PAST SHOWS
THE LARAMIE PROJECT: TEN YEARS LATER
THE LARAMIE PROJECT: TEN YEARS LATER (AN EPILOGUE)
Monday, October 12, 2009 at 7 p.m.
W.O. Smith School of Music (corner of 8th Ave S and Edgehill)
Free with reservation Email us to reserve
Part of the nationwide premiere in over 100 cities in collaboration with Tectonic Theater Project
Starring Henry Haggard, Jenny Littleton, Rebekah Durham, Ross Bolen, Brent Maddox, Jessica Pfranger, Emily Byrd, Thom Booton and Jeff Lewis.
THE LARAMIE PROJECT: TEN YEARS LATER (AN EPILOGUE)
PREMIERES IN OVER 100 CITIES ON OCT 12, 2009
The creators of the highly acclaimed play The Laramie Project, which since 2000 has been one of the most performed plays in America, will premiere a compelling and groundbreaking epilogue to the original piece. Entitled THE LARAMIE PROJECT: 10 YEARS LATER, the play will be performed in New York at Lincoln Center’ Alice Tully Hall, by Actors Bridge at W.O. Smith School of Music in Nashville and over 100 other theaters across the country on October 12, 2009. The writers of this play are Tectonic Theater Project members Moisés Kaufman, Leigh Fondakowski, Greg Pierotti, Andy Paris and Stephen Belber.
The epilogue focuses on the long term effect of the murder of Matthew Shepard on the town of Laramie. It explores how the town has changed and how the murder continues to reverberate in the community. The play also includes new interviews with Matthew’s mother Judy Shepard and Mathew’s murderer Aaron McKinney, who’s serving dual life sentences, as well as follow-up interviews with many of the individuals from the original piece.
THE LARAMIE PROJECT is a play with tremendous historical and cultural impact. Actors Bridge was pleased to be the first theater company to bring this important work to Nashville back in 2002. And now, to be part of this nationwide unveiling of its epilogue is an honor, but also a reminder to ourselves, our audience and our community that Matthew Shepard's story still reverberates. Unfortunately, many of the issues the murder brought up are unresolved both at a local and national level.
MORE INFORMATION:
On October 6th of 1998 Matthew Shepard was beaten and left to die tied to a fence in the outskirts of Laramie, Wyoming. He died 6 days later. His murder became a watershed historical moment in America that highlighted the violence and prejudice lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people face.
A month after the murder, the members of Tectonic Theater Project traveled to Laramie and conducted interviews with the people of the town. From these interviews they wrote the play The Laramie Project, which they later made into a film for HBO. The piece has been seen by more than 50 million people around the country.
Tectonic Theater Project would like to acknowledge the extraordinary leadership of The Rockefeller Foundation in supporting the development of the original Laramie Project and The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later.
TECTONIC MISSION STATEMENT/INFO
Tectonic Theater Project (Moisés Kaufman, Artistic Director, Greg Reiner, Executive Director, Jeffrey LaHoste, Managing Director, Dominick Balletta, General Manager) is the company behind such plays as Gross Indecency, The Laramie Project, and I Am My Own Wife . Awards including the Humanitas Prize, the Obie, the Lucille Lortel Award, The Outer Critics Circle Award, the GLAAD Media Award, the Artistic Integrity Award from HRC, and the Making a Difference Award/Matthew Shepard Foundation. Tectonic works in Universities around the country and hosts a NY based lab for theater artists.
Thanks to the NEA, Greenwall Foundation, Arcus Foundation, Small Change Foundation and Educational Foundation of America. For more information, visit www.tectonictheaterproject.org.
