Theater Studies produces Laramie Project at Duke

This evening, Duke Theater Studies will debut its spring production, The Laramie Project. This presentation of “documentary theater” is a dramatic recapitulation of historic events comprising 67 roles performed by a cast of students.

A series of complicated visual and lighting cues guide the 13 student actors, who change costumes on stage and transform roles in front of their audience. This performance style honors the original format of The Laramie Project, originally conceived by Moises Kaufman and members of the experimental Tectonic Theater Project in 2000.

The play documents the perpetration and aftermath of the murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming, in 1998. A gay student of the University of Wyoming, Shepard’s brutal killing sparked national outcry over hate crimes and homophobia-induced violence.

Several months after the murder, the Tectonic Theater Project traveled to Laramie to conduct hundreds of interviews with local residents. These interviews, along with dramatic monologues conveying the emotional responses of the actors and playwrights, contribute to the multi-dimensional narrative structure of the play.

“The actors are playing Duke students performing a play about what happened in Laramie—and they are playing the members of the Tectonic Theater Project who went to Laramie,” said Jeff Storer, director of the play and professor of the practice of theater studies. Storer is also a co-founder and artistic director of the Durham-based non-profit theater company Manbites Dog Theater.

Storer has been working on the production for seven months and is co-teaching a complementary Theater Studies course that gives students insight into the documentary form as well as the context of the pertinent events. He noted that the production and its conjunctive course attracted students from outside the thespian talent pool.

“The company of designers, musicians and actors are folks coming from all different disciplines and walks of life,” he said.

Senior Summer Puente, a Spanish and French double major, plays Romaine Patterson, a working-class lesbian who was Matthew Shepard’s best friend. Puente, like other cast members with no previous acting experience, was excited by the opportunity and attracted by the timely social message contained in The Laramie Project.

“Many of the people [in Laramie] were under the impression that if they weren’t killing someone or beating them up, then they weren’t actually hateful,” Paez said. “It’s a common attitude—if we aren’t committing a crime, then we’re not guilty.”

Students involved frequently commented on the “transparency” allowed by The Laramie Project WordPress, which chronicles the earnest and often poignant reflections of the student ensemble during the play’s rehearsal and production. The blog provides a unique perspective on the production as it transpired, and its existence itself intends to mirror the journals composed by those involved in the original production.

On the blog, freshman Andy Chu relates extensively to the character he plays, Jedadiah Schultz. Like Schultz, Chu reflects on developing a more accepting attitude toward homosexuality which, given his upbringing in a liberal city among “gay theater friends,”­ resulted not just from exposure but from true understanding.

“I am a straight man who thought that homosexuality was wrong,” Chu said. “Now, after Jedadiah, I am a straight man who thinks that his gay friends and his gay professors are not so different from himself.”

The Laramie Project will play at Sheafer Theater April 7-9 and 14-16 at 7:30 p.m. and April 10 and 17 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for the general public.