Cast
Brian Centers as Greg Pierotti, Sgt. Hing, Jonas Slonaker, Fr.
Roge Schmit, Phil LaBrie, Rulon Stacey, Kerry Drake, Baliff, Judge
Bill Hammack as Philip Dubois, Moises Kaufmann, Jon Peacock, Stephen
Mead Johnson, Dr. Cantway, Judge, Governor Geringer, Murdock Cooper,
Fred Phelps, Cal Rerucha, Dennis Shepard
Ceri Hartnett as April Silva, Barbara Pitts, Catherine Connolly,
Zubaida Ula, Sherry Aenonson, Newsperson, E-mail writer, Lucy Thompson,
Foreperson
Cassandra Johnson Locke as Eileen Engen, Female Reporter,
Amanda Gronich, Marge Murray,
Trish Steger, Shadow, Sherry Johnson
Dan Marema as Jedadiah Schultz, Andy Paris, Doug Laws, Matt Galloway,
Newsperson #4, Shannon, Andrew Gomez, Russell Henderson, Aaron McKinney
Tom Pfeil as Doc O'Connor, Stephen Belber, Baptist Minister, Matt
Mickelson, Anonymous, J. Lockwood, Gil Engen, Sgt. Rob DeBree, Conrad
Miller, Harry Woods, Priest at Funeral, Mormon Advisor
Liz Steele as Rebecca Hilliker, Waitress, Minister's Wife, Kristen
Price, Reggie Fluty, Newsperson, Bailiff
Roxanne Taylor Moreno as Zackie Salmon, Leigh Fondakowski, Alison
Sears, Romaine Patterson, Aaron Kreifels, Tiffany Edwards, Jen
Dramaturg's
Diary
By Sue Kuehnhold
"It takes a village" is a common phrase that somehow
became trite before its time, but worthy of thought every once and
a while. October 6, 1998, would be one of those times that an entire
town would reassess where they stood on this philosophy.
Two seemingly upstanding young men of the quiet Laramie, Wyoming
community, one of them an Eagle Scout, acted in a way that was counter
to the value system to which they were raised. In a state whose
nickname is "The Equality State," and whose people think
of themselves as pretty much "live and let live," these
two young men robbed, severely beat, tied to a fence and left for
dead another young man with whose values they did not agree. The
ensuing months would test this community as it became the center
of an international media blitz, putting not only the accused on
trial, but the entire community's ideological base.
The Laramie Project was the brainchild of Moises Kaufman, a playwright
and company founder and director of the Tectonic Theatre Project
of New York. Shortly after the murder, Moises posed the question
on what they, as theatre artists, could do in response to the incident
and more concretely, if the theatre is a medium that can contribute
to the national dialogue on current events?
Over the course of a year and a half, and six trips to Laramie,
his company would interview the people involved in the community
and this tragedy. The play's characters are the eight members of
the theatre company giving first person accounts of this incredible
journey by way of portraying in third person the various citizens
that they interviewed. The Laramie Project, once completed, debuted
in Denver, Colorado, in February 2000. The play then traveled to
New York and finally opened in Laramie in November 2000.
A film was released by HBO and was selected as the Opening Night
Premier at the 2002 Sundance Festival. The film had a star-studded
"cast of thousands" including such notables as Peter Fonda,
Christina Ricci, Camryn Manheim and James Murtaugh, just to name
a few.
The film is a great way to see the beauty of the Wyoming terrain.
It is rough and the people there are considered hard working, salt-of-the-earth
types. Located 117 miles north of Denver, Laramie is a quiet western
town of a little more than 26,000 people. Ninety percent of the
land is occupied by agriculture, primarily ranching and wheat farming,
but amazingly, only 1.5% of the population is actually employed
in this industry. The primary workforce in Laramie is either attending
or working at the university or employed by the government (there
is a military base near by). Laramie is above the national average
in graduating seniors, test scores and students moving on to higher
education. The religious climate is varied and open to a diverse
community of belief systems.
Laramie was founded in 1868 by the Union Pacific Railroad and would
become the site of an important railroad maintenance arm of the
company. Laramie hosted the first courthouse in the state and in
1870, Laramie saw for the first time in our nation, women serving
on a jury. That fall marked another first -- women casting a vote
in a general election and, just a few years later, the first woman
elected to a government office. In 1886, Laramie became one of the
first cities in the nation to have electricity.
To drive into Laramie is like driving into an older town in say,
central Illinois… there are buildings and artifacts of the
past, but the underlying culture is pretty much "all American"
with a western flair. The speech pattern is a bit slower, the sky
a bit bluer and the stars a bit bigger, but all-in-all Laramie feels
like home. So how could something like this happen in such a place?
Referred to by one of the characters are the cities of Waco and
Jasper. These were two small, quiet Texas communities until their
worlds were turned upside down by tragedy. Waco was quickly thought
of a community of religious extremists and Jasper had its values
on race questioned. Government agencies and judicial systems were
challenged to their very cores.
Moises Kaufman stated, "The experience of working on The Laramie
Project has been one of great sadness, great beauty and, perhaps
most importantly great revelations- about our nation, about our
ideas, about ourselves." The Laramie Project makes us examine
how we not only look at ourselves and our communities, but how we
look at HOW we look at them through media, leaders in our communities,
the arts and by individuals.
Was the truth really told? And what responsibility do each of us
have in our daily roles to insure this truth? By examining the very
form of expression of our values, we begin to understand the perpetuation
of thoughts into actions, thus making productions such as this important
to the forward movement of our culture, hopefully one of understanding
and tolerance.
It takes a village….
AUTHOR'S NOTE
by Moises Kaufman
The Laramie Project was written through a unique collaboration
by Tectonic Theatre Project. During the year-and-a-half development
of the play, members of the company and I traveled to Laramie six
times to conduct interviews with the people of the town. We transcribed
and edited the interviews, then conducted several workshops in which
the members of the company presented material and acted as dramaturgs
in the creation of the play.
As the volume of material grew with each additional trip to Laramie,
a small writers' group from within the company began to work closely
with me to further organize and edit the material, conduct additional
research in Laramie, and collaborate on the writing of the play.
This group was led by Leigh Fondakowski as Head Writer with Stephen
Belber and Greg Pierotti as Associate Writers.
As we got closer to the play's first production in Denver, the
actors, including Stephen Belber and Greg Pierotti, turned their
focus to performance, while Leigh Fondakowski continued to work
with me on drafts of the play, as did Stephen Wangh, who by then
had joined us as an Associate Writer and "bench coach."
Photos Page
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Production
Credits
Director, Tony Vezner
Technical Director, Troy Lee Brasuell, Jr.
Stage Manager, Stephanie Williams
Assistant Stage Manager,
Bryon Abramowitz
Costume Designer, Mary Dempsey
Costume Crew
Linda Bremer, George Dempsey, Julie Knoch, Terry Locke,Debby Mills,
Mary O'Dowd, Carolyn Redding, Mary Smith,Jane Stacy
Dramaturg, Sue Kuehnhold
Hospitality Chair, Carol Clarke
Hospitality Crew
Dorothy Attermeyer, Sharon Barnard, Ellen Berry, Mark Berry, Carole
Borg, Peggy Carlson, Danna Durkin, Sharon Feldt, Darla Goudeau,
Carol Hudson, Jo Jones, Karin Kramer, Mary Pavia, Robyn Saunders,
Sharon Sobotka, Betsy Stiles, Christa St. Peter, Gini Welch
Lighting Designer, Sandra Liakus
Lighting Crew, Carole Borg, Peggy Jacoby Jim Pilcher, Paul Roach,
Sue Turner
Makeup Designer,
Bonnie Hilton
Makeup Crew
Michaellene Barry, Mary Ellen Druyan, Nancy Griffin, Arlene Page,
Kristin Quilici,
Projections Chairs
Judy DiVita, Jon Mills
Projections Crew
Angelee Favoino, Cal Turner
Properties Designer, Pat Huth
Properties Crew
Jim and Susan Hannigan, Mike Huth, John Otto, Patti Roeder ,Robyn
Saunders Donna Sauers ,Kevin Slattery
Set Designer, Dan Marema
Set Construction Chair
Harry Hultgren
Set Construction Crew
Dan Marema, Mark Hewitt, Mike Huth, Peter Sonnenberg
Set Painting Chairs
Jane Bowers, Dan Marema
Set Painting Crew
Karen Arnold, Eileen Duban, Linda Metz, John Mueller,Pat Rafferty,
Sandy Squillo, Janel Horvath, Pat Huth, Faith Mickley,Peter Sonnenburg,
Sharon Sobotka
Sound Designers
Bryon Abramowitz, Betsy Stiles
Sound Crew
Karen Arnold, Darla Goudeau, Sue Wisthuff
Box Office Chair
Sandy Squillo
Box Office Crew
Susan Cardamone, Peg Callaghan, Paulette Sarussi, Janet Ryan Grasso,
Kelli Kubicki, Jill Neely,Lori B. Proksa, JoAnn Mallon, Carol Suda,
Marilyn Wilson
House Manager Chair
Bill Wilson
House Managers
Dave Bremer, Jack Calvert, Susan Cardamone, Mike DeKovic, Joe Delaloye,
George Dempsey, Jim Dutton, Terry Locke, Jon Mills
Poster Distribution, Kathleen Kusper
Production Coordinator, Karen Holbert
Publicity Chair, Arlene Page
Program Advertising, Cheri Campbell
Program Editor, Bonnie Hilton
Program Crew
Alison Burkhardt, Cheri Campbell
Website, Judy DiVita
About
the Play
by Moises Kaufman
There are moments in history when a particular event brings the
various ideologies and beliefs prevailing in a culture into sharp
focus. At these junctures, the event becomes a lightning rod of
sorts, attracting and distilling the essence of these philosophies
and convictions. By paying careful attention in moments like this
to people's words, one is able to hear the way these prevailing
ideas affect not only individual lives but also the culture at
large.
The trials of Oscar Wilde were such an event. When I read the
transcripts of the trials (while preparing to write Gross Indecency),
I was struck by the clarity with which they illuminated an entire
culture. In these pages one can see not only a community dealing
with the problem that Wilde presented, but in their own words,
Victorian men and women telling us - three generations later -
about the ideologies, idiosyncrasies and philosophies that formed
the pillars of that culture and ruled their lives.
The brutal murder of Matthew Shepard was another event of this
kind. In its immediate aftermath, the nation launched into a dialogue
that brought to the surface how we think and talk about homosexuality,
sexual politics, education, class, violence, privileges and rights,
and the difference between tolerance and acceptance.
The idea for Laramie Project originated in my desire to learn
more about why Matthew Shepard was murdered; about what happened
that night; about the town of Laramie. The idea of listening to
the citizens talk really interested me. How is Laramie different
from the rest of the country and how is it similar?
Shortly after the murder, I posed the question to my company
Tectonic Theater Project. What can we as theatre artists do as
a response to this incident? And, more concretely: Is theatre
a medium that can contribute to the national dialogue on current
events?
These concerns fall squarely within Tectonic Theater Projects'
mission. Every project that we undertake as a company has two
objectives: 1) to examine the subject matter at hand; and 2) to
explore theatrical language and form. In an age when film and
television are constantly redefining and refining their tools
and devices, the theater has too often remained entrenched in
the 19th century traditions of realism and naturalism.
In this sense, our interest was to continue to have a dialogue
on both how the theatre speaks and how it is created. Thus, I
was very interested in this model: a theatre company travels somewhere,
talks to people and returns with what they saw and heard to create
a play.
At the time I also happened to run across a Brecht essay I had
not read in a long time, "The Street Scene." In it Brecht
uses as a model the following situation: "an eyewitness demonstrating
to a collection of people how a traffic accident took place."
He goes on to build a theory about his "epic theatre"
based on this model. The essay gave me an idea about how to deal
with this project, both in terms of its creation and its aesthetic
vocabulary.
So in November 1998, four weeks after the murder of Matthew Shepard,
nine members of Tectonic Theater Project and I traveled to Laramie,
Wyoming, to collect interviews that might become material for
a play. Little did we know that we would devote two years of our
lives to this project. We returned to Laramie six times over the
course of the next year and a half and conducted over two hundred
interviews.
This play opened in Denver at the Denver Center Theater in February
2000. Then it moved to The Union Square Theatre in New York City
in May 2000. And in November 2000 we took the play to Laramie.
The experience of working on The Laramie Project has been one
of great sadness, great beauty and perhaps, most importantly,
great revelations - about our nation, about our ideas, about ourselves.
Acknowledgements
Produced by special arrangement with Dramatist's
Play Service Inc.
Head Writer: Leigh Fondakowksi; Associate Writers: Stephen
Belber, Greg Pierotti, Stephen Wangh, Tectonic Theatre Project
dramaturgs: Amanda Gronich, Sarah Lambert, John McAdams, Maude
Mitchell, Andy Paris, Barbara Pitts, Kelli Simpkins
The US West World Premiere was produced by The Denver Center
Theatre Company
Donovan Marley, Artistic Director;In association with Tectonic
Theater Project
Moises Kaufman, Artistic Director.
Originally produced in New York City at the Union Square Theatre
by Roy Gabay and Tectonic Theater Project; In association with
Gayle Francis and the Araca Group;
Associate Producers: Mara Isaacs and hart Sharp Entertainment.
The Laramie Project was developed in part with the support of
The Sundance Theatre Laboratory.
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