The Laramie Project by Moises Kaufman and the members of the Tectonic Theater company, directed by Jan Hefner was played at Bakersfield Community Theater on 20th October 2018. It is a documentary-styled play that analyzes the death of Matthew Shepard, an openly gay 21-year-old, University of Wyoming student, who was brutally murdered in 1998 in Laramie, Wyoming because of his sexual identity. This hate crime attracted vast attention worldwide, bringing sexual discrimination and violence to the forefront of public discourse. One of the most captivating and riveting pieces of contemporary theatre, the play shocks, challenges, and moves all who watch it as it divulges the lowest depths of hatred and greatest heights of compassion that lies within all human beings in any community.
I can’t express the emotions I felt when I watched this play. As it’s hard to say I liked the play because it would be in contradiction to the sadness that I felt when I realized that as a society, we were unable to stop this dreadful and appalling incident. The play literally gives voice to the townspeople, some who knew Matthew Matt, as he was known to friends and some who didn’t. Through the play we are privy to personal thoughts, difficult questioning and direct confrontations of long-held views. It sheds light on the issue of inequality both politically and culturally towards LGBTQ community. I liked play as it served a strong message that as a community, we have to be mutually respectful towards everybody irrespective of our differences.
It is a dark play which deals in a great extent with a death of a human being who was an aspiring student, son, friend Matthew Shepard. The set designer Martin Sharp did a splendid job in leaving the stage all black to show its severity. There were projector screens towards both sides of the screen which displayed images in coordination of the play. There were various levels in stage used to depict various time scales and places were the people were interviewed. There were a few chairs, stools and desks used to show a setting of restaurant and an office respectively. The set was very apt for the play I wouldn’t change anything in it.
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The coordinated outfits and costumes were a very cohesive part of the play. I wouldn’t change anything about their costumes as they were immaculate in the depiction of the sorrow and grief as all the character were dressed mostly in black with very slight variations. The angle wings which was used by Deva Wiloth portraying Romaine Patterson the “Angle action” were very surreal and gave a message of hope and humanity. The orange jumpsuits worn by Carlos Contreras and Kyle Brock portraying Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney respectively gave a sense of justice still being prevalent and crime would be punished. Every aspect of the costume was very representational and helped us identify the individual without elucidation.
The lighting design by Deborah Terrell, operated by Bryan McGill and sound operated by Harrison DaMant was very well organized and helped the play transition smoothly. I wouldn’t change anything in terms of lightning and sound as they were seamless. When the fence was projected in the screen on stage it just resonated a sense of overwhelmed anger and grief which just lead to me being choked and a few audience member’s teared up. The focal lights were very precisely used to great a great impact on the specific person who had imminent lines in the play. The music played at the end was very poignant which just served as a reminder the tragic event.
The entire cast was very impressive in terms of acting. In this production, seventeen wonderful actors were cast to take on the challenge of portraying sixty characters. They still exhibited extraordinary variation in emotion and dialogue delivery was immaculate. Kasmira Jenses portrayed Zubaida Ula frustration by Laramie’s lack of accountability for its culture of intolerance and discrimination was very realistic. Every detail given by TJ Sandoval who portrayed Aaron Kreifels and Reggie Fluty played by Jacquie Thompson-Mercer of the day when they found Matthew Shepard tied to the fence was gut-wrenching. Every actor was noticeable and indelible due precise depiction of the original characters.
The play is based on one of the tragic and preventable incidents. This goes to show the extent of rage and annihilation due to ignorance and lack of accountability can do to a community. I had a hard time assimilating this play and its characters. The only role I see myself playing is Romaine Patterson who wanted to bring change in the society and wanted everybody to realize that we can look past the hatred and serve as a hopeful community for future generation.
The play as a whole serve as message to ethical behavior everybody should have in a community. The lines spoken by Zubaida Ula “You know, it’s so unreal to me that, yeah, that a group from New York would be writing a play about Laramie. And then I was picturing like you’re gonna be in a play about my town. You’re gonna be onstage in New York and you’re gonna be acting like you’re us. That’s so weird.” It just reminded of Julius Caesar When Cassius says “How many ages hence Shall this our lofty scene be acted over In states unborn and accents yet unknown!”. The paly also referenced McBeth, the parallels were metaphorical but just the very uncanny. As we have already read “Julius Caesar” and know a little about Shakespeare it just gave a very unique perspective to me.
Though there was no on-stage violence, the language and references to violence was central to the script ‘The Laramie Project”. It has been almost 20 years since the incident but still hate crimes are prevalent. History serves as locus but we still don’t learn to use to our advantage. The main realistic goal of the play was to communicate social justice and tolerance. It is tragic but inspiring, as his story serves as a wake-up call to the violence and ignorance that surrounds social issues such as homophobia and discrimination.
The first challenge being portraying people who are still alive to be sympathetic yet giving a detailed account of the events that occurred on a dreadful day. The theater had limited space however, the entire team worked well within the space giving a wide variation in depicting space through using focal lights and elevations within the stage. The limitation of actors were 17 actors played 60 character which would have been difficult in transition. However, the entire team was pertinent and acted impeccably making it a cohesive play.
Overall the play had various though provoking question on humanitarian and ethical grounds. The plays send a clear message and there is no doubt that the cohesive performance evoked a sense of communities’ responsibility and awareness towards prevalence of inequality. This is a play that should certainly be seen by everyone. This play aims to promote acceptance, tolerance, hope and compassion for others, which is very essential in the world that we are living now. Hopefully the similar incident which occurred in June 12, 2016 “The attack on an Orlando nightclub” comes to an end. There shouldn’t be any more Matthew or the 49 people who died in the night club just due to the hatred towards their sexual orientation. This play just serves as a remembrance and reference to what should be changed in our society so that everyone lives the life the way they want peacefully.
