Review: 'The Laramie Project'
This article by Simon Saltzman was prepared for the January 30,
2002 edition of U.S. 1 Newspaper.
T he outstanding documentary drama, "The Laramie Project," is
getting a first-rate, in-your-face production by the New Jersey
Repertory Theater. The play -- a series of dramatic interviews
that arose from the horrifying events surrounding the fatal 1998
beating of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student, in Laramie,
Wyoming -- is recreated by eight excellent actors, each of whom
bring a realistic resonance and stirring emotional truth to the
compelling text.
"The Laramie Project" imparts no subjective ideology
or opinions. What it does do, with confidence and theatrical expertise,
is configure the opinions and attitudes of a cross-section of ordinary
people, citizens of Laramie , population 26,687, into a riveting
and enlightening event.
The young man on a bicycle who discovers Shepard's brutalized
body; the sheriff's deputy who arrives on the scene and inadvertently
comes in contact the still-breathing, blood-soaked, H.I.V.-infected
victim who had been tied to a fence; a lesbian waitress; the bartender
who was the last person to see Shepard; and a gay university professor,
are just some of the people whose statements and responses to the
tragedy define a town and its ethos. Even the positions of the
anti-gay preacher and protester, and a more conciliatory Roman
Catholic priest, are represented without reproach. Neither Shepard,
or the theater student whose parents could not bring themselves
to see his performance in "Angels in America ," nor his
killers, Russell A. Henderson and Aaron J. McKinney (whose grandmother
has her say here) are the main focus. But, they remain foremost
as symbols in this exploration into the nature and nurturing of
hate.
Members of Moises Kaufman's Tectonic Theater Company (the acting
company that brought such powerful journalistic flair to "Gross
Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde") traveled to Laramie
on six different occasions to interview over 200 people, the 60
of whom made it into the text. These are now being played by eight
fine actors, members of the New Jersey Repertory Company.
It is hard to draw a line to separate the excellence of the performances
from the arresting nature of the text. What matters is that none
of the actors betray or condescend to the diverse and idiosyncratic
natures of their subjects. This is one of the play's, as well as
this production's, distinction, under the direction of Ken Wiesinger.
In the light of the original visits, in the midst of what had
become a media frenzy, Tectonic Theater members were able to extract
from the guardedly open interviewees what life was, is, and will
possibly never be the same again in this corner of America . The
present company -- Dana Benningfield, Alberto Bonilla, Lea Eckert,
Susan Kerner, Duane Noch, Kendal Ridgeway, David Volin, and Eric
Walton -- although not a part of the writing assignment, commands
equal awe and admiration for their portrayals.
D esigner Julia Hahn's somber setting, with only a row of wooden
chairs, a few hooks for coats, makes a statement appropriately
in tone with the openness and directness of the project wherein
the actors, often performing multiple roles, are either seated
or standing.
After an exposition in which the actors explain their mission
and intent, the story unfolds without pretension but with journalistic
persistence. We can deduce how the values of old-fashioned homogenous
simplicity in this once prime pasture and prairie town has been
unsettled by an encroaching world of arts and letters, have and
have-nots, outsiders and strangers. Considering that the company
has not attempted to embellish or distort the words of the actual
people involved, there is a consistent honesty to the text. This
honesty, which is occasionally flecked with heart-breaking emotional
content, allows us to see the people of Laramie in the light of
their own perceptions about normalcy and decency. There is even
splashes of humor woven into the interviewees' instinctive distrust
of the Project, something not lost by either the original writers
or the actors at NJ Rep. If you have not ventured down to see the
work of this adventurous four year-old professional company, this
is a good time to start.
-- Simon Saltzman
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