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Hospital Update
(From L to R Michael Cooper, Jeremy Thompson, Martin J. Mackenzie, Mark Peterson, Jefri Peters, Rachel Fitzgerald, Russ Coffey). Photo by Galen Wicks Photography
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It
was Saturday night of the opening weekend of The Laramie Project at Tacoma
Little Theatre. We thought we must have arrived too early because there was
only one other person in the lobby who was not theater staff. By the time the
play started more had trickled in, but it looked like little more than a fourth
of the seats were filled. If they had been doing The Sound of Music or a Neil
Simon comedy the house would have been sold out.
Director
Brie Yost wrote in her director’s notes, “I was told by a fellow theatre
colleague that ‘Tacoma is not ready for The Laramie Project.’” Tacoma? The
Advocate magazine’s recent choice for gayest city in America? — If that is true
then the people who are staying away have no idea what an amazing theatrical
experience they are missing.
I
was astounded as I experienced moment after moment after moment of
jaw-droppingly stunning dialog and memorable acting and staging. This is the fourth
time I have seen this show, plus one performance of the ten-year-after show.
I’ve seen it done by a high school drama department; I’ve seen a college
production; I’ve seen it done by a community theater company and one
professional company. — TLT’s production is hands-down the best I’ve seen.
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Aaron McKinney's Confession
(From L to R Jeremy Thompson, Russ Coffey, Michael Cooper). Photo by Galen Wicks Photography
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In
1998 on a cold October night 21-year-old gay college student Matthew Shepard
was brutally beaten, tied to a fence and left for dead on the outskirts of
Laramie, Wyo. He was found 18 hours later and rushed to the hospital, where he died
five days later. The case was a media frenzy.
Five
weeks after Matthew Shepard’s death, Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic
Theater Project of New York City went to Laramie, where in the course of the
next year they conducted more than 200 interviews with people of the town. They
wrote the play using the actual words of the interviewees, including people who
knew Matthew Shepard and even his killers, Aaron McKinney and Russell
Henderson.
A
cast of nine actors play the roles of more than 20 Laramie residents, Kaufman
and members of the acting company, with staging reminiscent of Thornton
Wilder’s Our Town — but unlike Our Town, this is not fiction. This is
naked truth.
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Epilogue
The cast of THE LARAMIE PROJECT. Photo by Galen Wicks Photography
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It
is beautifully directed and has a mood setting sparse set designed by Lex
Gernon with spot on lighting by Niclas R. Olson. The use of overhead television
monitors in the scenes where the media was swarming the town was extremely
effective (reminding me of a similar use of monitors in TLT’s Frost/Nixon,
which Yost also directed).
The
ensemble cast works in such harmony that it would be wrong to single out any
one actor. They are each superb. They are: Jen Aylsworth, Russ Coffey, Mike
Cooper, Rachel Fitzgerald, Marty MacKenzie, Jefri Peters, Mark Peterson,
Tiffani Pike, and Jeremy Thompson, each playing multiple roles.
What
is truly amazing is the manner in which these actors change from character to
character, often in a manner of seconds with no more than a simple costume
change — sometimes in full view of the audience — more often than not consisting
of a simple change of hats or a different shirt or jacket thrown over the black
T-shirts they all wear, and then a radical change of voice, from the twang of a
cowboy to the sophisticated tone of a college professor. As one of the audience
members pointed out in the great talk-back after the show, method actors may
live in character on and off stage for months at a time, yet these actors do
the same thing while cycling through anywhere from six to ten characters each
with the changes in the length of time it takes to put on a hat or walk from
one part of the stage to another.
I’m
writing this on the day of the Tony Awards. Each of these actors deserve one of
those, and Yost deserves one for directing.
And
you know what? This is not even a “mainstage” production; it is a “second
stage” show, meaning it’s not considered mainstream enough to draw large
audiences. The good thing about that is that tickets are merely $10.
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday
and 2:00 p.m. Sunday through June 23
WHERE: Tacoma Little Theatre, 210 N
“I” St., Tacoma
TICKETS: $10
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