RHHS' Hardscrabble Players to perform 'The Laramie Project' Nov. 6-8, hope to share 'something real'
On stage, theater cast and crew work together to bring to life for their audience a story.
In speaking about the importance of “The Laramie Project,” Tyler Benepe went to use that word – “story” – but paused to reconsider.
“It’s not quite a story. It’s true,” the senior said.
Red Hook High School’s Hardscrabble Players, for their fall production, will perform “The Laramie Project” at the school’s Performing Arts Center Nov. 6-8.
The play analyzes the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, an openly gay college student, and the town in which it happened, Laramie, Wyoming.
“It’s an experience,” Benepe said. “You come here and experience something. Something real.”
The performances are intended for adults, only. The play contains complicated themes that include discussions of sexuality, descriptions of violence and adult language that includes reference to drug and alcohol use. The subject matter is heavy. Still, a group of 50 students are eager share the messages.
“This story is just — it’s so sad and so beautiful,” junior Analiya Otero said. “It’s important to know what happens … when you are passive to the bad things that happen to the world.”
In the wake of Shepard’s death, members of the New York City-based Tectonic Theater Project made multiple trips to Laramie, conducting more than 200 interviews with residents regarding the attack and how the hate crime affected the town. Those transcripts, along with news reports and journal entries, berthed the play, which features more than 50 different characters portraying real moments, feelings and impressions.
Since its debut in 2000, which quickly led to an off-Broadway production, “The Laramie Project” has been adapted into an HBO film and performed by countless schools, college and other theater companies. The brutal crime, itself, led to the passing of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which strengthened hate crime laws.
While the play was intended to be performed by eight actors, more have roles in the Hardscrabble Players' production. The group of 50 total students involved is "by far" the school's largest for a fall production, said English Teacher and Director Brendan Fix.
The process of preparing the material has been ongoing since the start of the year and has been emotional at times. Still, the students enjoyed a memorable day Oct. 14, when the play’s head writer, Leigh Fondakowski, visited the school to conduct a workshop and answer questions regarding characters and the groundbreaking journalistic process that led to the play.
Junior Grace Schmidt called it a “once in a lifetime opportunity” and a “surreal experience … getting to meet the person who wrote the play you’re doing and getting to talk and really see what it was all about and the experience that she had writing it.”
Otero will be playing Fondakowski’s role in the play. “She gave me some pointers that really helped me,” she said. “It was a magical experience.”
The students hope each attendee will draw their own conclusions from the work.
“I just think that it's really important that people see the show to show that you… need to fight against the bad,” Otero said. “You need to fight against people who are trying to hate on other people for whatever, whether it comes to your sexuality, or your religion or your race. That you can’t be passive.”
Showtimes will be 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6 and Saturday, Nov. 7, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8. Tickets are on sale for $12 for adults and $10 for seniors and students, available at this link.
“I think coming to see this show, you'll leave feeling impacted,” Benepe said. “You learn something. It really makes you think. And just experiencing it can change the way you see things or just live with an experience of something that really happened and just see other people's experiences and learn.”