On a bare stage sit two chairs and a row of microphones; the actors are wearing jeans and colored T-shirts and stand reading their lines from the script. Yet one hardly notices the details — or rather lack thereof.
The focus is squarely on the actors, on the emotions behind their powerful words as they tell the story of the tragic events that occurred on the early morning of Oct. 7, 1998, in the small town of Laramie, Wyo.
The Laramie Project — a drama that was performed last night in Bulldog Alley by the Nomadic Theater Square Pegs, with the help of funding from GU Pride — depicts the town’s reaction to the attack of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old student at the University of Wyoming who was targeted because he was gay, provoking a wave of public response that led to federal hate crime legislation. The show, by Moises Kaufman and the Tectonic Theater Project, takes a theatrical look at the reaction to Shepard’s murder based of off over 200 interviews, journal entries and news reports to create an intimate portrait of the horrific event.
The Georgetown version was presented as a staged reading, with minimal blocking, and absolutely no props and costumes. The starkness of the setting allows the audience to focus on the story and the emotions behind the words, which is exactly what the show’s producer, Ellen Greer (SFS ’11) intended.
While, “it would be both inaccurate and inappropriate to equate what happened on our campus this fall with the heinous, tragic incident that befell Matthew Shepard. In no way, shape, or form are we attempting to make that sort of comparison,” she said, “Our goal, and the impetus for GU Pride’s sponsorship, is to create much-needed dialogue about [LGBTQ] issues.”
“We’re hoping that people outside the [LGBTQ] and theater communities will come and talk about things and leave and talk to other people,” added Josh Goode (COL ’10), one of the show’s co-directors.
After two students reported being victims of hate crimes earlier this semester, students led a campus-wide movement to bring further education and awareness about LGBTQ issues to campus.
Bill McCoy, assistant director of student organizations and LGBTQ community resources, said in an email that he thinks the show may lead to valuable dialogue about issues of sexual identity on campus.
“Going into New York and attending a vigil [for Shepard], seeing how the community and allies reacted to this horrible incident actually had a positive impact on how I dealt with these issues,” he said. “I suppose that is my hope of this presentation, that allies have a better understanding of what they have to do and the impact they have, and there is a better understanding of how the community is supported here.”
GU Pride first expressed interest in putting on the show back in November as part of the events to help gain support for a LGTBQ resource center. But Goode said that after University President John J. DeGioia agreed in principle to the creation of an LGBTQ resource center in late October, the production of The Laramie Project has had more time to be “given the justice it deserves”, since there was no longer a deadline to be met.
Greer said that Nomadic Theater Square Pegs productions typically only require two or three weeks for rehearsals, describing it as “a low-input, high-impact form of theater.” But everything has changed this year with the partnership with GU Pride, he said. “Nomadic supplies the experience, talent and contacts while Pride supplies the resources, support and a relationship with SAC,” he said.
Even disregarding the quick production period, The Laramie Project is a challenging show. There are 66 characters played by a cast of 10 actors who switch from character to character in a series of fast-paced “scenes of high emotion to scenes of joking,” Goode said.
“The biggest challenge is because these are real people, we wanted to be honest in how they were portrayed,” Goode added. “The actors used different voices so it wouldn’t be contrived, really honing their characters.”
The show is a series of monologues presented as a staged reading, meaning the actors have not memorized their lines. This was done to cut down on rehearsal time in the middle of a busy semester while still having time for Saturday acting workshops where the cast worked on emotional techniques.
Cast member Don Burke (COL ’10) described the process as “really challenging, yet rewarding — as cliché as that sounds.”
“As the only out gay guy in the cast, it’s been an interesting process since none of the characters I play are actually gay,” Burke added.
The Laramie Project is a testament to the power of art as a means to social change.
As co-director Julia Shindel (COL ’10) put it, the production is a powerful continuation of the efforts made in recent months to promote tolerance on campus, serving to “remind people this was a human and emotional issue, that such injustice is in existence.” The message comes through loud and clear.