Leigh Fondakowski, a Creator of THE LARAMIE PROJECT, Directs 20th Anniversary Production at Provincetown Theater

Hailed by The New York Times as one of the "25 Best American Plays since Angels in America," The Laramie Project will open on October 11, 2018 at the Birthplace of American Theater, the Provincetown Theater in Provincetown, MA helmed by one of its creators, Leigh Fondakowski, Head Writer of Moises Kaufman's Tectonic Theater Project.

An accomplished New York-based writer and director (see bio below), Fondakowski not only assistant directed the original off-Broadway production of The Laramie Project, she also garnered an Emmy Award nomination for the screen adaptation of the all-star HBO film version. Fondakowski's Provincetown Theater production -- a play which deftly employs verbatim interviews drawn from her work with the Tectonic Theater Project when they spoke with over 200 residents of Laramie, Wyoming following the brutal murder of the openly-gay college student Matthew Shepard in 1998 -- features a cast of ten actors playing multiple roles, and runs at the Provincetown Theater, 238 Bradford Street in Provincetown, MA thru October 28th. Performances are Thursdays thru Saturdays at 7pm, with Sunday matinees at 2pm. Tickets are $30-35, and can be obtained online at provincetowntheater.org. Or in-person at the Provincetown Theater Downtown Box Office, 230 Commercial Street, Wednesdays - Saturdays, noon - 6pm. For more information, please call 508.487.7487.

NOTE FROM Leigh Fondakowski:

"The Laramie Project was such a pivotal and formative part of my artistic life," Fondakowski says, "and the play has continued to shape my thinking and my work. Having grown up in Western Massachusetts, I would come here in summertime," she continues, "totally closeted, but looking around and knowing this was my place-just to know that, that there was a gay place I could go to one day when I was out of the closet finally and free, made all the difference in my young life. I wanted to do something to honor Matthew and the special place this play has in my heart. I love this play and want to share it with this community, which I also love. Matthew was too young when he died to ever make it to Provincetown for carnival or a romantic weekend with his boyfriend. I like to imagine him here, at the tea dance or walking the town, being free, being gay, being safe, and being with his people, with his friends. I like to imagine all of us here in this place as his community, as his friends, and he, ours. Our Matthew."

The Provincetown Theater production of The Laramie Project will be performed by (in alphabetical order): John Dennis Anderson, Andrew Clemons, Paul E. Halley, Tamora Israel, Fermin Rojas, Julia Salinger, Sam Sewell, Tom Sharp, Myra Slotnick, and Anne Stott. Production Stage Manager is Eric Oxtoby. Creative team includes Scenic Design by Ellen Rousseau, Costume Design by Carol Sherry, and Sound Design by Sam Sewell.

Leigh Fondakowski was the head writer of The Laramie Project, co-writer of Laramie: Ten Years Later, and an Emmy Nominated co-screenwriter for the film adaptation of Laramie with HBO Films. Her other original plays include, I Think I Like Girls, The People's Temple, and SPILL. Her plays have been produced under her direction at American Theater Company, Berkeley Repertory Theater, Encore Theater, Ensemble Studio Theater, The Guthrie Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, Perseverance Theater, Swine Palace, TimeLine Theater, and Z Space Studio. Leigh is a recipient of the NEA/TCG Theatre Residency Program for Playwrights, a MacDowell Colony Fellow, a Drama League Fellow, and a New Georges Resident Artist. She held a Distinguished Visiting Chair at the University of Minnesota in 2010. She is the author of the nonfiction book, Stories from Jonestown, which she is currently adapting to film. She teaches at New Orleans Center for Creative Arts and Naropa University, and is a member of Tectonic Theater Project.

With a history rooted in the original Provincetown Players of 1916, the Provincetown Theater is owned and managed by the Provincetown Theater Foundation (PTF). Under the leadership of artistic director David Drake, the Provincetown Theater is a 501c3 not-for-profit performing arts institution, producing year-round entertainment on the tip of Cape Cod at the Birthplace of American Theater. Sponsorship for the 2018 season is due, in large part, to the generous support of Cape Air, WOMR, 102.3 Dunes FM, Hook, Strangers & Saints, Victor's, East End Market, Scott Allegretti,DDS, the Provincetown Tourism Fund, the Schoolman Trust, the Palette Fund, and in partnership with Provincetown Magazine.

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