10/20/2016
UPDATE: SUNY Cortland’s Performing Arts Department will open its 2026-27 season on Thursday, Oct. 1 with “The Laramie Project,” inspired by interviews conducted in the aftermath of the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student.
The Laramie Project
By Moisés Kaufman and the members of the Tectonic Theater Project
Director: Mark Reynolds
- Thursday, Oct. 1 at 7 p.m.
- Friday, Oct. 2 at 7 p.m.
- Saturday, Oct. 3 at 7 p.m.
- Sunday, Oct. 4 at 2 p.m.
Location: Dowd Fine Arts Center Theatre
Tickets for all shows can be purchased at SUNY Cortland’s Box Office website. Audience members should note a change from past seasons: evening performances now begin a half-hour earlier at 7 p.m.
“The Laramie Project” tells the story of a Wyoming town confronting tragedy, built from interviews gathered in the aftermath of Shepard’s brutal murder. His death led to the passing of new state and federal hate crime legislation. Told through the voices of Laramie’s own residents, the play is a powerful piece of documentary theatre performed by an ensemble cast.
A scrum of national news media commentators descended upon small Laramie, Wyo., as the nation raked over the “hate crime” aspects of the killing and the lack of appropriate laws in Wyoming and other states.
Laramie also was visited by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project. The theater company drew on hundreds of interviews with inhabitants of the town, company members’ own journal entries, and published news reports to create a unique 2000 play, “The Laramie Project.”
The controversial drama about the small community’s reaction to the national spotlight has been produced worldwide. Eight actors portray more than 60 residents of Laramie as they discuss, reflect upon and try to make sense of the 1998 murder of one of their own.