"The Laramie Project"

The University of West Florida theater department provides an unforgettable and tear-jerking experience in its most recent stage production, “The Laramie Project,” directed by Sam Osheroff.
The concept of the play is derived from the more than 200 interviews conducted by the Tectonic Theater Project under the direction of playwright and founder Moises Kaufman. Five weeks after the brutal murder of gay 21-year-old University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard.
The Tectonic Theater Project traveled to Laramie, Wyo. to interview its townspeople about the hate crime that shook it to its core, and garnered it worldwide attention.
Easily, the most astonishing aspect of the play is that it is performed by only nine students who depict 60 distinct characters. On the open stage, the cast members brilliantly transform into their different characters. Not only does this require brilliant swiftness in alternating wardrobe such as hats and jackets, but it requires the skill of enunciated variation in voice and body movement.
Osheroff said that making each character unique and easily recognizable was one of his biggest challenges.
“ The play moves too quickly for costume changes so all the character work had to be defined by the actors' voice and body work,” he said. “The other tough job was ensuring that this was not just a series of talking heads, each monologue had to be real and alive, and feel like a snippet of actual conversation. I wanted the audience to feel like they were eavesdropping on each conversation, but maybe that they didn't catch the beginning.”

If it is any consolation to Osheroff, the performers pass the feat with flying colors. Scenes transition effortlessly and end powerfully. The pivotal, and most gripping of all the performances is in the final statement by Chris Frazier, who plays the role of Dennis Shepard, Matthew Shepard’s father, when he addresses the jury about his wish not see Aaron McKinney, one of his son’s murderer’s die, but to live in prison forever in the memory of Matthew.
Without a doubt, the rest of the cast certainly shine, as they reenact emotional moments from Matthew’s memorial service, to the intense trials of his two killers Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson, both roles played by Kyle Golden.
In “The Laramie Project,” performers talk to the audience in a series of monologues instead of interacting with each other with dialogues, helping the audience feel more in touch with the storyline.
The lighting on the painting hanging behind the stage,by Kimb Willieamson dimmed and brightened, adjusting to the emotion carried in scene. The backdrop is a simplistic landscape reminiscent of the Wyoming countryside, or perhaps representing the secluded field where Matthew Shepard spent the last hours of his life. The set consists mostly of a stained wood platform.
At the close of the play, Dennis Shepard remarked that he could see the “sparkling” in the distance of Laramie, a city that has a natural beauty that his son so deeply admired. One could say the same about the compelling performances in “The Laramie Project.”
Osheroff said that, while he can’t determine what message the audience walks away from the play with, he hopes that it helps them form their own meaning of ideas and concepts.
“I hope that they catch things that I didn't even notice,” he said. “The idea that strikes me most is this: Inhuman actions are the result of inflexible thinking. When we see other people as ideas or concepts rather than humans, then we allow ourselves to treat each other as less than human.”


The next performance of “The Laramie Project” will be on April 20, from 8 to 10:30 p.m.
Location Information:
UWF Pensacola Campus - Center for Fine and Performing Arts
Phone: (850) 857-6057
Room: Mainstage Theatre
Ticket Prices are:
$16/Adults
$12/Seniors & Active Military
$10/Non-UWF Students & UWF Faculty/Staff
$5/Youth