The Laramie Project
The Laramie Project
By Moises Kaufman and The Tectonic Theater Project
Directed by Stephen Halpin
Baggy Pants Theater Company
Presenting at the Orlando Shakespeare Theatre
Orlando, FL</strong>
Laramie’s civic model claims to be “live and let live” unless you are weak and different and get into cars with strangers. Then you are a candidate for a world class whipping. That’s what happened to Matthew Shepard, he ended up tied to a fence in the middle of nowhere after leaving a bar with two rednecks in a pickup truck. This perennial favorite explores the aftermath of the murder through a series of interviews with other Laramie residents – friends, acquaintances, family and his murders. Presented in a swirling intersection of nonlinear monologs we come to understand Matthew, the men who killed him and the effect the events had on this otherwise hard scrabble western town.
Other questions are implied: Was Shepard’s death over dramatized? Was it a media feeding frenzy because he was a gay man in the most macho city in the west? After all, the show points out a highway patrol officer died that same day with almost no notice. Answers are implied but not stated and that what moves this show into heart wrenching territory. Police officers know they can die at any time, and we have the thought they knew that when they signed up. Shepard may have taken risks, but no one thought those risks were worthy of a death worse than that most Mafioso expect.
The flyer says “interactive”, this means audience members are recruited to read some of the lesser parts or wave protest signs. I can’t say this helped or hindered and otherwise excellent and moving production, but I always see including the audience as risky, especially if you’re not going for laughs. While there was some nervously laughter tonight, this is a deadly serious drama and by showing us the heart rending self-examination the Laramie residents went through we can reflect on our own prejudices. The after show talk back featured a professor from UCF but the talk back was more of a lecture tending toward generalities with the audience response bemoaning: “Why can’t we all just get along?” I can’t say why or why not but our track record stands: Humans as groups are pretty poor on that count.
For more information on Baggy Pants Theatre, please visit http://www.baggypantstheater.com
