Research-informed theatre: The Laramie Project Ten Years Later

One of my favourite research-informed theatre pieces is The Laramie Project a docudrama written and performed by Moisés Kaufman and the Tectonic Theatre Company in 2000. The Laramie Project tells the story of the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay 21-year-old, in Laramie, Wyoming (US). Ten years after the murder, the Tectonic Theatre Company returned to Laramie to conduct new interviews with the subjects from the first play. The interviews focus on how Laramie has changed politically, socially, religiously, educationally and have been used to create a follow-up play to The Laramie Project called The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later.

On Oct. 12, 2009, theatres throughout all 50 of the United States of America presented a reading of The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later. My friend and colleague Jeanne Haggard from Spalding University directed the stage reading at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, where she is a doctoral student in the Fine Arts program. In her own blog entries about her experience directing Ten Years Later, Jeanne writes, “It was so humbling to know that we were reading the script at the same time Tectonic was reading it in New York, and [that] other theatres, universities, and high schools were also reading it all across the world. We were connected to the live pre-show feed from NY and saw Glenn Close, Judy Shepard, and Moisés Kaufman. Then everyone did their reading and hooked back up with NY after for the post-show discussion. All in all it was very exciting to be a part of theatre history because Tectonic accomplished something that had never been done in live theatre before. There were 150 locations participating in this event. It still gives me chills thinking about it - we rocked!”

In my next blog I will write about my own research-informed theatre project Zero Tolerance, which will be performed as a rehearsed reading at the University of Toronto in February. More entries on other research-informed theatre projects will appear regularly on my blog site.

All the best,
Tara