MACK CARROLL/Assistant Photo Editor
ALEXIS SEBRING
Life Assistant
One fatal act can affect so many people for a lifetime. Once hate is displayed and carried out as a crime, lives are inevitably damaged. This is what the people of Laramie, Wyom., discovered when an openly gay Matthew Shepard was murdered by two young men in 1998 because of his sexuality.
“The Laramie Project,” which opened Tuesday in Helen E. Lindhurst Theater and is showing until Saturday, is a re-enacted documentary, containing narrators and background screens displaying moving scenes of real footage from Wyoming.
The Matthew Shepard story was creatively weaved into the “Laramie Project.” Bits and pieces of information about what happened occurred throughout the entirety of the play. On the night of his attack, Shepard was lured into a car by two straight men, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson, who pretended to be gay. Then McKinney and Henderson tied Shepard to a fence in an abandoned place, beat him and left him to die. He was found barely breathing by a bicyclist, sent to two hospitals, and died on Oct. 12, 1998.
A year’s worth of interviews from the people in and around Laramie were formed into a one- hour play, originally created by the Tectonic Theater Project, and first performed in February 2000. Pepperdine’s version is creative in its entirety, humorous in parts and vivid when it needs to be. The 14 cast members act in 78 different roles. Director George Neilsn help the actors give impressive performances, which enabled each character to show their personality and distinguish the multiple characters from each other.
It began with a slideshow of pictures. There are three screens that display projections of real pictures. It makes the set different than most typical productions, but it gives a more real feeling. As well as this, real footage from the funeral of Matthew Shepard is displayed, showing people holding signs saying judgmental things about him and homosexuals. It displays the reality of the event.
The acting is impressive, as well. The entire cast had a connection that can be sensed from the audience. This gives the show an energy necessary to elicit the proper emotions from viewers.
One of the most memorable characters is the humorous Doc O’Conner, played by junior Matt Klein. He provided the comic relief in his responses to the accident, describing Matthew Shepard as a kind of guy that, “even though he was gay, he was straight-forward.”
Another scene that is very effective displays three preachers on different parts of the stage, saying bits of information about what their church stands for. These actors, played by seniors Steven Rowe, John Rhea and Race Benaglio, do a wonderful job of providing the worldviews on issues encountered through the death of Shepard.
‘The Laramie Project” is a positive spin on a horrible hate crime. It actively spreads the word about the effects of discrimination and hatred among society. The graphic displays of Shepard’s death and emotional reactions from his friends, family and neighbors show the impact that one person has on society and serve as a reminder to sustain from judgment and hatred.
01-31-2008