The Laramie Project

A Brief Synopsis

'The Laramie Project' is a Verbatim play about a tragic hate crime that left Matthew Shepard dead. 'Verbatim' means that the play is based on words and interviews from real life. In this case, The Tectonic Theatre Company travelled to Laramie four weeks after this incident to interview a lot of people from Laramie, Wyoming. They did this so that they could write a verbatim script based entirely off of the words of the people of Laramie. The people interviewed vary from people close to Matthew to people who hardly knew him. This shows us the different opinions of people in Laramie and their thoughts on the horrible event that their small town is now known for. We needed to have a variety in the opinions of people in Laramie because only then would the play be fair to the whole of Laramie. Turning this event into a play not only spreads awareness for hate crimes and homophobia, but it also pays respect to Matthew and his family by keeping the memory of him and what happened to him.

Moises Kaufman

In the interview that we have watched, Moises Kaufman talks about his trip to Laramie with The Tectonic Theatre Company. They went to Laramie only four weeks after Matthew's death, meaning that it was still a sensitive topic to be brought up, especially since the media was crowding around the city at the time.

The People in The Tectonic Theatre Company found it difficult at some times, since some of the group are LGBTQ+ and going to a place where homophobic crimes and language was probably not a very good idea for them.

Whilst they interviewed people, they had to collect different opinions from different people, since they wanted to represent Laramie as a whole during the production so that everyone felt as if their views were represented.

Moises Kaufman used a lot of methods in his making of The Laramie Project including placards, direct address, multirolling, monologues and use of set. He did this to remind the audience that it was all just a play, and that they shouldn't feel a connection with the characters involved.

My First Thoughts

I think that this play is very good and progressive, especially for a very homophobic and unaccepting country such as America. A verbatim play such as this would be very difficult to perform, therefore I am very impressed by the way this play is performed because the actors were very good at playing their roles and their personalities. I think that it is very inspirational and spreads awareness of hatecrimes and homophobic actions. I think it was quite hard to follow because of the vast amount people that they had interviewed, This may be difficult for smaller performing groups, who don't have enough members to perform a play with this many characters. Throughout Studying The Laramie Project I learnt that hatecrime is actually a much bigger issue in the world than i thought it was. It was hard to watch Matthew's family's reaction to his death and their reaction in court. Watching the play made me really upset with humanity and the fact that LGBTQ+ people can barely walk down a street without getting harassed for their gender or sexuality. Visually, i really liked the court and funeral scene. I thought those scenes were really effective because it was really upsetting to the audience to watch the public's reaction.

Verbatim Theatre Definition

The wikipedia definition of Verbatim Theatre is as follows:

' Verbatim Theatre is theatre that uses pre-existing documentary material (such as newspapers, government reports, interviews, journals, and correspondences) The genre typically includes or is referred to as documentary theatre. '

I feel that Verbatim theatre is more than just a performance, it is also a way to bring awareness that are usually ignored by people in power and just ordinary people. As well as bringing attention to issues, Verbatim Theatre also tells us sides of stories that we have never heard before. This may change our opinions on the story or keep our opinions in the same place. The Tectonic Theatre company used Verbatim Theatre because they wanted to get real opinions on something that actually happened as a real issue.

Exploring Verbatim Theatre

So far in our performing arts class, we have had lots of practice with verbatim theatre. We have acted out an announcement from Boris Johnson, adding in his stuttering and pauses as if we are mocking him, since we have a negative opinion on him and he was unprepared for his speech. While doing this, we learnt that it is actually very hard to copyn someones exact options. We learned about the Paperbirds, a verbatim theatre company consisting of 4 women that make short productions about every day people. We wrote a story from the point of view of someone in poverty. Whe then acted this out in a group, each telling our stories that we have made.

Creative Intentions And Purpose

The themes of this play are hatecrimes, specifically homophobic hatecrimes. The Tectonic Theatre Company (TTC) were trying to communicate the suffering that a lot of gay people have to go through by representing their struggles through theatre. The company used real interviews to show different and even controversial views on the matter. This helped communicate their intention because it showed how many people supported the hatecrime and how many didn't.
I think that the purpose of this play is to spread awareness, but also to show how cruel some people can be. This helps because it could get people to realise and change their mind and actions.
The fact that it is verbatim theatre helps communicate the intentions because it is the words of real people, not fictional characters in a fictional production.

First Thoughts On the Filmed Performance

When I first began watching the video, I thought that it would be interesting to see how they would perform this production on such a small stage and setting, but i think that they carried it out very well. The staging was effective because at some points the focus could be on multiple characters at the same time. They used the blocks well, acting as if they were counters, tables and other surfaces, which was effective because it shows us that it is just a play, which is a technique that Brecht used. I think that multi-rolling would have been difficult for the actors since some of the changes had to be very fast. They worked effectively, changing accents and clothing while on stage. A debate between supporting the LGBTQ+ and homophobia was created very well, showing many different opinions throughout the performance. My favourite scene is the trial scenes, since a lot of emotion was put into it, meaning it affects the audience because there was a quick contrast between positive and negative emotions.

Thoughts On watching performance

For me, the courtroom scene really stood out because we saw the criminals get what they deserved, a punishment, for committing such a horrible hate crime. I am very thankful that justice was served, and the way that the courtroom was presented in the play would be nice to see on stage, because it would be very intense and give suspense to the audience.

Acting Techniques - Brecht

Brecht used his special acting techniques (Epic Theatre) to create a more realistic theatre experience. He did this by not naming characters, meaning that the audience would not get attached to the character. Brecht did this because he used characters to represent many people that were suffering the same thing all at once.
In class, we used placards, running commentary and multi-rolling to replicate Brecht's techniques. These methods were used to show different ways of telling the audience without saying something out loud. We used Brecht techniques by performing in groups and telling the audience things about our characters that other characters in the performance don't yet know about. In the filmed performance Brecht's technique of multirolling was used a lot between all of the actors since it was only a small group.
I think that Brecht's techniques help the audience to understand struggles from the views shown in the interview because they realise that a lot of people are going through the same thing that they are watching.

The roles Of A Director

As a director, you will need to have a lot of different skills. Some of which include: good communication with your team / performers, good organisation skills, able to work well in a team and with other people, ability to understand the play and the script, extensive knowledge of how to lead a group and knowing of any health and safety issues. They need this because to be a good director, you need to be kind and understanding towards your colleagues whilst being slightly firm and wise to what you are performing.

Some responsibilities of a director include; casting roles to the right actors, rehearsal organisation, making sure that the actors are comfortable in their positions and with their fellow actors, making their colleagues aware of health and safety in their venue and giving constructive criticism to help the actors. They need to do these things to be able to put on a good performance whilst also taking care of and not making their actors uncomfortable to be there.

Bibliography

Wikipedia; The Laramie Project
Moises Kaufman
Tectonic Theatre Company