Theater Reviews—

‘Laramie Project’ A Stunning, Seamless Work

By Julie Stern

NEW MILFORD — First off, TheatreWorks New Milford’s production of The Laramie Project, a collaborative effort by Moises Kaufman and the members of his Tectonic Theater Project, is a stunning piece of work. Director Jane Farnol has coaxed superb performances from every one of her 16 actors, creating a seamless portrait of an entire community that grips the audience from beginning to end.

For those who are unfamiliar with the play, The Laramie Project was undertaken by the off Broadway Tectonic Theater Company in response to the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay man who was beaten, robbed, and left to die, lashed to a fence in Laramie, Wyoming. Sensationalized by the media, the event became a cause célèbre all over the world, as the town of Laramie became vilified as a symbol of homophobic hatred and American casual violence.             

The eight members of the troupe visited Laramie repeatedly over a two-year period, interviewing as many local people as they could, and attending the trials of the two men responsible for the crime. In his introduction to the script, the project leader Kaufman explained “the idea for The Laramie Project originated in my desire to learn more about why Matthew Shepard was murdered; about what happened that night; about the town of Laramie. The idea of listening to the citizens talk really interested me. How is Laramie different from the rest of the country, and how is it similar?”

The result was a montage of conversations and dramatic monologues drawn from more than 400 hours of interviews, involving over sixty people. As a series of portraits capturing a time and place, the “project” has been compared to Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, as well as theatrical pieces like Spoon River Anthology and Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood.

For this reviewer, it brought to mind Studs Terkel, the oral historian, who in books like Working, The Good War, Race, and American Dreams Lost and Found, has gotten people from all walks of life to relate their experiences and feelings in words that are both honest and eloquent, providing a defining vision of America in all its complex and contradictory identity.

Laramie, Wyoming is a town of 26,000 – about the population of Newtown. In their opening statements the people describe their community as an idyllic place of safety, peace and freedom. Their motto – in true western spirit – is “live and let live,” and they claim to be – while not open-minded, certainly tolerant of people who are different, including gays and lesbians. However, under the questioning of the Tectonic interviewers, shadowings of intolerance and discontent are gradually revealed.

Abandoned by the railroad that was once its center of importance, dominated by the  highly conservative Baptist and Mormon churches,  and divided between the ivory tower seclusion of the University, and the minimum-wage, pick-up truck world of local rednecks,  Laramie can be seen as a place that will produce some social misfits like Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney, the two  young men convicted of Shepard’s murder.  Unskilled, purposeless drifters they feed into the intolerance preached by self-righteous bigots, and use that to justify their hatred of a college student who has better clothes, more money, and a more hopeful future than theirs.

The effectiveness of the play lies in the insights articulated by the people of Laramie in their own words, as well as in the acting, and in director Farnol’s ability to use her cast to delineate characters so sharply:  

Sonnie Osborne gives one of her best performances as Marge Murray, a wise-cracking school counselor who is one of the first people to explain to the New Yorkers the sociological class lines which divide the town.

Noel Desiato is remarkable as Marge’s daughter, Reggie Fluty, the tough policewoman who cut Matthew down from the fence and tried to revive him.

Adam Battelstein plays a half-dozen different roles ranging from inarticulate thugs to an idealistic drama student able to separate his own sexuality from his stage portrayal as the lead in Angels in America, something his parents refuse to accept. “Homosexuality is wrong,” his mother tells him. “But Mom,” he says, “it didn’t bother you when I played a murderer in Macbeth.”

Keir Hansen is also very compelling as the stagestruck bartender Matt Galloway, who served Shepard his last beer and agonizes over  how he might have prevented the tragedy.

Jonathan Ross brings to life the hospital PR person Rulon Stacey, who becomes more and more involved with the life and death of Matthew Shepard.

Steve Manzino brings sharply etched distinctions in his portrayals of a liberal Catholic priest, a hard-boiled detective and a well meaning doctor. Ron Malyszka brings a touch of humor to the role of a fast talking limo driver, and neophyte Devin Hanley brings substance to the role of Aaron Kriefels, the boy who stumbled on Mathew’s body and wonders why God chose this to happen to him.

Glenn Coutoure, Paula Anderson, Simon Cole, Tom Libonate, Monica Rodriguez, KC Ross and Vicki Sosbe all handle numerous roles with skill.

This play works because it is not a diatribe or a blanket condemnation of Laramie and its people. The visitors from New York force the Wyoming locals to examine their feelings honestly, and to recognize that this hate crime occurred because the potential for hate existed, along with rage and frustration, as it does everywhere. But so does the potential for pity and sympathy and compassion. Both groups discovered that they had things to learn from each other.

Unlike the sensational caricatures foisted by the media, The Laramie Project finds humanity, pity, compassion and redemption, even as it reveals the cruelty that happened.

As an example of excellent material given superlative interpretation, The Laramie Project is another instance of TheatreWorks at its best. Don’t miss it.

(Performances continue on weekends through May 24, with a matinee planned for May 11. Call 860-350-6863 for curtain times, tickets prices and other details.)