The Laramie Project
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The Laramie Project Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥
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A Remarkable Theatrical Piece; A Powerful Statement
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Matthew Shepard was about two months short of his twenty-second birth when he was robbed, beaten, tied to a fence post and left to die in a rural area of Wyoming. The man who found him at first thought he was a scarecrow. Rushed to Poudre Valley Hospital at Fort Collins, he died on 12 October 1998--and when Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney were arrested for the crime they resorted to a defense known as "gay panic." Matthew Shepherd had propositioned them, they said, and they were so horrified that they killed him in response.
The gay community and numerous civil rights watchdog groups were outraged by the defense, and as more and more facts came to light it seemed that the crime was somewhat more complicated than Henderson and McKinney wanted the public to know. Witnesses stated that Henderson and McKinney had specifically targeted Shepherd because he was gay. After much legal wrangling, Henderson pled guilty and testified against McKinney, who was convicted; after still more legal wrangling, and at the request of Shepherd's parents, McKinney escaped the death penalty but has no chance of parole.
The case made headlines from end of the United States to the other and prompted numerous calls for Hate Crimes legislation, which had long been stalled both at the state and federal level. And in the midst of the confusion, chaos, and controversy, Moises Kaufman and the members of The Tectonic Theatre Project arrived on the scene, interviewing more than two hundred people about their thoughts and feelings on the case. These were shaped into THE LARAMIE PROJECT, a drama that debuted in 2000 and which has since shocked, impressed, and deeply moved audiences from coast to coast.
Playscripts are not really intended to be read; they are intended to be performed, and there can be a significant difference between how a script and how it plays. This is particularly true of THE LARAMIE PROJECT, which doesn't consist of scenes or acts but of "moments"--bits and pieces of monologue and dialogue and staging that non-play-readers will likely find difficult to envision. When performed, all those bits and pieces become like tiles in a mosaic: they may seem to mean different things individually, but when performed one right after another they become a unified whole.
Perhaps the single most impressive thing about THE LARAMIE PROJECT is its refusal to "take sides." The play presents its characters and their words with commenting in favor of them or against them; you are instead allowed to interpret for yourself. The result is uniquely powerful. Strongly recommended.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer |
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The Laramie Project Books In Print, Audio Books.