The School of Theatre’s first mainstage production of 2020 will be “The Laramie Project.”
“The Laramie Project,” written by Moisés Kaufman and the members of the Tectonic Theater Project, tells the true story of the death of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student who was beaten and murdered in 1998 in Laramie, Wyoming.
“This story is verbatim theatre, all collected from interviews that the authors did when they traveled to Laramie, Wyoming,” said cast member Eli Mansfield, acting/psychology senior.
Verbatim theatre is a style in which all the words in a play come from transcribed stories people have told.
“There are 12 of us, and everyone plays six or seven characters,” said cast member Cameron Law, acting junior.
“It was originally four men and four women, but they upped it to 12 for our production to allow for a couple more students to be in our production,” Law said.
While the show is about a significant event for the LGBTQ+ community, Mansfield said they don’t think it’s the best choice School of Theatre officials could have made.
“I don’t know if it’s necessarily what I would’ve picked as a show to represent the LGBTQ community, mainly because it is about a hate crime and Matthew Shepard doesn’t really have a voice in this play, which I think is kind of sad. I don’t think there were any LGBT people on the board that picked it. I think they should have consulted before they picked a show that they wanted to be inclusive,” Mansfield said.
Abby Bryan, acting senior and dramaturg for OCU’s production of “The Laramie Project,” said the story is important for the campus to hear.
“This is always going to be an important story to tell as long as we continue to have hate and prejudice amongst any minority in our country in the world,” Bryan said.
Law said the events are still relevant.
“It was just the 20th anniversary of it happening, in 2018, and Matthew Shepard’s ashes were just interred in a cathedral in Washington,” Law said.
Bryan said there are offensive parts of the show, but she said she ultimately believes the show presents a positive message.
“I think the show is for everyone. In the end, what we get out of it is a promotion of hope and hopefully a bit more empathy,” Bryan said.
“The Laramie Project” will be performed Feb. 6-9 in the Burg Theater of the Kirkpatrick Fine Arts Center. Tickets can be purchased online or in the Performing Arts Ticket Office in the Edith Kinney Gaylord Center.
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