characters she plays in The Laramie Project.
The Laramie Project, the moving story of bigotry
and tolerance as told by the people of Laramie,
Wyo., after the 1998 murder of Matthew
Shephard, a gay college student, opens Tuesday, Feb. 25, in Yulman Theater.
The play, by Moises Kaufman and members of the
Tectonic Theater Project, is directed by Lloyd Waiwaiole, who has long list of credits
as costume designer.
“Our actors really got into this
show,” Waiwaiole recalls of the rehearsals, many of which were emotionally wrenching
for the students. “Usually you have to spoon-feed [as a director], but this is
academic theater and they have learned a lot [about their own sense of
tolerance].
“It's exciting to see the light
bulbs go on,” he said. “I call my rehearsals 'Realization 101.'”
Of the universal appeal of the
play, one of the most widely produced in current American theater, Waiwaiole
says, “If you have loved and lost someone, you can relate to Laramie.“
Shephard's death became a national
symbol of intolerance, but for the people of Laramie
the event became deeply personal, and it is their voices we hear in this
stunningly effective theater piece.
Kaufman and members of the Tectonic
Theater Project made six trips to Laramie
over the course of a year and a half to conduct more than 200 interviews with
the townspeople.
The play chronicles the life of
the town of Laramie in the year
after the murder, using eight actors to embody more than 60 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.
The three-act play and the story
is told through the interviews. The first act introduces the actors, the
townspeople and the crime itself; the second act concerns the trial of the
first perpetrator, the shifting opinions and the media attention; and the third
focuses on the bitterly unforgiving leniency of Shephard's parents, who
condemned the killer to a life of remembering that their son died by his hand.
Laramie runs
Feb. 25 through March 1 at 8 p.m.,
and March 2 at 2 p.m.
For tickets and information, call
the Yulman Theater box office at (518) 388-6545.
African Company Presents Richard III
Opening March 4 at Yulman Theater,
The African Company Presents Richard III is based on the real story in 1821 of the
first black theatrical group in America
as it battles racial prejudice with violent interpretations of white theater.
The troupe's motto: “Say ya Shakespeare like ya want.”
Written by Carlyle Brown, the play
is directed by Joanne Yarrow.
African Company runs March 4 through March 8 at 8 p.m., and March 9 at 2
p.m.