Redtwist Theatre will produce a ten-year epilogue as a companion piece to the original play, "The Laramie Project." Written by Moisés Kaufman, Leigh Fondakowski, Greg Pierotti, Andy Paris, and Stephen Belber, and directed by three-time Jeff Award-winner, Greg Kolack, "The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later" opens on Sunday, March 4 at 3 p.m.
The show's run will include a benefit performance for The Matthew Shepard Foundation with a special appearance by Judy Shephard. The March 10 benefit will start at 6:30 p.m. and costs $100 per ticket.
Redtwist Theatre will also produce staged readings of the orginal "Laramie Project" beginning Friday, February 17 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15.
On October 6, 1998, a gay University of Wyoming student, Matthew Shepard, left the Fireside Bar in Laramie, Wyoming, with Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson. The following day he was discovered at the edge of town. He was tied to a fence, brutally beaten, and close to death. By the following day, Matthew's attack and the town of Laramie had become the focus of an international news story. On October 12, 1998, Matthew Shepard died at Poudre Valley Hospital in Ft. Collins, Colorado. On November 14, 1998, the members of Tectonic Theater Project traveled to Laramie, Wyoming and conducted interviews with the people of the town. During the next year, Tectonic returned to Laramie several times and conducted over two hundred interviews. The play that resulted is edited from those interviews, as well as from journal entries by members of the company and other found texts.
"The Laramie Project" premiered at The Ricketson Theatre, performed by the Denver Center Theatre Company in February, 2000. It was then performed at the Union Square Theater in New York City, before a November, 2002 performance in Laramie, Wyoming. The play has also been performed by high schools, colleges, and community theaters across the country, as well as professional playhouses around the world. In addition, the HBO film directed by Moisés Kaufman premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in March, 2002.
"The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later" is the epilogue to the original. Ten years after Shepard's murder, members of the Tectonic Theater Project returned to Laramie to conduct follow-up interviews with residents featured in the original play. Those interviews were turned into this companion piece. The play debuted as a simultaneous reading at nearly 150 theatres across the US and internationally on October 12, 2009 - the 11th anniversary of Matthew Shepard's death. Most of the theaters were linked by webcam to New York City where Judy Shepard and the play's producers and writers gave an opening speech to begin this unique memorial and evening of theater.
For more information or for tickets call 773-728-7529, email reserve@redtwist.org, or visit www.redtwist.org.
