & the Members of Tectonic Theater Project
Directed by
Dylan Sladky
SUMMARY
The Laramie Project presents a deeply complex portrait of a community’s response to the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a young gay man living in Laramie, Wyoming. In October 1998 a 21-year-old student at the University of Wyoming was kidnapped, severely beaten and left to die and tied to a fence in the middle of the prairie outside Laramie, Wyoming. His bloody, bruised and battered body was not discovered until the next day, and he died several days later in an area hospital. His name was Matthew Shepard, and he was the victim of this assault because he was gay.
Moisés 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 during the trial of the two young men accused of killing Shepard. They conducted more than 200 interviews with the people of the town. Some people interviewed were directly connected to the case, and others were citizens of Laramie, and the breadth of their reactions to the crime is fascinating. Kaufman and Tectonic Theater members have constructed a deeply moving theatrical experience from these interviews and their own experiences. The Laramie Project is a breathtaking theatrical collage that explores the depths to which humanity can sink and the heights of compassion of which we are capable.
HISTORY
The Laramie Project premiered at the Denver Center Theatre Company in association with the Tectonic Theater Project on February 26, 2000. Directed by Moisés Kaufman, the production featured Stephen Belber, Amanda Gronich, Mercedes Herrero, John McAdams, Andy Paris, Greg Pierotti, Barbara Pitts and Kelly Simpkins. On March 18, 2000, the play premiered off-Broadway at the Union Square Theatre.
TICKETS $15+fees ($16.55)
RUNTIME ESTIMATED AT 2 HOURS + ONE 15-minute intermission
PLAYWRIGHT
Moisés Kaufman is a Tony- and Emmy-nominated director and playwright who received the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2016. Broadway credits include Paradise Square (10 Tony Award nominations), Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo with Robin Williams, The Heiress with Jessica Chastain, 33 Variations with Jane Fonda (wrote and directed, Tony nomination Best Play), and Doug Wright’s I Am My Own Wife (Tony Award). Other productions include: Pulitzer Prize finalist Here There Are Blueberries, Velour: A Drag Spectacular, Las Aventuras de Juan Planchard and Seven Deadly Sins (Drama Desk Award). He is the co-writer of The Laramie Project and the writer of Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde. He’s an Obie and Drama Desk award winner and a Guggenheim fellow.
