This project is Laramie-bound

By Travis Ball
The Collegian

As its name implies, “The Laramie Project” is more than just a play, and for director Brad Myers preparing for the production was more than just a project.

“I never want to do a number on a play, just try to make it something that it isn’t,” said the Fresno State theater professor. Myers said this piece allowed him to liberate his artistry.

According to Myers, the play puts a spotlight on Laramie, Wyo., a community that was redefined by media scrutiny in the wake of the beating death of 21-year-old Matthew Shepard, a gay college student.

“It is definitely more about the town than it is about Matthew Shepard,” Myers said. Shepard isn’t even a character in the play. “But you get to know Matthew Shepard through a lot of different perceptions.

All those contrasting perceptions and voices shape an image of him for the audience.”

“The Laramie Project” was created by a New York theater company called the Tectonic Theater Company.

Following Shepard’s death in 1998, eight members of the company went to Laramie and conducted numerous interviews to capture various outlooks on the event.

The interviews resulted in a play that has a strong focus on story and presentation.

“They wanted to open up this debate and look at Laramie in terms of its uniqueness and look at Laramie in terms of how it is a microcosm of national values,” Myers said about the goals of the theater company. Issues like sexual politics, homophobia, violence, class structure and an agenda driven invasive media are all central to the debate.

For Myers, part of the task to prepare for his production of “The Laramie Project” was making the actual trip to Laramie, Wyo.

“I thought if nothing else I’ll just scout out the locations of the play and take pictures and have another way of communicating with the actors,” Myers said. “It became so much more than that in terms of getting my finger on the pulse of Laramie, the people of Laramie and how they continue to react to the whole Matthew Shepard incident.”

In a play that was originally performed by the eight actors of the Tectonic Theater Company playing numerous roles, Myers’ production has 32 actors and creates a more theatrical version. He said it was originally a quieter acting piece, but his production has really busted open to much more of an event.

“Doing a play in a way that I’ve not seen it done before is different than doing a play in the way the script tells you to do it,” Myers said.

The differences aren’t just seen through Myers’ eyes.

“It’s been an interesting and fun experience to explore this type of theater, because it’s a different type,” said Yosef Mahmood, who plays four different characters in the play. He said the big difference is that the play is monologue driven, and much of the dialogue is spoken directly to the audience as if they are the reporters conducting the interviews.

With strong topics like homosexuality that don’t always have a middle ground, “The Laramie Project” treats its audience like the rope held by each side of the issue on opposite sides of a mudpit.

“The nice thing about the piece is that it’s not driven by one single agenda,” Myers said. “There are a lot of conflicting voices that get presented in this piece, and you feel the kind of tugs as Laramie tries to be understood and as Laramie tries to understand itself.”

The diversity of views in “The Laramie Project” is something Mike Oldham believes gets a person thinking.

“It’s one of those things that people can’t just walk in and say, ‘ooh, this was a fun show,’” said the actor who plays three different roles in the play, among them being the kid who found Matthew Shepard after the incident as well as a friend of one of the offenders. “[The audience is] almost required to leave different, with a different opinion, with different information.”

The Laramie Project runs Dec. 8-10 and 12-16. All performances, held in the John Wright Theatre, begin at 8 p.m., except on Sunday, when the performance is at 2 p.m.

Tickets are $8 for Fresno State students.

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