Yulman Theater this weekend
concludes The Laramie Project and
prepares for the opening on Tuesday, March 4, of The
African Company Presents Richard III.
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, runs through Sunday, March 2, at 2 p.m.
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 to which it can soar.
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
nightly 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.
The African Company Presents Richard III
Opening Tuesday, March 4 at Yulman
Theater, The African Company Presents
Richard III is based on the true 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.
The seven-member cast includes
Phil Chorba, Jamera Simmons, Ijeoma Mbamalu, Charles Holiday, Jhulian
Newell-Little, Andre Lake and Vanya Konn.
“The play is not about the black
experience,” said Yarrow. “It's about the perseverance of the human spirit.”
In 1821, the first black
theatrical troupe in the country, the African Company of New
York, was putting on plays in a downtown Manhattan
theater to which both black and white audiences flocked, according to the
playwright's notes. Shakespeare is the chosen cultural battleground in this
retelling of a little known, yet pivotal event in American history. Knowing
they are always under prejudicial pressures from white society, and facing
their own internal shakeups, the African Company battles for time, space, and
and audiences. Their competition, Stephen Price, an uptown,
Broadway-type impresario, is producing Richard
III at the same time the African Company's production is in full swing.
Price has promised a famous English actor overflowing audiences if he plays
Richard in Price's theater. Fearing his large white audiences will be lost to
the African Company, Price manipulates the law and closes down their theater.
African Company runs March 4 through March 8 at 8 p.m., and March 9 at 2
p.m.
For tickets and information, call
the Yulman Theater box office at (518) 388-6545.