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The Laramie Project | Introduction

Research for the The Laramie Project, Moisés Kaufman’s internationally successful play, began one month after a horrific crime occurred in the city of Laramie, Wyoming. Members of Kaufman’s theatrical group, Tectonic Theater Project, volunteered to travel with their director from New York City to the wide-open ranges of the West in order to gather in-person interviews from Laramie’s populace. The idea was to capture the emotions, reflections, and reactions of the people who were most closely related to the crime—the brutal beating and subsequent death of a young college student. Was this a hate crime? Or was it a random, senseless assault and robbery? No matter which, Kaufman’s objective was to explore the issues of homosexuality, religion, class, economics, education, and non-traditional lifestyles through the residents’ raw responses to the incident. How did this crime define the culture, not just of this Western town, but of the entire United States?

In 1998, Matthew Shepard, a twenty-one-year-old gay student registered at the University of Wyoming, was tied to a cattle fence, beaten about the head, robbed, and left to die on a bitterly cold night in October. Eighteen hours later, he was accidentally discovered by a biker, who had trouble believing that the figure he saw attached to the fence was human. Police and ambulances were dispatched, and Shepard was taken to a local hospital; all to no avail. Shepard was beyond recovery. He never regained consciousness and died several days later due to his head injuries. Two local young men were charged with the crime.

The play is based on more than 400 interviews with about 100 Laramie residents, as well as journal entries from the members of Tectonic Theater Project and Kaufman, as they reflect on their own reactions to the crime and to the interviews they carried out. Structured as a documentary, it attempts to reenact the events that occurred on that fateful night.

The play opened at the Denver Theater Center in March 2000 and two months later moved to Union Square Theater in New York, where it ran for five months. Later, HBO and the Sundance Theater Lab turned the play into a film, which Kaufman also directed. It was presented on opening night of the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, with Sundance founder Robert Redford making a special appearance to introduce the movie. Kaufman received two Emmy Award nominations as director and writer of the film.

 

The Laramie Project Summary

Act 1

The Laramie Project begins with a section titled “Moment.” It is in this brief segment (which is repeated throughout the play) that the members of Tectonic Theater Project read entries from the journals they have kept during their interviews with the people of Laramie. This repeated section also affords special characters a chance to deliver longer monologues than those given in the rest of the play, which is set up as interviews. After an opening comment by the narrator, one of the town’s long-time residents provides a bit of personal history about living in Laramie. Through this narration, the audience also gains some insights into the history of the town. Other people join in: some are newcomers; others have lived in Laramie for a long time. All of them provide background information on what it is like, in general, to be involved in the culture of the town. This sets up the atmosphere of the play. It gives the audience an idea of what life was like before the murder of Matt Shepard.

The atmosphere of the plays changes when Jedadiah Schultz begins to talk. This is the first time that there is an allusion to the fact that something seriously wrong has happened to Laramie—that the town has changed. Jedadiah begins with the statement: “It’s hard to talk about Laramie now.” Then he continues: “If you would have asked me before, I would have told you Laramie is a beautiful town.” Things have obviously changed.

Then comes another “Moment.” In this one, Rebecca Hilliker, a college professor, offers her opinions of her students. They are different from ones she has taught in other towns, in other states. They speak their mind. They have strong opinions, which Hilliker likes because it creates a “dynamic in education.” The “Moment” then changes focus, returning to Jedadiah, who relates the story of how he won a scholarship to the university by performing a scene from Angels in America, a play with homosexual characters. He concludes by saying that his parents were opposed to his doing this and did not show up for his performance. His statements begin to reveal the chasm in the community between those who are open-minded about homosexuality and those who are not.

The play returns to the interview format, with several more community members giving their views of the town. They provide more history, such as the presence and influence of the railroads. Marge Murray discusses the distinction she feels between those who are educated and those who are not. But overall, Marge believes that the general sentiment of the townspeople is “live and let live.” However, when Marge is told that what she is saying will eventually end up in a play, she decides that she had better not tell the interviewer everything that she knows.

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