The Laramie And Laramie Project

Life is an amazing, wonderful, beautiful adventure that we are blessed with every day. But, we are greeted many times throughout those days with choices we have to make. Most of those choices we make are built by the structure and beliefs that our parents and loved ones have passed onto us. Looking into how we were brought up can we really say what’s right or wrong? Can we positively determine that everyone thinks the same? While watching “The Laramie Project” you see and hear two-hundred different opinions towards the Matthew Shepard’s case. Two-hundred … that’s two-hundred people from Laramie, friends of the victim and attackers, and loved ones fighting for what they believe is right. This case not only caught the whole town’s attention but was recognized on a national level. Labeled as a hate crime you learn so much more about the people’s identity like Matthew Shepard as a homosexual, the tragedy of a man/son/friend that struck a town, and how people see Laramie, Wyoming as their home built by a community.

Moses Kaufman is the producer of the successful play “The Laramie Project” after a horrific incident that occurred in Laramie. Members of the artistic group of Kaufman 's, traveled to Laramie to find out more about the horrific incidence. The main aim of the whole project was to find the emotions, reactions, and reflections that the people of Laramie manifested concerning the beating and subsequent death of a twenty-three-year-old college student (Gale, 2016). A lot of questions were raised concerning the death as people had different point of views. Some thought it was a hate crime, others thought it was just a brutal assault or a form of robbery. Four hundred interviews were conducted so as to come up with the reasons behind the brutal murder straight from the town folks. The main issue was how homosexuality was defined in the crime. The Laramie Project, questioned the rights of the LGBT+ group. For example, why were Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Transgenders discriminated by the community and the society as a whole even though their rights were constitutional?

Laramie consisted of many other religions that presented the views of many of their citizens towards homosexuality. Reverend Fred Phelps, a minister from Kansas, negatively impacted the gay community as he protested against homosexuals. He believed gays were determined to go to hell because of God’s hatred for them. Reverend Phelps like McKinney was a homophobe, which upset many citizens when he ranted about gays going to hell right after the murder of Matthew Shepard. Many citizens including Romaine Patterson decided to take a stance against such hatred to “show the differences. And [to] think at times like this when we’re talking about hatred as much as the nation is right now, that someone needs to show . . . that there is a better way of

In The Laramie Project, a character name Cathy Connolly claims that gay the people in Laramie feel the oppression from society, and are

The Laramie Project is a play written by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project by interviewing the residents of Laramie Wyoming about the murder of a gay student, Matthew Shepard. The play raises controversy revolving around homosexuality, hate crimes and acceptance. In addition to the various themes suggested by the play, the author wanted to present the varying perspectives toward homosexuality in the Laramie Community at the time of Shepard death. The three main perspectives towards homosexuality were hatred, tolerance and acceptance. The author also wanted to explore how these perspectives may have changed as the result of Shepard’s death.

In “The Laramie Project,” written by members of the Tectonic theatre company, aims to examine the Matthew Shepard murder through the use of theatre. Within the play, there are several insights and moments that prove to be surprising, puzzling, useful, new, and interesting.

Religion played an enormous role in Laramie before and after the incident with Matthew Shepard, as it continues to do in many religious individuals to this day. Jedidiah Schultz, a local of Laramie, Wyoming told his story about getting into Wyoming University. “And they brought me into their room and told me that if I did that scene, that they would not come to see me in that competition”(10). Schultz’s parents are an example of this time period where religion is a strong factor in making decisions of daily morals. When the Tectonic Theater Project spoke to the Reverend after Shepard’s beating, he addressed the wrongness of violence, but didn’t really directly address the issue of homosexuality, probably unwilling to directly speak out against

In The Laramie Project, Andrew Gomez’s casual dialogue, word choice, and varying sentence length shows his shifting state of mind and his innermost thoughts as he speaks. The hidden context given by Gomez helps to show the hardships of prison and the suffering Aaron will have to endure as a result of the murder. Gomez begins, “I was in there, I was in jail with Aaron in December. I got thrown in over Christmas. Assault and battery, two counts.

In the two life writing pieces, Mabo and Laramie both share similar and different themes as well as codes and conventions. The film Mabo, directed by Rachael Perkins, revolves around the true story of Eddie Mabo and his decision to continue to fight for his land and peoples rights. The audience is persuaded to side with Eddie throughout the use of point of view and bias. The Laramie project, by Moises Kaufman and the members of the tectonic theatre project, follows the actions and communications of the Laramie people after the horrific manslaughter of Matthew Shepard.

Not all citizens of Laramie conveyed a negative view towards the LGBT community. Marge Murray, together with some of the citizens, gave a notion of live and let live towards homosexuals. Marge explains,

After reading “The Laramie Project” your left with so many questions, ideas and emotions. The play is a series of interviews (reenacted exactly as they happened) to give the audience facts and true statements so that they can form there own opinion. The play takes place in Laramie Wyoming, after the “hate crime” that left 21 year old Matthew Shepard fighting for his life that ended soon after all because the fact that he was gay. Hate is a feeling and hate crime is acting on that hatred, but what exactly is a “hate crime”? What makes it so different from any other crime? Isn't all crime hate crime?

I don’t know a lot about theater, and I can’t name many plays. But, it is easily recognizable that The Laramie Project is a particularly important piece of theatre. It entertains its audience, as any other play can do, but it simultaneously sheds light on a terrifying reality many easily ignore. It is a profoundly moving play that has a vital message, a brilliantly distinct style and in most aspects an exceptional production.

Beaten, tortured, stripped of his dignity and essential his life, Matthew Shepard was left on a fence fighting for his life for eighteen hours. What Matthew didn’t know was that those eighteen hours would be the driving force of a theater company’s biggest story. The Laramie Project is a monumental play by Moises Kaufman, this play broke boundaries to portray a story of the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard. The documentary theater aspect creates an experience for the audience to live within that moment. Theatre has the ability to change lives and the audience can experience that exact sensation. All things considered, the theatrical version of The Laramie Project is more effective than the movie because of the focus on the actual text and set design.

The organization set up in David Roman’s article is more bases on the interpretation of information in which is discovered, rather than simply regurgitation. His main point and arguments are very clear. Even within each paragraph. Due to this structure, keeping up with the Roman’s train of thought is a far more obtainable goal. He does use quotations to create credibility within his work and summaries his main idea at the end of each major section of analysis. Also, Roman summaries some of the plotline of ‘The Laramie Project’ to aid those whom are reading and have not seen or read the production (or simply to refresh others). This adds a back bone to his argument and allows for one to see that his idea is coming from a legitimate source.

The Laramie Project created by playwright Moises Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project depicts the story of young Matthew Shepard, a 21- year old student at the University of Wyoming who on October of 1998 was brutally murdered, tortured and left alone to die. The hate crime attracted attention worldwide, bringing sexual discrimination open for public disclosure. Over a year and a half both Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theatre Project conducted interviews for over 200 subjects. Till this day the play is one of the most performed plays of the last decade.