From Wyoming to New York to Vancouver: The Continuing Evolution of The Laramie Project.

If you don’t know the story of Matthew Sheppard, here’s a quick synopsis: on October 7, 1998 in Laramie, Wyoming, Sheppard, a gay college student was brutally beaten and tied to a fence. It received national media attention in the US and the two assailants Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson were each given life sentences.

The Laramie Project was written by Moises Kaufman along with members of the Tectonic Theatre Project, a group of New York theatre students. They created a play from hundreds of interviews they conducted in the town of Laramie as well as their own journal accounts from the aftermath of the murder. The play basically reads as a staged documentary with 12 Actors playing 63 characters.

It felt very large in scope as I arrived at the small Havana space where Fighting Chance Productions are presenting the piece. Things got a bit heavier when Ryan Mooney (Artistic Director) announced that the show was going to be two and half hours with two ten minute intermissions. I gasped, along with the rest of the crowd, as I prepared for this epic play, especially since this was unknown territory for me: a play that has no main protagonists but multiple characters surrounding one main event.

The Laramie Project is not so much about Matthew Sheppard but about the town of Laramie and its inhabitants based on the experiences of the New York theatre students. You feel like you’re watching a documentary and for me this becomes the most intriguing part of the evening. The documentary form, as we’ve come to know it, is primarily based on television and film but here we are watching actors on stage recreating journalistic investigation. The actors, who are interviewing the inhabitants of Laramie, play themselves as well as the interviewees. They do this through subtle costume changes which worked wonderfully because you hardly noticed them happening.

I suppose it’s appropriate that a theatre project should tackle the aftermath of Sheppard’s murder as he was, according to the program notes, a theatre aficionado. Yet, it’s what happened after the murder that becomes larger than Sheppard the individual, who’s not even a character in this story. All that remains of the young man are general memories of a 21 year old homosexual student. That’s all we know about him, but that’s all we really know about any of the characters in The Laramie Project. The story is largely about America itself and the challenges that arise with an ever diversifying population. The play raises many issues, ranging from discrimination, tolerance, gay-rights, hate crime legislation and capital punishment. These are the issues that I believe Fighting Chance want to explore by bringing mounting this production in Vancouver, where these issues are just as relevant as they are with our southern cousins.

I was interested in seeing how the Canadian actors would rise to the challenge of playing New York students as well as Wyoming residents. For the illusion to work, each actor has to create multiple characters that differentiate clearly from one another. The ensemble cast do remarkable work but I think the daunting challenge of the production weighs it down in some areas. A lot of the actors use accents for some of their characters but because many of these characters come and go, there is a risk of them becoming simple caricatures, and since the southern accent is such a fun one to play there is a tendency for it to all get a bit much. It didn’t happen often but the few times it did, it took us right out of the docu-play and back onto the stage of the Havana where I could see audience members laughing to each other because of the funny voice and ignoring what the character is actually saying. As an actor I know how hard it can be to hold back and I commend all of them for their work but for the sake of the story and the style of presentation, they have to avoid letting their characterization become bigger than the story.

One character, Father Roger Schmidt, asks the students to honour the residents of Wyoming because if it’s in Laramie that this hate crime happened, then it’s in Laramie that the healing will have to begin. There was the danger they would be presented as simply inbred hicks. The Laramie Project is about a specific small town that had to deal not just with the whirlwind of events that overtook them, but with the easy stereotyping that comes when you have the entire world is watching you. As a whole, Fighting Chance has done an admirable job of presenting their story and I think Roger Schmidt would be proud.

Meanwhile, another character, Fred Phelps, pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church, has been a continuing antagonist in the evolution of the Laramie Project. During Sheppard’s funeral he and his evil minions protested with placards that read “God Hates Fags.” They continue to try to protest The Laramie Project wherever it is produced and even threatened to come up to Vancouver. It’s a sad reminder that there are still people with hatred in their hearts and it would be wrong for Canadians to think that people with this type of closed mindedness all live in the Southern States. The people of Laramie were shocked that this crime was committed in their community, one which was celebrated for being tolerant and diverse, so there’s no reason why this crime couldn’t happen in Canada. Ryan Mooney and his ensemble should be commended for bringing this production to Vancouver. It has enjoyed a run of sold out shows, thanks to a little extra publicity Mr. Phelps provided, not to mention a strong production. There is talk of a remount, let’s hope they continue with their success.