 Media Credit: Sakura Kelley
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 Media Credit: Sakura Kelley
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 Media Credit: Sakura Kelley
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The Laramie Project, the Moisés Kaufman play about the 1998 murder of openly gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard, is both a controversial play and a difficult one to perform, especially considering that dozens of roles are put on the shoulders of a handful of actors. While the program for the Mimes and Mummers' production lists actors as portraying "tracks" (Chris Bennett, FCRH '09-Track 1, Mike Burns, FCRH '10-Track 5, etc.), the actual workload is such that each actor should be credited for at least 10 different roles. The show calls for each actor to come on stage as one character, deliver a difficult and hard-hitting monologue, and switch to an entirely different character on the spot and, soon thereafter, deliver another monologue. No going off-stage (most of the time), no time to collect thoughts and ease into the switch - only time to take off or add a simple costume piece and become a new character on the stage.
This being said, the actors of Mimes and Mummers seemed to handle this difficulty better than the cast of most productions of similarly structured plays that I have seen. None of the actors seemed to have any problems switching into multiple roles, but one of the problems was that some actors had trouble making each character unique. Though the audience was eventually able to distinguish some characters from certain costume pieces the actors put on (a hat, a jacket, etc.), others were lost in the wave of characters that were introduced. However, each actor had a few characters that he or she did manage to make distinct, either because they appeared multiple times or because they were a focal point of the show (the person that found Shepard's body, for example). Actors may have simply been able to create a distinct individual for certain parts for inexplicable reasons but had trouble with others by that same token.
This lack of distinction in some characters may have been due to several factors. First, remember that this was a college performance, which meant the actors had schoolwork to go along with the immense amount of work the show needs. The show was also put up in a remarkably short amount of time, which means that time constrictions could very well have been a factor. The fact that a show of this magnitude was put on (and put on rather well) in such a short timespan is nothing short of astounding.
Secondly, several actors relied too much on using a Wyoming accent to create a character. While a character voice can be a great tool for an actor, or even a good base on which to build a character, it cannot be the character. While the plot and subject matter are serious and powerful, they cannot carry a production by themselves. Characters like a female cop (Aisling Quinn, FCRH, '08), one of the men who attacked Shepard (Mike Burns, FCRH '10), and a limo driver (Chris Bennett, FCRH '09) brought the show to life, while others, like the person who found Shepard's body (Emily Tarpey, FCRH '09), and the wife of a dead policeman (Lenore Furlong, FCRH '08) made the audience view the incident from interesting and important perspectives.
However, the direction in dealing with these perspectives had more than its share of flaws. The actors were too spread out or too far away, making volume and projection an issue at times. The Laramie Project hits the audience hard because it occurred so recently, and the audience must confront the issues of discrimination and hate, but the spacing and blocking of the show made it feel detached. Characters were at times forced to deliver lines on a raised platform, literally distancing themselves from the audience and forcing the crowd to distance themselves emotionally because they were reminded it was just a play, albeit one based on true events and interviews.
On the whole, the production was a success. The cast and crew put together a difficult show in a short amount of time and still managed to move audiences. The moment at the end of the first act, when several characters narrate how Shepard's body was found and brought to the hospital, served as the proverbial slap in the face that moved several audience members to tears and was a fine moment that any theatre company would be proud of. While the production was not perfect, it was far from being a letdown - for the actors and the audience.
2008 Woodie Awards
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