The Laramie Project Summary

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Paragraph 4 – Laramie Project The Laramie Project is a significant play of the 20th century due to the way that it uses the innovative performance style of verbatim theatre to reveal underlying homophobic attitudes in America and to encourage the audience to be more tolerant and accepting of minorities. The play is used as a vehicle for discussion to engage the audience to explore this social issue and encouraged them reflect on their own bias regarding tolerance and acceptance of homosexuals. This play emerged in a context of opposing cultural attitudes in America. The Gay Liberation Movement of the 1970’s and 1980’s conflicted with very conservative and religious attitudes in America, which was heightened by the AIDs crisis in the 1980’s …show more content…

Kaufman maintains creative discretion building the plot in what he calls ‘Moments’, presenting a cross section of voices that reflect the varying attitudes of the town; from religious leaders, to doctors, homosexuals and students. This narrative layering of story like an onion allows the audience to peel back the layers and arrive at the ’truth’. This is evident when the character of Murdock Cooper says of the murder, “You don’t pick up regular people. I’m not excusing their actions… it was partially Mathew Shepard’s fault and partially the guys who did it… you know, maybe it’s fifty- fifty.” Revealing the homophobic attitudes to the audience. Verbatim Theatre challenges dramatic expectations and aims to provide a more authentic theatrical experience than realism in order to engage the audience in the social issues being explored. The legacy of this significant play was seen in the impact it had on society in it’s ability to open a nationwide dialogue around homophobia, hate crimes and tolerance. The play highlighted Verbatim Theatre as a medium to explore the “truth” of events within a political context and contributed to the passing of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act (2009), which protects citizens against hate crimes based on

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