THEATER REVIEW: ‘Laramie Project’ tackles questions of hate, hope and humanity
Grade: A- It’s coming to your town.
No, wait,
It’s already here.
In Tuesday nights performance of “The Laramie Project,” members of the cast effectively brought a piece of art home – right where it should be.
Begun by Moises Koufman shortly after the death of Matthew Shephard, the project was originally begun as an attempt to, in his own words, “learn more about why Matthew Shepard was murdered; about what happened that night; about the town of Laramie.”
In the pursuit of the questions, the interviewing team – all members of the Tectonic Theater Project – stumbled across the dynamics of a town coming to grips with concepts far deeper than sexual orientation.
Concepts such as hate and hope.
In its efforts to “say it right say it correct” the project, unlike so many political extremists and quasi-ethical journalists, stems away from any type of agenda. Inertly theatric, the words of the town’s occupants serve better than any scripted fiction to drive home the questions arising from hate crimes and the pursued punishment of their perpetrators.
I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a play I could relate to quite as much (even in Logan, Utah – a town 388 miles away from Laramie) because I saw friends and, well, fellow human beings who are struggling, just like the town’s occupants, with the same opinions, the same questions and the same desire to come to a conclusion.
In short, the production really felt real (a fact amplified by the praiseworthy performances of the cast members who brought more than 60 characters to life – quite convincingly).
Interestingly, some of the starkly tragic moments of the production came through the letters of anonymous biggots, several hundred miles away from Laramie, who condemned the occupants of the town for actions they knew little about. More than anything else, the letters hit home because they reminded me of the ofttimes judgmental and willfully contemptable correspondence found in the pages of this and other newspapers.
Just as Kaufman argues, the real effects of “The Laramie Project” can be seen not only in the addition it made to national dialogue on current events, but in the “great sadness, great beauty and, perhaps most importantly, great revelations – about our nation, about our ideas, about ourselves.”
This production is all about accepting ideas, and no matter what anyone says, ideas can change the world.
Or if not the world, they can change a town.
They can change you.
Everyone, regardless of affiliations or beliefs, should see this play sometime in their life –
– why not now?
Matt Wright is a theater critic and assistand features editor for the Utah Statesman. Comments can be sent to
mattgo@cc.usu.edu.