Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Reading Response: Background to "The Laramie Project"
Reflect on the two articles assigned for today’s class (Moises Kaufman's "Into the West," and Don Shewey's "Town in Mirror"). What struck you as interesting, significant, or even disturbing from the reading? Cite a quotation from either article that represents what caught your attention and explain why you responded the way you did to it. Conclude your comment with a question or two that you might pose about the reading or about the film that you’d like to think further about as we begin viewing it.
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I have already seen the Laramie Project, but the first time I viewed it, I had no background or context to connect it with. Reading these articles helped me to better understand how the play and movie came about and also the process by which the material was gathered.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I found extremely interesting was the different reasons that members of the theater company were intrigued by Laramie. When I first saw the movie, I viewed it as just the telling of the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard and how it affected people around him. However, after reading these articles I know realize that the issues go much deeper than that. In the article "Into the West," Kaufman writes, "Some of the members were interested in the ranching community, others in the gay and lesbian community, others in getting to know more about Matthew Shepard, others in finding out about the lives of the perpetrators."
One thing I found shocking in the first article, which I may just not recall from the time I watched the movie a few years ago, is the fact that the police officer who cut him down from the fence had to be treated for HIV because Matthew was HIV positive. I can't imagine having to be the one to cut down a terribly beaten body, let alone suffer even more because of taking over that task.
A couple questions that I would like to think more about are:
1) Does the bartender have some of the blame to bare for not intervening, and do the other people of Laramie think so?
2) Were the residents of Laramie hesitant about talking to Kaufman and his team, and if so, how did the company get them to feel comfortable about opening up?
Although I haven’t seen “The Laramie Project” I am somewhat familiar with the case and with Matthew Shepard’s story. Because my background knowledge of the Matthew Shepard story is based mostly on a factual understanding, I am interested in seeing “The Laramie Project” to get a deeper, more emotional story focused on people’s opinions and reactions. I would like to see what you can take away from that type of account compared to what you would find in the media.
ReplyDeleteAnother section of the reading that interested me was how the actors perceived Wyoming before arriving and how they saw it after they talked to people. I was surprised as I read that the actors and crew were “expecting to encounter a hotbed of Wild West homophobia” when they entered Wyoming (Shewey 16). I’ve lived in the West my whole life and I never thought of it as an extremely intolerant region as a whole, so I was surprised that that was the opinion of someone from outside the area. I was not surprised that they found a balance of beliefs during their trip.
My first question is, how will “The Laramie Project” be like reports from the media and how will it be different? My second question is more of a curiosity about how the characters in the play will compare to what we have learned about the people through the interviews that we have already seen in the article.
I was not familiar with the case in Laramie. Mainly because I wasn’t in the U.S. at the time the incident actually happened. An interesting component around the entire incident in Laramie is the fact that Kaufman was able to produce a magnificent theatrical piece that was able to make a great impact on the public even though that at first the entire incident was neglected and at some extent censored in the area where the act had taken place due to various reasons.
ReplyDeleteFred Phelps’ attempt to protest in Shepard’s funeral with “God Hates Fags” signs was rather disturbing in “Town in Mirror” because it was the wrong thing to do at the wrong time. I mean sure people can have their personal or communal believes about homosexuality. Still, that doesn’t mean that you can make a protest portraying these believes right after Shepard had been brutally murdered. People have always been so sensitive about homosexuality that it makes them forget the fact that we are all humans and just because people chose or became homosexual doesn’t mean that they are “freaks” or however conservatives and other groups of people catalog “gay” people.
I’m interested in watching the movie but a main question I would consider is the effect the case had on the entire homosexual dilemma. How did the gay community react in general? Also, did this case bring any positive policy changes regarding homosexuality or such?
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ReplyDeleteHaving never seen the Laramie Project I cannot speculate on the feelings and thoughts the viewer felt, however, these articles have provided an interesting introduction to this theatrical piece. The Laramie Project is obviously not only meant to evoke emotion into its audience but to give them and understanding of the death of Matthew Shepard and its impact on the community.
ReplyDeleteThe Laramie Project is a unique undertaking by actors and writers. I have never heard of such a distinctive way to present an idea, to get the actors to play themselves interviewing people affected by the event. This makes the movie be much more realistic because the actors have actually felt the experience. It is interesting to hear about this design of production and the work the actors and writers were involved in. Don Sheway quoted, “On opening night in Denver, it was impossible not to be aware of the enormous responsibility that the actors felt to do justice to the people who had entrusted them with their stories and their innermost feelings.” This is a substantial look into the level of commitment and amount of work put into this production. Most of the actors were interested in doing the project to reveal different aspects about the event such as the affect on the gay community, the family, or many other elements of the public. This allowed them to present their own material through their interviews, an innovative way to present material.
These articles have made me very curious as to what the Laramie Project will be like and what feelings and thoughts the movie will give me. Particularly, I wonder how the story will be told through these interviews. How are they linked? What do the actors do to portray the feelings of the people being interviewed? And most of all, how did the death of Matthew Shepard affect each community?
Before reading both articles, I knew some basic facts about Matthew Shepard’s case, however did not know about the play or movie about it. I thought it was interesting that Kaufman wanted the play to not only focus on Matthew Shepard, but also focus on the town, its residents, and their reactions to the event. News stories might only give the facts about the case, but to understand and learn from this event we must know more about Laramie and its residents. I also thought it was interesting that for a play, Kaufman and the crew spent quite a bit of time in Laramie interviewing people and getting a first-hand look into living in Laramie. They wanted to learn of the different perspectives of the case from what the gay community thought, to what the bartender who last saw Matthew Shepard thought.
ReplyDeleteFrom the article Town in Mirror, this statement stood out to me as significant: “The Laramie Project ostentatiously declines to represent Matthew Shepard onstage. This choice ingeniously sidesteps sentimental images while at the same time giving the play a mysteriously satisfying spiritual dimension.” Before the article went into detail about the play, there was no doubt in my mind that Matthew Shepard would be represented in the play. The story surrounds him, so I believed that an actor would represent him throughout the play. After reading this statement, I was surprised and curious on how the story that surrounds Matthew Shepard, never shows a visual Matthew Shepard. It will be interesting to see how Kaufman can give a feeling of Matthew Shepard’s presence in the play.
The two articles, as I said before, made me curious about how the play represents the story, especially through all the different interviews they collected through their research. One question I had was what was the initial reaction of the residents of Laramie to Kaufman and his crew wanting to interview and get to know them?
Although I am somewhat familiar with the basic aspects of the Laramie Project, I have not seen the movie or the play. The story of Matthew Sheppard is horrific and I am glad people put forth as much effort as they did to tell his story and educate the public of the seriousness of discrimination towards homosexuals. The articles intrigued me, especially the amount of background information Shewey presented about the different people involved in the play. I liked how he elaborated on each character and showed us each of their unique reasons for taking part in the project.
ReplyDeleteThe actually story of Matthew Shepard is very shocking and disturbing. One of the areas in the article I found most disturbing was the fear the actors had every time they entered a new city. This project was a big risk. Countless people disagreed with the message the Laramie Project was projecting and some were even on the sides of Matthew Shepard’s attackers. In Shewey’s article he refers to when the actors went to Wyoming; the actors were fearful of the potential prejudice in west and Kaufman felt the need to set safety rules, “no one works alone, and everyone carries a cell phone.” Also I thought it was sad, but interesting how fearful the actors were to go to Laramie itself. Kaufman states in his article “The gay and lesbian members of the company were from onset quite afraid to travel to a town where such a brutal crime against a gay man had just occurred.
A couple questions I have are:
1. How many of the actors in the company were gay or lesbian and did the actors who weren’t face any issues?
2. How did the residents of the Laramie react to the play? Were they disappointed or impressed? Did they support the message and the actors efforts or were they offended?
It is important to first note that I had no prior knowledge of the Laramie Project nor the atrocious assault and murder of Matthew Shepard. To read the precise way in which Mr. Shepard was murdered served as reminder of how severe and real this issue of gay and lesbian acceptance is in our society. To me, the reasons behind committing such a heinous crime are as gratuitous as they are despicable and to know that not everyone shares this point of view is alarming.
ReplyDeleteWith that being said, I found myself gravitating toward the Into the West article as it clearly outlined the objectives in portraying the crime in a theatrical setting. I was especially attracted to the fact that the focus was not exclusively placed on the incident, but revolved around the resounding impacts it had on the community. “ Some members were interested in the ranching community, others in the gay and lesbian community, others in getting to know more about Matthew Shepard others in finding out about the lives of the perpetrators. So in a very natural way, we began to hear a rich and varied collection of community voices.” This is a passage extracted from the Into the West article that is further indicative of how they were able to accumulate such an all-encompassing look at the tragedy. This look at the effect on community, with the utmost respect to Mr. Shepard, is of equal importance to the actual incident itself. I say this because the way in which the community reacts to this murder may be indicative to the ways in which the nation responds as a whole. Analyzing the incident’s impact on a small scale, may offer insight regarding where we stand, as a nation, on such a sensitive subject.
Some further questions that may be worth exploring could include: further history on Mr. Shepard, a geographic/cultural analysis of the region of Laramie, and finally, discuss the impacts the film had (if any) on society as a whole.
Reading Shewey’s discussion on “The Laramie Project,” the decision to not include Matthew Shepard as a character on stage was the most significant to me personally. As someone who recently saw the film adaptation of Tectonic Theatre Project’s play, I felt somewhat guilty sympathizing less with Matthew and more so with other characters. I became emotional at the depiction of other characters and was moved most by their transformations rather than Matthew’s traumatic death. Reading Shewey’s article and beginning to understand the purpose of the project, I felt justified for my reactions. For example, the character of Reggie Fluty particularly touched me. I was inspired by her selflessness, boundless love, and fortitude, notably through her scare with HIV. As Shewey writes, “A particularly haunting character is Reggie Fluty, the female deputy sheriff who cut Matthew Shepard down from the fence where he was tied. Told by the hospital that Shepard was HIV-positive, she was treated with AZT, which made her lose 10 pounds and much of her hair. This information, not widely known, comes as a bit of a bombshell and raises numerous questions that the play provocatively chooses not to pursue. Instead, the anecdote resonates as part of Fluty’s experience of the Matthew Shepard ordeal.” Reading these words, I began to better understand the project, and as a result, gain comfort with and confidence in my reactions as audience member. “The Laramie Project,” I realized, is not a documentary on the murder of Matthew Shepard, it is an exploration of the repercussions and subsequent reactions. Looking forward to watching the film again, I want to pay close attention to how Matthew Shepard is portrayed as a character. How does the play depict Shepard? Do the authors and actors want the audience, us, to sympathize with Matthew or with the people of Laramie interviewed in the aftermath? Is the play really even about Matthew Shepard, or was his murder an opportunity to comment and explore modern beliefs, perceptions, and opinions about gender, sexuality, and sexual orientation?
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Kaufman’s “Into the West,” and Don Shewey’s “Town in Mirror,” I am even more interested in The Laramie Project than I had been prior to reading the articles. I only had a vague notion about The Laramie Project and all of its history, but the aspect that piqued my interest was the amount of method that Kaufman and his co-workers used when writing The Laramie Project. I gathered that the making of The Laramie Project was as much a science as it was an art. It was intriguing that they used extensive research methods in order to gather, organize, interpret, and present the data. The fact that they traveled to Laramie, interview people, had a diversity of information, and conducted workshops shows a very technical, draining, intellectual, and hard facts component to the production that I had not thought about previously. The Laramie Project is as much a work of art as it is a new way to conduct and present research findings. It was also interesting how their work was under the scrutiny of the townspeople that were being portrayed. It seemed to make the work much weightier with the added burden of portraying actual people onstage. I was also intrigued by the fact that the changes in the townspeople of Laramie were documented.
ReplyDeleteOne of the quotes that is the most poignant is “’One of the greatest achievements of the piece was following the journey of individuals and showing the magnitude of their change.’ (Shewey, 16).” This quote is preceded by an anecdote about Romaine Patterson, a young woman who was affected by the Matthew Shepard incident. I responded to her story with strong emotion because it was refreshing and encouraging to see the strength that was in her develop and be put to use in a role of advocacy. I felt proud of her.
One of the questions I pose about the film is “How do the actors present their research as art?”
I found how the Tectonic Theater Project gravitated towards certain groups of people to be particularly intriguing. Kaufman says that "Some members were interested in the ranching community, others in the gay and lesbian community, others in getting to know more about Matthew Shepard, others in finding out about the lives of the perpetrators." I feel this is interesting because as they collected more information about these groups and individuals they became adamant about presenting their stories to the rest of the group. In the end, when the Laramie Project premiered in Denver these same people were able to come watch portrayals of themselves. I find that while this could be viewed by many people as hurting the objectivity of the show, it is critical in how this story is put together and how it should be presented. I'm very interested to see how they went about this and how it plays out onstage in the film.
ReplyDeleteBefore reading these articles, I had some knowledge of Matthew Shepard's story but I had never seen "The Laramie Project". The articles intrigued me. I have had some experience in theatre growing up as a dancer and I had never seen or heard of this method of creating a play. It was so inclusive and so hands on. It wasn't just a single person creating a story and telling actors how to portray their parts. Every member of the cast had a personal connection to their character and the story because they had seen the events through the eyes of the people who really experienced them.
ReplyDeleteAnother idea in the text that stood out to me was the fact they didn't represent Matthew Shepard directly because it "sidesteps sentimental images while giving the play a mysteriously satisfying spiritual dimension. His unseen presence is much more familiar than the overly familiar depiction of a crucified figure." I think that this really shows a lot about the company's ability to connect to the audience in unique ways. By leaving him out, the audience almost gets a more intimate look at him by relating to the people around him. I appreciated the conscious choice that was made to leave him out.
Some questions I still have are:
1) How did the gay members of the company overcome their fear of homophobia in the west?
2) What was the national impact of Matthew Shepards death?
3) How did the actors portray the residents of Larimie without offending them and what was the community response to the play?
Here's Andrea's comment:
ReplyDeleteHaving some previous knowledge about "The Laramie Project" allowed me to connect more with the material and realize various new things from the articles. I was most surprised by Moises Kaufman in this instance. Although I was familiar with his hard work on the research and the play, I was not aware of his strong passion for the project.
Kaufman invested everything in order to receive the appropriate funding and approval to visit this tiny town in the middle-of-nowhere, Wyoming and yet he and his crew never gave up. Although they were not readily welcomed in Laramie, they persisted until they got the real story of Matthew Shepherd. It was great to discover in "Town in a Mirror," that the theater company was so successful in portraying Matthew Shepherd that "his unseen presence is much more powerful that the overly familiar depiction of a crucified figure." It is an extremely hard task to represent someone without a voice, without his side of the story, and it is just inspiring to feel Matthew's presence through the various interviews, both praising and critical.
I am, however, still puzzled by the theater's ability to collect so much research and whether people were reluctant to participate. I know they were not welcome at first, but how did that change over that? What allowed the town to feel safe to continue to cooperate and see these interviews and themselves in a nationwide play?