Insite

When I was first hired to direct The Laramie Project I admittedly knew very little about the piece. Apart from a brief historical description, the one thing I did know was that this was more than just a play. It was a potential catalyst for a discussion on hate. The play was created from interviews with people from a Wyoming town where a young man, Matthew Shepard, was brutally murdered for being gay. Anyone I knew that had seen it recounted an incredible emotional response from being witness to the play. I wanted to achieve more than an emotional response; I wanted to incite discussion.

During auditions it was important for assistant director Victoria Fear and myself to form an ensemble of actors who were not only talented, but aware of the social significance of this play, so we asked a simple question: “Why is this play an important piece of theater?” The actors who understood the cultural and emotional influence of this play became leading candidates in our casting process.

All the people involved with this production had passion and emotion regarding the topic, but now we needed to talk about why. Our primary discussions revolved around exactly what The Laramie Project was about. Was it about an incident happening to a person? Was this an incident that happened to a town? Was this play a gay issue? Was this play a human rights issue? I feel like you could answer “yes” to any of these questions, but it boils down to the play being about the causing factors and the resulting effects of hatred. One collective realization was how much “hate” was in our own speech. We were all guilty of repeatedly starting sentences with “I hate,” not stopping to think of the value and weight of this word. Many of us also admitted to using terms such as “that’s so gay” or “that’s retarded,” and other words used to describe someone else, infusing them into hateful descriptions of things we perceived as bad or less than ourselves. The seeds of hatred are in our speech. By saying these things, it begins to make it okay to put down others for being who they are. It’s never okay to do that.

To document our emotional response and our journey as an ensemble, we worked with dramaturg Kristen Hariton on assembling an blog where the cast and crew could share discoveries or stories. I found the actors to be incredibly revealing and really open to embracing the opportunity to share their private thoughts.

We also took time to discuss other socially conscious theater pieces, one of which being DV8 Physical Theatre’s To Be Straight With You produced by Peak Performances in Fall 2008. Like The Laramie Project, To Be Straight With You was composed using interviews with real people as the performance text. Unlike The Laramie Project, which focused solely on the Wyoming town, this piece dealt with views of homosexuality around the world. During the run of To Be Straight With You, a pamphlet/newsletter was distributed with information about and surrounding the show, and inside was a map of the world. The different countries were shaded with varying shades of blue and red to signify that nation’s attitude toward homosexuality. A dark shade of blue signified that one could legally marry someone of the same gender, while the darkest shade of red indicated that discovery of one’s homosexuality could result in the death penalty. Next to the map was a picture of two Iraqi teenage boys being publicly hanged for being gay. 

Students discuss human rights and homosexuality in preparation for The Laramie Project.

There was a strange silence in the room as we all came to the realization just how lucky we were to be able to live in a place where we could legally perform the work we were doing. While America still has battles over discrimination and equality, we are light years ahead of other parts of the world. Though we should never be complacent until hate is erased and all people are treated with equality, the realization of how lucky we were to freely perform this play and discuss these issues was astounding. 

Matthew Shepard’s father spoke on how the tragic loss of his son focused worldwide attention on hate. “Good is coming out of evil,” he said. We must continue the discussions on hatred if good truly is to come out of this evil, and start to rectify our own personal behaviors, starting with our personal speech. It is imperative to remember that crimes are still being committed because of hate, and we must remain sensitive to these tragedies. It is even more imperative to know that we have the power to begin a movement of love. 

Performances of The Laramie Project, presented by the MSU Players, are March 4-7, 2010 @ 8pm and March 6 @ 2pm in the Red Hawk Nest (Rm. 126) of the MSU Student Center. FREE admission. 

Brandon Monokian received a B.A. in Theatre Studies at Montclair State. He works as an actor, director, writer, and t-shirt designer.