The Laramie Project

The most important character in this play based on true events is never seen

Comments (0) By D.L. Groover Thursday, Jun 24 2010

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Young college student Matthew Shepard, who happened to be gay, doesn't appear in The Laramie Project, but he infuses every scene with his haunting absence. One month after Shepard's brutal 1998 killing in Laramie, Wyoming, theater impresario and playwright Moises Kaufman took his Tectonic Theater Project actors and descended upon the small town to interview as many residents who would talk to them. "It was a watershed moment in our culture," Kaufman said in an interview during the play's 2000 premiere. "So the idea was that if we went to Laramie and we listened to the town, we might capture something about where not only Laramie, but perhaps the entire nation, was at the end of the millennium. Not only in relationship to homosexuality, but in relationship to class, education, violence, religion - all the ideological pillars of our culture." The play succeeds with searing brilliance amid volcanic outrage. 7:30 p.m. June 24. Through July 24. Holocaust Museum Houston, 5401 Caroline. For a full schedule, call 713-522-2204 or visit www.theatrenewwest.com. $20 to $25.
Thu., June 24; Sat., June 26; Sat., July 10; Sun., July 11; Thu., July 15; Sat., July 17; Thu., July 22; Sat., July 24, 2010