As previously reported, Tectonic Theater Project will offer the two-part stage docu-drama, The Laramie Project and The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, Feb. 12-24, as part of The Laramie Cycle. Moisés Kaufman and Leigh Fondakowski direct.
The production will reunite members of the original cast. Weekend marathon performances, which will run five hours with three intermissions and a dinner break, will be offered Feb. 16-17 and 23-24.
In addition, Judy Shepard, Kaufman and others will gather for a special discussion on Feb. 16 at noon. Tickets are $15 for the special event, which will reflect on Matthew's legacy and a "shared dedication to social justice, diversity awareness, and education."
According to BAM, "In 1998, 21-year-old Matthew Shepard, a gay college student, was beaten to death, the victim of a hate crime that left the small town of Laramie, Wyoming—and many national and international observers—in shock. In the aftermath of Shepard's death, acclaimed playwright and director Moisés Kaufman (Gross Indecency, I Am My Own Wife) and members of the Tectonic Theater Project made six trips to Laramie and conducted more than 200 interviews with its residents. Using these interview transcripts, court documents, and media reportage as source material, they created The Laramie Project.
"On October 12, 2009 (the 11th anniversary of Shepard's death) audiences in more than 130 cities in the United States and abroad attended the simultaneous premieres of The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, which used many of the same techniques to document changes in the community since the hate crime; the new play was also in part a rebuttal to a false emerging narrative that characterized the murder as a drug deal gone wrong." For tickets visit BAM.