Essay The Laramie Project Critique

The technical aspects of the production such as scenery, properties and costumes also played a keynote in the productions success. The scenery was fabulous it truly made the play. It was very realistic and extremely vibrant. Almost the entire play was performed in one setting, except for the railcar and dance scenes. The house, the main setting, was magnificent with painstakingly placed detail in every corner. All elements in the house matched wonderfully, for example the furniture, the photos on the wall, the telephone and even the trash can. Little bits of detail were everywhere adding to the beautification of the set, for example the lace decorations on the chairs, the etched glass above the front door and even the Christmas tree.

Each element gave the stage a different feel that matched every scene , complementing each brilliantly. The only element that lacked for me was lights, although very bright ; in my opinion the reoccurring blue wasn't the best option. I feel if the lighting designer would have had more warmer colored lights against the already vibrant set pieces, it would have made the stage pop more. But one thing i did particularly fancy, were the costumes the characters wore and how they fit each character. Each character's’ costume showed the dichotomy between the personalities and tastes of each individual. For example Ilona played by Jane Krakowski was dressed in a scarlet / pinkish dress with a high slit up the left side; showing her seductive character type. Meaning when i saw Ilona on stage, I immediately knew who i was looking at . Lastly the sound effects included , like the door jingle sound or The bike bell , added to the whole idea of being inside and outside of a retail building. These effects gave the stage an outdoorsy feel , drawing you in , giving the audience illusions of really being in 1930’s

What I feel is one of the most important aspects of the play is the

In Moises Kaufman's, The Laramie Project the under lying theme of the novel is people are afraid of change. This can be proved from the novel with the character Cathy Connolly and the struggle that homosexuals have to live in there own society. The juxtaposition of anti-gay demonstrations sparked by religion at a homosexual's funeral, and even the physical setting is related to why people are afraid of change. Whether it is start by homophobia, religion, or opression, people are not just afraid of change in general but change for a free society where homosexuals can express and just be themselves.

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.

The first element of this production which influenced our piece was in terms of structure. Within both our play and Frantic’s a phone call is used as the opening scene. A character hears upsetting news but the audience do not; they only see the character reacting. Later on, the phone call happens again and the information is revealed. Rearranging scenes in this way (so a dramatic scene precedes the setting of the story) created a hook for the audience. This intensified the second phone call, as the audience knew what Sierra’s mum was about to find out. It made the

The Laramie Project, written by Moisés Kaufman, is a compilation of interviews by The Tectonic Theater Project, news publications, and journal entries. After the brutal murder of Mathew Sheppard in 1998. Kaufman along with his theater troupe made six visits to Laramie, Wyoming, where the murder took place, to interview people about what happened and how they felt about the crime in their community. They interviewed about two hundred people, of which about sixty were included in the play. The play showcases a small town in America in a historical time of tragedy. The production of The Laramie Project was simple. The stage setting was minimal and the the actors consisted of eight people portraying more than sixty. Through the patchwork of

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.

The overall dramatic meaning of this play has been successfully shown by the elements of drama. The

The Laramie Project is a play written by Moises Kaufman and the members of Tectonic Theater Project. The play is based on the interviews of the citizens of Laramie about what’s happening in Laramie and their responses to the murder of Matthew. 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 Matthew’s death. The author also wanted to explore how these perspectives may have changed as the result of Matthew’s death. Even though the citizens of Laramie persisted that hate is not a value they practice, they still showed contrasting and puzzled views

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?

A montage of images - the prairie, cattle ranches, fast-food restaurants, a cement factory, car dealers, the University of Wyoming - reveals the town of Laramie, Wyoming, pop. 26,687. As the town's police sergeant says, "It's a good place to live. Good people - lots of space. We're one of the largest states in the country, and the least populated." Laramie residents take pride in being part of the "gem city of the plains," and appear to believe in the motto "Live and Let Live."

Furthermore, the stage did not have many props. There were only a few throguhtout the while production. Throughout the whole play there was a tree that was in the back that was shown from a projection. At the beginning of the play there was only a piano in witch Mitch played on during the begging of the play. Also, throughout the play there was a table and a chair brought in in order to represent them being in Mitch’s living room. This stayed on the stage throughout most of the play. Towards the end of the play there was a bed rolled onto the stage as Morrie was about to pass. Also, used in the play was a cell phone in which Mitch took calls. When he would be getting a phone call a telephone ring would go off through the speakers. Some of the items they would use they would pretend they were using.

Also, the backgrounds and the stage directions helped set the mood of the play and also the stage itself represented what was going on in the

To start of the lighting of the set was great and really added to the tone of the play. Although they did good adding to the tone the sound crew really helped too. For instance when the huge giant fell from the sky the sound effects made it feel a lot more real. One of the more important parts of the play was the costume design. Considering the play was taking place in medieval times they did a great job making their clothes. Some of the best clothing choices were for the ball. After researching a few old times dresses they hit it spot on with the dresses. They also did a great job on the bakers clothing as it showed the average man's clothing back then. Finally we get to the most important technical work of it all the set design. Based on what we've learned about back then it was more than a believable set. The crew did a great job of the background and other points in the play. One of the more unique idea I saw in the play is when they were at grandma's house and the made the wall transparent so we could see what was happening. I've never seen a play do that before so I was impressed. My last point for them is how they did the houses in the beginning of part one and two. For it showed a house and then a wall went up so we could see the