What's In a Name?

In Shakespeare’s "Romeo and Juliet," Juliet grapples with the hatred of her family, the Capulets, for that of her beloved Romeo, the Montague family. “What’s in a name?” she asks him, trying to understand the power and influence of a simple surname, “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Names and titles, she realizes, are human creations, little more than superimposed categories used to give information. Although her question is deceivingly simple and superficial, Juliet in fact makes a profound statement in regards to tolerance. Where names and labels divided and inspired hatred in Shakespeare’s story of love, the Tectonic Theater Company use the power of titles to their advantage, using a title to give clues about their modern day investigation of hate and acceptance in a small Wyoming town. As the title suggests, “The Laramie Project” is not about a twenty-one year old college student brutally beaten and murdered for his sexual orientation. Rather, it is a story of the people of Laramie, an investigation of the town, documenting the residents’ thoughts and reactions, framed by the hate crime that ended Matthew Shepard’s life.

“I want to hear from the people of the town,” Moisès Kaufman explains to the head of the Theatre Department at the University of Wyoming in one of the very first scenes in the play. As author of the play and founder of the Tectonic Theater Company, Kaufman explicitly states the purpose of the interviews, and therefore the purpose of “The Laramie Project.” From the very beginning, he tells the audience that the play is about Laramie. He immediately introduces the idea that it is a story about how the town and its residents were influenced by Matthew’s death. With Kaufman and “The Laramie Project” in mind, Ryan M. Claycomb explores this modern and innovative stage production, a hybrid of documentary and drama, in the Spring 2003 issue of the "Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism." He writes, “Contemporary oral history plays tend to focus less on ‘what happened’ than on the discourse that surrounds crisis events.” Applied directly to “The Laramie Project,” the play is more concerned with the repercussions and results of Matthew’s murder than the actual murder itself. According to Claycomb’s model, the horrendous hate crime against Matthew is an impetus for dialogue, and the theater company, led by Moisès Kaufman, is interested in that discussion and the resulting change in Laramie, Wyoming. As Kaufman himself explains of the project: “I want to hear from the people of the town.”

Published in the Spring 2002 edition of Modern Drama, Amy Tigner further supports this notion in her article “The Laramie Project: Western Pastoral.” Although she focuses her essay primarily on her own personal thesis, she explores how “The Laramie Project” documents the results of Matthew’s murder in Laramie, Wyoming. “‘The Laramie Project,’” she says, “tells of the community attempting to come together after the tragic death of Matt Shepard. [It] quintessentially presents the… effect on the town,” she asserts, and “[tracks] how this event [has] affected their lives and how they themselves have changed.” As Tigner describes, “The Laramie Project” follows the changes that occur in Laramie as a result of Matthew Shepard’s death. These changes can be seen in how characters are depicted and what moments the play chooses to highlight. For example, in the beginning of the play, Detective Sergent Rob Debree is shown as unsympathetic, treating McKinney and Henderson’s brutal hate crime like any other murder in Laramie. He, like many other townspeople, did not understand or approve of homosexuality. Compelled by the death of Matthew Shepard, however, Debree begins to question his previous beliefs and judgments. The transformation is complete towards the end of the show, when he explains that his new opinions have been a challenge for him. “I’ve lost some buddies,” he admits, “but I don’t care.” Citing the story of Debree and others like it, “The Laramie Project” focuses on this individual choice to reevaluate and change on account of Matthew’s murder. The Tectonic Theatre Company includes these testimonies to chronicle the change they embody, or as Tigner writes, to show “how this event [has] affected their lives.”

The murder of Matthew Shepard is central to “The Laramie Project.” It was Matt’s death that brought the Tectonic Theatre Company to Laramie, Wyoming. It was the incomprehensible act of hate committed against Matthew that inspired change in the townspeople. Surprisingly though, Matthew Shepard is not a character in the play. As Amy Tigner writes in her article, Matthew Shepard is a “hero… marked by his absence.” He is mentioned almost constantly throughout the play, but he fails to be represented as a person or character in the show. As an audience member, one gets the idea that he is presented merely as an event or an idea. He becomes a point of reference in the play, used to qualify the reactions of the townspeople. For example, Laramie resident Harry Woods describes the homecoming parade following Matthew Shepard’s death. In a powerful and emotional scene, he remembers how “the tag at the end of the parade” walking in memory of Matt grew to be “bigger than the entire parade.” The people of Laramie are walking to honor Matt, but this scene is relevant because it shows the great sympathy and support that has grown in Laramie over time. Matthew is merely the qualifier. His death gives context to the events that followed, giving importance to that mob walking the streets of Laramie. Just as Harry Woods’ testimony is powerful because it shows that the townspeople of Laramie have changed in the wake of Henderson and McKinny’s hate crime, Matthew’s murder is important as the momentum behind that change.

Setting out for Laramie, Wyoming, Moisès Kaufman and the Tectonic Theater Company aimed to investigate the effects of Matthew Shepard’s untimely death. They interviewed townspeople to understand the personal reactions and changes resulting from such a heinous crime. As the title of the play suggests, they set out to examine the town Laramie in reference to Matt. Although he is not an active character in the show, he is important as a single event that shook every single townsperson. Matthew Shepard and the event of his death frame their testimonies and validating their responses. Pulling the pieces together, the Tectonic Theatre Company created a meaningful documentary and play, commenting on homophobia in a modern day rural town.

-Ryan Schultz