Greenfield Community College Theater presents
Laramie Project: Ten Years Later
by Moisés Kaufman, Leigh Fondakowski, Greg Pierotti, Andy Paris, and Stephen Belber
Directed by Tom Geha
November 5-8 & 13-15
at the Sloan Theater, 1 College Drive, Greenfield MA
Most of the cast and crew from our sold-out Spring production of The Laramie Project will be returning to perform in The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later this Fall. The second part chronicles the long-term effects of Matthew Shepard’s murder on the citizens of Laramie. Riveting and thought-provoking, this companion piece to the famed docudrama, The Laramie Project, presents a town wrestling with its history and legacy.
On October 6, 1998, gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard left the Fireside Bar with Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson. The following day he was discovered on a prairie at the edge of town tied to a fence, brutally beaten, and close to death. Six days later, Matthew Shepard died at Poudre Valley Hospital in Ft. Collins, Colorado. On November 14th, 1998, ten members of Tectonic Theatre Project traveled to Laramie, Wyoming and conducted interviews with the people of the town. Over the next year, the company returned to Laramie six times and conducted over 200 interviews. These texts became the basis for the play The Laramie Project.
Ten years later on September 12th, 2008, five members of Tectonic returned to Laramie to try to understand the long-term effect of the murder. They found a town wrestling with its legacy and its place in history. In addition to revisiting the folks whose words riveted us in the original play, this time around, the company also spoke with the two murderers, McKinney and Henderson, as well as Matthew’s mother, Judy Shepard. The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later is a bold new work, which asks the question: How does society write its own history?
The play runs 1 hour and 40 minutes.
Note: The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later is a stand-alone play. Meaning that you can understand and enjoy it without having seen the first part.
Fall Performances
Week 1
Thursday, November 5, 7 p.m. Free Preview
Friday, November 6, 7 p.m. Opening Night (followed by talkback)
Saturday, November 7, 7 p.m.
Sunday, November 8, 2 p.m. Matinee
Week 2
Friday, November 13, 7 p.m. (followed by talkback)
Saturday, November 14, 7 p.m.
Sunday, November 15, 2 p.m. Closing Matinee
