Laramie Project at Jasper Arts Center this Saturday
On October 6th of 1998, Matthew Shepard was beaten and left to die while tied to a fence on the outskirts of Laramie, Wyoming. He died 6 days later. His torture and murder became a watershed historical moment in America that highlighted many of the fault lines in our culture.
A month after the murder, members of the Tectonic Theater Project traveled to Laramie and conducted interviews with the people of the town. From these interviews they wrote the play “The Laramie Project”, which they later made into a film for HBO. The piece has been seen by more than 30 million people around the country.
The Laramie Project tries to capture the emotions, reflections, and reactions of the people of Laramie who were most closely related to the crime, and asks the audience to call into question the beliefs and values that form the very bedrock of modern society: faith, tolerance, forgiveness, community, and the desire for truth.
The Jasper Rotary Club and The Vincennes University Theatre Department are proud to present The Laramie Project written by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project as a back stage production on April 20 at 7 p.m. at the Jasper Arts Center.
Time magazine called The Laramie Project “one of the best plays of 2000,” and in 2002 the play won the Los Angeles Ovation Award for Best Play. Today it is one of the most produced plays in America.
The stellar all-student cast that will perform this production includes Jasper-resident Shane Denu; Lawrenceville, Illinois resident Stacia Hulen; Velpen’s Tyler Smith; Camby’s Jon Robinson; Lafayette’s Skylar Saxton; Indianapolis’s Amber Dickey; Beach Grove’s Hannah Simpson; Cloverdale’s Cody Atwood; Kingman’s Vincent Cox; and Mount Pleasant, Iowa’s Jordan Miyoshi.
Please note that this show is rated PG 13 and children 5 and under will not be admitted, even if accompanied by an adult. For more information about the “The Laramie Project” itself, please access the following web site: www.laramieproject.org
This is a free backstage production and only 125 seats are available on a first come first serve basis.
