Theater Masks | Graphic by Grace Merkle | The Wright State Guardian
This past weekend, Wright State University theater department took on the production of the “Laramie Project,” a powerfully serious show that left audience members in tears.
About
The Laramie Project, originally created by the Tectonic Theater Project, is a play recounting the interviews and stories of those in Laramie, Wyo., during the Matthew Shepard incident.
According to the Matthew Shepard Foundation, Matthew Shepard (1976-1998) was a University of Wyoming student who was a part of the LGBTQA community. In October 1998, Shepard was fatally beaten by two fellow young people. His murder was later ruled a hate crime and sparked the 2009 revisions to the U.S. Hate Crime Act, along with many other forms of activism, including this play.
The play, hosted in the intimate Herbst Theater in the Creative Arts Center on the Dayton campus, ran from Feb. 24 to Feb. 26 and was partially sponsored by the LGBTQA Center.
After the two o’clock matinee on Saturday, a representative from Tectonic, director Josh McCabe, Assistant Director of the LGBTQA center, Emily Yantis-Houser and the cast hosted a live Q&A session.
The various panel members commented on the decision to conduct this play this season.
“There was a part of me that was like ‘I don’t know,’” McCabe said. “[But], why is it still relevant, well it is.”
McCabe even explained how recent protests of drag performances in Columbus, Ohio, sparked his inspiration.
Yantis-Houser further commented that the Sheppard case is an important moment in queer history that is often overlooked by the younger generation due to the fact it occurred in the late 1990s.
“Twenty-five years, where have we come and what do we have to do,” Yantis-Houser said.
Behind the scenes
Because the play is the recount of interviews of Laramie residences, the eight-person cast had to play multiple characters, including the interview and interviewees. The cast commented on the difficult nature of the show, not only because of the logistics but also because of the serious topic matter.
“Shaking the show off at the end of the day, because it’s a difficult show,” Spencer Hall, who played Greg Pierotti and Father Schmit, among other characters, said.
Hall further explained how his personal queer identity impacted his perspective on the show.
Other cast members, like Ni-Ni Denker and Elaine Mueller, Dennis Shepard and Amanda Gronich respectively, among other roles, commented on the fact that the actors had to play characters with concurring and dissenting views of their own personal values.
“It was a good practice with empathy,” Denker said.
Future impact
This play explored a unique topic in social justice and conveyed a powerful message of hope leading from unfortunate events. The audience was left not only pondering the production, but also the role of art and activism.
Yantis-Houser explained how the LGBTQA center’s goal is to continue supporting the arts and to use it as a teaching/learning tool and to inspire activism.
WSU theater’s next performance is the musical “On The Town” running March through April 2023 in the Festival Playhouse.
