The Laramie Project is play based on the true
story of a boy named Matthew Shepard who was killed for being gay. The play's
lines are all real quotes said by some of the 200 people interviewed when the
murder happened. Considering the fact that the play is done completely with
real quotes, it does an amazing job telling the series of events that led to
Shepard’s murder and its aftermath.
The play starts off with the narrator explaining the
background of the play and then moves on to talk about some of the people that
live in the town. Each person performing in the play had multiple parts so they
were constantly going back on stage as a different character, and sometimes
character changes would happen on stage. Brandon
Rosenburg (13) said “it was a new experience playing several characters.”
Michelle
Beas (12) felt it was “really challenging because we had no costume to
differentiate the characters we played, so we had to rely fully on acting to
portray the character.” All the actors pulled it off though; it was never hard
to tell when a person was doing a different character.
The stage was done beautifully with a glowing
blue background and in front of that a sign that stated “Hate is not a Laramie
Value.” The sign helps reinforce the anti hate theme of the play. The anti-hate
movement started when the townspeople were shocked that Shepard was murdered by
some of their own people. They were trying to get rid of their bad name that
they were starting to get by trying and show the world that they are a nice and
accepting town.
The Laramie Project is not the typical type of
play Granite Hills
Theater performs. Normally, they do
comedies or musicals. Theater teacher James Chatham picked the play because he
“wanted to chose a play that was relevant to current conditions in education.”
Trying to stop hate is important because “hate is a big issue in high school,
and I believe the play shows what can happen when hate is fully manifested,”
Chatham said.
The play may not have been a type of play the
actors have as much experience performing they were able to put a lot of
emotion into it and really bring the story to life.
In the end, they were happy they “got to tell
such a beautiful, true story,” Tyler
Owens (12) said.