On February 12th, ETHS will debut its production of Moisés Kaufman’s award-winning 2000 play, “The Laramie Project.” The play follows the 1998 murder of gay university student Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming, the public’s reaction and how the incident shaped future laws against hate crimes.
The play explores “the seed of violence” and what happens “when we tolerate and are casual about what people are hateful towards each other,” describes director, Timothy Herbert.
Because “The Laramie Project” is a show depicting real events, ETHS’s rendition of it is fairly literal.
“It’s not a play that’s open to a tremendous amount of reinterpretation, so what will make it stand out in our telling is the immediacy and the intimacy of the performance,” explains Herbert.
To achieve this, the technical directors and construction crew are building a set with a unique twist: bringing the seating onto the stage. Several raised sections of seats on the main platform will surround a smaller but more intimate arena-style stage, positioning the audience nearly inside the play themselves. Additionally, the set will incorporate new special effects, including water and snow, that will come down from the ceiling.
The process for preparing for the show has been arduous, requiring examination of this case
“There’s a lot of research to be done. These are all real people,” Herbert goes on. “So how do you, as a young performer, make sure that all these performances are truthful but also different?” Herbert asks.
Another unique piece of ETHS’s take on “The Laramie Project” is that the cast of only 16 people is playing around 50 characters total.
“How you do that in a way that indicates to the audience that it’s a different person coming on every time, that’s really hard,” notes Herbert.
Ezekiel Cannon, junior, plays a total of 5 characters in the play.
“I think what’s challenging about this one is just the importance of it,” explains Cannon. “You have to get it right, it’s so important for Matthew Shepard and the entire situation.”
“[I want the audience] to know the severity of the situation, and how important this is,” Cannon comments.
Come see Cannon and his castmates in “The Laramie Project” at 7:00 PM on February 12th, 13th or 14th in the Upstairs Theatre. Tickets go on sale now.
