Review: THE LARAMIE PROJECT at FMCT
By: Brian Michaels Oct. 18, 2018
The Laramie Project at FMCT
For anyone not familiar, The Laramie Project is a play from 2000 originally created by Moises Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project. This play is about the reaction to the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay student from them University of Wyoming in Laramie. Moises and other members conducted hundreds of hours of interviews to create the production.
FMCT decided to open the show on October 12th, 2018 which is exactly 20 years after Matthew Shepard died due to his injuries from his attack.
The original production used only 8 actors to portray over 60 characters. FMCT uses 20, which is still no easy feat. Actors & Actresses portrayed anywhere from 2-5 characters each.
First and foremost, this story is so important and I do hope many people go see this. It is just as important in today's political climate as it was when it originally came out.
Every person on the stage did an amazing job shifting from character to character, sometimes within seconds. It's hard to really pick individual standouts just due to the high number of different characters although a couple did catch my eye.
Alex Kleven as Matt Galloway, the bartender and one of the last people to me Matthew before he was kidnapped, was so good while telling the story of that fateful night. I actually teared up during that scene.
Ashleigh Kost in all 4 of her roles was one of my favorites. She has such stage presence and I hope to see her in many more productions.
2 very special mentions also for a couple of rookies. Brad Swenson, who had 4 great roles but the standout was Doc O'Connor for sure and also Cody Rowe, also 4 roles, as Jedadiah Schultz did an amazing job. This 2 gentlemen both made their stage debut and held their own with all of the seasoned actors and actresses. I really hope they both continue to work in theatre.
You still have some chances to see this show, and I highly recommend that you do
**Photos courtesy of Perry Rust
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