The Laramie Project Play Analysis

The Laramie Project written by Moisés Kaufman and the Members of Tectonic Theater Project is a play about Matthew Shepard, a twenty-one-year-old student at the University of Wyoming who was killed and tied up to a fence in Laramie, Wyoming during October 1998. Unlike most plays, this was written very differently, but the result was breathtaking. Besides reading this play, I have also been an actor in this show. This play has really affected me throughout the years, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it once again.

The first question for this play is what is the conflict? In fact, the entire play is one big conflict. The play is set in Laramie, Wyoming, which just became famous for a twenty-one-year-old student named Matthew Shepard who was beaten and hung on a fence to die because of his sexuality. Another conflict is Laramie before Matthew Shepard was murdered and the after effects of what happened. There are many more conflicts in this play; however, I believe the main conflict is the homophobia that still exist in America.

If this play is about the events with Matthew Shepard, then why did Moisés Kaufman choose not to have Matthew Shepard appear as a character in the play?

I believe the reason Moisés Kaufman did not include Matthew Shepard into this play is because it was written using the interviews that Kaufman and the members of tectonic theater project conducted. Shepard passed away by the time Kaufman and his team started to write, so they were unable to talk to Shepard. They wanted the play to be honest and not make it up, and if they included Matthew into the production, they would be making everything up, which is something they did not want to do. If I wrote this play the way Kaufman did, I would not include Matthew ether because it would not be honest and

bias.
There are so many characters in the play, but how do the characters in the play stand up to hate and bigotry? Throughout The Laramie Project, many characters had to stand up to hate and bigotry. The most memorable one for me was Romaine Patterson who was one of Matthew’s best friends. During the trials of Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney, Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church decided to protest with anti-gay messages. Romaine decided to do something about this because they thought that Matthew’s parents and their anti-gay message should not be seen. I also believe that Romaine is the bravest as well because she was not afraid to stand up for something that she believes in.
This play fits in with the class theme of Performing and Reforming Society because it is taking a controversial topic and bringing it to light in order to show people what is going on. When this play was performed, people were astonished and well informed about the event that went on. The Laramie Project was also able to get both sides of the story and other prospective as well, which many plays do not do. This play had a difficult topic, but they wanted to share it with the world to make sure that this never happens again.
So how do events like those from this play, inform our understanding of current events? In 1998, the LGBTQIA movement was not as predominant as it is today, by showing us what this one town thinks about this subject, it really informs us what is happening in the United States. By bringing these topics to the stage, people are able to understand what is going on and it is able to create discussions about how we are able to deal or fix these problems. For example of another show, Dear Evan Hansen brings the topics of depression, suicide, grieving, PTSD, drug use, and more. Because these topics are shown in the musical, people are able to discuss them and help change what is happening.
Like I said earlier, I have read this play before and have actually performed this play years ago, so I responded very different this time around. The first time I ever read this play, I was almost in tears. I did not know who Matthew Shepard was or that his death became a huge revolution for LGBT rights. It affected me by wanting to get more involved. After I read this play, I joined my schools gay-straight alliance and became an activist in LGBT rights. However, when I first read this play, I was so confused because how it was structured. I was not use to it being an interview, I was used to having a story where you really get to know a character and not have so many people. I was very sympathetic with Matthew and his family; I wish that this never happened. However, I am happy that it did happen because the LGBT movement would not have been as strong as it is today. If this happened in my hometown, I would be like Romaine and been an activist trying to get justice for Matthew.
In conclusion, The Laramie Project is a powerful play with a story that needed to be told. It was able to bring a controversial topic to light in an entertaining way. I highly recommend this play to everyone who wants to get involved with the LGBT community, but also anyone who loves theatre and wants to use it as a medium to change the world. Overall, I would rate this play as an eight out of ten.