The Laramie Project

Description

RECOMMENDED “…insightful and sometimes moving work, now in a production by The Group Rep in North Hollywood …director Kathleen Delaney keeps the action moving smoothly and swiftly…Eleven actors play dozens of characters. The ensemble does good work portraying a host of very different people, inhabiting them with authenticity.” – C. Bruce Smith/Stage Raw

“In its 50th  anniversary season, and 25 years after Shepard’s death, Group Rep presents a remarkable production of this moving work. A talented cast of 11, directed by Kathleen Delaney, brings to life more than five dozen Laramie residents and Laramie Project playwrights in a constantly shifting tableau.…The Laramie Project stands as a monument to gay rights and human dignity and an indictment of hatred and intolerance disguised as conventional society. Group Rep expertly crafts a complex and moving tapestry.”
– Laura Foti Cohen/Larchmont Buzz

BRAVO! This is so well crafted…it’s an astonishing piece of theatre. The Laramie Project is a tough play. A tough subject and it must give the actors a very deep dive into a harrowing story. And yet, the way the play is constructed also gives them the opportunity to create something beautiful from something tragic. It’s a brilliant production. Truly. Each and every actor gives their all and as the play unfolds, the characters become more and more familiar, pulling us deeply into their lives as well as Matthew’s. The message of tolerance and equality is more important than ever and the extraordinary story of the method of its construction and delivery is still utterly transfixing. I cannot recommend The Laramie Project highly enough. The Group Rep really has excelled and I hope you will take the time to see it. – Samantha Simmonds Ronceros/NoHoArtsDistrictcom

The Laramie Project
By Moises Kaufman
And Ms Leigh Fondakowski
4/14 – 5/21/2023

The Group Rep is proud to present The Laramie Project, written by Moises Kaufman, Ms. Leigh Fondakowski and The Techtonic Theater Project, directed by Kathleen Delaney, produced by Bill Fitzhugh and Danica Waitley for the Group Rep.

Dates & Times:
April 14 – May 21
Fridays and Saturdays at 8PM, Sundays at 2PM
After the Matinee Talkback with cast and staff 4/23 & 4/30.

In 1998, Matthew Shephard, a college student at the U of Wyoming was kidnapped, beaten, tied to a fence and left to die. His crime? Being gay. Kaufman, Fondakowski and members of the Tectonic Theater Project made six trips to Laramie over the course of a year and a half. They conducted more than 200 interviews with the people of the town. The breadth of the reactions to the crime is fascinating. They have constructed a deeply moving theatrical experience from these interviews and their own experiences in Laramie. This play is a breathtaking collage that explores the depths to which humanity can sink and the heights of compassion of which we are capable.

What critics have said about The Laramie Project:

“A pioneering work of theatrical reportage and a powerful stage event.” —Time Magazine.

“Astonishing. Not since Angels in America has a play attempted so much: nothing less than an examination of the American psyche at the end of the millennium.” —Associated Press.

“There emerges a mosaic as moving and important as any you will see on the walls of the churches of the world…nothing short of stunning…you will be held in rapt attention.” —NY Magazine.

The Cast

The Group Rep cast features the talents of Landon Beatty, Paul Cady, Roslyn Cohn, Julie Davis, Marc Antonio Pritchett. Stephen Rockwell, Jackie Shearn, Margaret Rose Staedler, Cathy Diane Tomlin, Amelia Vargas and Kay Vermeil.

The Team

The production team includes Mareli Mitchel-Shields (Set Designer), Tor Brown (Lighting/Projection Designer), Michael Mullen (Costume Designer), Marc Antonio Pritchett (Sound Designer), Tessa Grace (Assistant Director), Cathy Diane Tomlin (Assistant to the Director), John Ledley (Stage Manager), Bill Fitzhugh (Producer), Danica Waitley (Producer), Kristin Stancato (Webmaster & Online Marketing), Doug Engalla (Promotional Videographer & Photographer), Doug Haverty (Graphic Designer), “The Hive” Bert Emmett, Bill Fitzhugh, John Ledley, Lee Redmond, Clara Rodriguez, Chris Winfield (Set Construction/Facilitation), “GRT Social Media” Denise Downer, Michael Gabiano & Jackie Shearn.The play will be performed in two acts with one intermission.
Approximate Running Time is two hours.

Address: 
10900 Burbank Blvd
Los Angeles, California 91601