In the wake of the two hate crimes against LGBTQ students that occurred at Georgetown earlier this year, Nomadic Theater’s Square Pegs Productions will present a staged reading of Moises Kaufman’s The Laramie Project tonight. The play uses testimonial-style dialogue to reconstruct the story of Matthew Shepard, a college student who was murdered for being homosexual by residents of his hometown, Laramie, Wyoming. The play, which is funded by GU Pride, is meant to complement newly-established initiatives on campus that will address the concerns of Georgetown’s LGBTQ community.
While the motivation for the performance was related to the hate crime on campus, the show’s collaborators have attempted to treat the issue with delicacy. Producer Ellen Greer (SFS’11) emphasized that they are “in no way … comparing what happened on our campus … to the heinous hate crime that happened to Matthew Shepard.” While one may be tempted to draw parallels between the situations, “it is neither accurate nor appropriate to make that kind of comparison,” Greer said.
The production instead represents an effort to encapsulate the emotional realities that surround hate crimes and larger issues of LGBTQ identity.
“We’re trying to hit the heartstrings of everyone we possibly can with the emotion and passion of The Laramie Project,” said co-director Julia Shindel (COL’10). The actors are vulnerable to the poignancy of the play. “The piece is so powerful and the characters are so real that it requires a great deal of composure” to perform, actor Don Burke (COL’10) said.
The contributors have mitigated the play’s sensationalist aspects by minimizing blocking and other production components. Co-director Joshua Goode (COL’10) acknowledged that the process was influenced in part by the fact that the play came together quickly, but the minimalist production aims to reduce factors that might distract the audience from the agreed-upon intent of the production: to convey, through emotion, messages of humanity and tolerance in the face of cruelty. The collaborators hope the play illustrates for its audience that “we don’t stand for it, and neither should they,” according to Shindel.
The Laramie Project will be performed in Bulldog Alley in the Leavey Center at 8 p.m. on Thursday, November 6th only. Admission is free on a first-come, first-serve basis.
