The Rep and Webster University Host Free Reading of THE LARAMIE PROJECT: TEN YEARS LATER: AN EPILOGUE 10/12

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and Webster University will co-host the St. Louis premiere reading of the epilogue to the acclaimed play The Laramie Project which, since its debut in 2000, has been one of the most performed plays in America.

Written by Tectonic Theater Project members Moisés Kaufman, Leigh Fondakowski, Greg Pierotti, Andy Paris and Stephen Belber, The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later: An Epilogue will be read at the Community Music School at Webster University, 560 Garden Avenue, Webster Groves, Missouri on Monday, October 12, 2009 at 8 pm.

This event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 7:30 pm. Seating is general admission. No tickets are necessary.

For more information about the reading, visit www.repst.org/laramie.

Along with cast members from the Music Box touring company of The Phantom of the Opera, local actors will participate in the first public reading of the new work.

The St. Louis participants join in a worldwide community premiering the play, which will be simultaneously presented at more than 150 venues within all 50 U.S. states and in Canada, Great Britain, Spain, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Venezuela and Israel.

October 12, 2009 marks the 11th anniversary of Matthew Shepherd's murder and this play, with entirely new material, focuses on the long-term effects his death has had on the town of Laramie, Wyoming. The play includes interviews with Shepard's mother Judy Shepard and his murderer Aaron McKinney, who is serving two consecutive life sentences.

The writers also conducted many follow-up interviews with Laramie residents from the original play, including Romaine Patterson, Reggie Fluty, Jedediah Shultz, Father Roger Schmidt, Jonas Slonaker, Beth Loffreda and others.

"The Tectonic Theater Project set to find out how Laramie had changed in the 10 years since the murder of Matthew Shepard," says Tectonic Theater Artistic Project Director Moisés Kaufman. "When we arrived, we were forced to confront the question ‘How do you measure change in a community?' One of the things we found when we got there, which greatly surprised us, was people in Laramie saying this was not a hate crime."

The cast for the St. Louis reading includes local actors Tyler Vickers, Mark Chaitin, Chris Hickey*, John Pierson*, John Flack*, Joneal Joplin*, Peter Mayer*, BrIan White, Steve Isom*, Teresa Doggett, Peggy Billo*, Michelle Hand, Maria Tholl, Kirsten Wylder, and members of the Music Box company of The Phantom of the Opera, currently appearing at the Fox Theatre, David DC Anderson*, Michael McCoy*, Anne Kanengeiser* and Trista Moldovan*.

(Performers noted with an asterisk are members of the Actors' Equity Association [AEA], the union representing professional actors and stage managers in America, and appear courtesy of a special agreement graciously arranged for this event by AEA.)

The St. Louis reading will be directed by Doug Finlayson.

In tandem with the premiere, Tectonic Theater Project has launched an online interactive community where participants can blog, upload video and photos and share their stories about the play, experiences in preparing and presenting the epilogue in their communities. The members of Tectonic Theater Project are active participants in the online community, offering participants feedback and encouragement. To visit go to community.laramieproject.org.

The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later has also already received attention from notable civic leaders. Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) introduced a resolution to the House of Representatives to honor the play and its participants. This resolution, submitted September 24, 2009, congratulates participating theaters and patrons for continuing to raise awareness of hate crimes. The resolution is co-sponsored by Representatives Barney Frank (D-MA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Jared Polis (D-CO).
The murder of Matthew Shepard became a watershed historical moment in America that highlighted the violence and prejudice facing the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community. The Laramie Project made audiences around the world aware of this tragedy and brought issue of hate crimes to national attention. The Laramie Project, which was later adapted to film for HBO, has been produced world wide and viewed by over 50 million people.

About the Creators

Tectonic Theater Project (Moisés Kaufman, Artistic Director, Greg Reiner, Executive Director, Jeffrey LaHoste, Managing Director, Dominick Balletta, General Manager) is an award-winning company whose plays have been performed around the world. Since 1992 TTP has produced innovative works that explore theatrical language and form, fostering an artistic dialogue with our audiences on the social, political and human issues of the day. The company has developed and produced works for theater and film, including: 33 Variations (nominated for 5 Tony Awards including Best Play), Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde; The Laramie Project (one of the most produced plays in the country, as well as an HBO movie written and directed by Kaufman); and I Am My Own Wife (2004 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for best play). Tectonic has garnered numerous awards including the Humanitas Prize, the Obie, the Lucille Lortel Award, The Outer Critics Circle Award, the GLAAD Media Award, the Artistic Integrity Award from the Human Rights Campaign, and the Making a Difference Award from the Matthew Shepard Foundation. The film of The Laramie Project was also honored with four Emmy Nominations, The National Board of Review Award for Outstanding Made for Television Movie and a Golden Bear Award from the Berlin Film Festival. In addition to creating theatrical works, Tectonic Theater Project works in residence at Universities around the country and hosts a New York based training lab for theater artists.

As a non-profit laboratory we are grateful for the long term support of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Greenwall Foundation, The Arcus Foundation, The Small Change Foundation, The Educational Foundation of America, Shawn Donnelley, JeAnne Sullivan, and Jeanne Donovan-Fisher. For more information on the company, visit http://www.tectonictheaterproject.org.

Moisés Kaufman is a Tony and Emmy nominated director and award-winning playwright. His plays Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde and The Laramie Project have been among the most performed plays in America over the last decade. Mr. Kaufman also directed the Pulitzer and Tony award-winning play I Am My Own Wife, earning him an Obie award for his direction as well as Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Lucille Lortel nominations. Other recent credits include: 33 Variations (La Jolla Playhouse, Arena Stage); Macbeth with Liev Schreiber (Public Theater); Lady Windermere's Fan (Williamstown Theater Festival); This Is How It Goes (Donmar Warehouse); One Arm by Tennessee Williams (Steppenwolf Theater Company); and Master Class with Rita Moreno (Berkeley Repertory Theater). As a writer/ director: Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde (Lucille Lortel Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, Joe Callaway Award, GLAAD Media Award); The Laramie Project (Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk noms, GLAAD Media Award). Mr. Kaufman also directed the film adaptation of The Laramie Project for HBO, which was the opening night selection at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival and won the National Board of Review Award, the Humanitas Prize and a Special Mention for Best First Film at the Berlin Film Festival. The film also earned Mr. Kaufman two Emmy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Writer. He is the Artistic Director of Tectonic Theater Project and a Guggenheim Fellow in Playwriting.

Leigh Fondakowski was the Head Writer of The Laramie Project and has been a member of Tectonic Theatre Project since 1995. She is an Emmy nominated co-screenwriter for the adaptation of The Laramie Project for HBO. Her latest work, The People's Temple, has been performed under her direction at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Perseverance Theater, American Theater Company and The Guthrie Theater, and received the Glickman Award for Best New Play in the Bay Area in 2005. Another original play, I Think I Like Girls, premiered at Encore Theater in San Francisco under her direction and was voted one of the top 10 plays of 2002 by The Advocate. Other directing credits include: Gerda's Lieutenant by Ellen Greeves and Bennett Singer (Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts) 3 Seconds in the Key by Deb Margolin (San Francisco Playhouse), The Laramie Project (Berkeley Repertory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Perseverance Theater), La Voix Humaine by Jean Cocteau (Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh). Leigh is a 2007 recipient of the NEA/TCG Theatre Residency Program for Playwrights and is developing a play about 19th century actress Charlotte Cushman with About Face Theatre and Tectonic Theater Project. She is an adjunct faculty member in the Masters in Contemporary Performance program at Naropa University.

Greg Pierotti was associate writer of The Laramie Project, for which he and his collaborators received a NY Drama Desk Award nomination and a Lucille Lortel nomination. They later adapted the play to the small screen for HBO. For the adaptation, he and his collaborators received an Emmy nomination for best writing of a film and were nominated for a GLAAD award. He performed the The Laramie Project at Berkeley Rep, La Jolla Playhouse, Denver Center, and The Union Square Theater in NY. He is the head writer of The People's Temple. He and his collaborators received the Will Glickman Award for best New American play. He performed the play at Berkeley Repertory Theater, Perseverance Theater, and The Guthrie. As a writer/actor he has developed and/or performed original and classical work at Arena Stage, Hartford Stage, The Magic, The Atlantic Theatre Company, The Sundance Theatre Lab in Utah, New York Theatre Workshop, and the NYTW summer writer's lab at Dartmouth. Greg has taught theater and Tectonic Theater Project's moment work at high schools and colleges around the country and in Naropa University's MFA program in contemporary performance.

Andy Paris has made a career of developing new works for the stage and screen, including The Laramie Project (EMMY Nomination), Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, by Moisés Kaufman, Lucie Tiberghien's The Quiet Room, and Innocents, by Rachel Dickstein. As a writer/director Andy created The Fanmaker's Inquisition, adapted from the novel by Rikki Ducornet. He also developed Goldstar Ohio, by Michael Tisdale, directing the stage version at The Cleveland Public Theatre, and the short film starring Bill Irwin, Alison Pill, Mercedes Ruehl and Michael Emerson. For The Women's Project he wrote The Corporate Carnival, which was presented in the Winter Garden at the World Financial Center. Andy was invited to participate in The Lincoln Center Directors Lab in 2008. As an actor he has performed in countless plays in New York, Regionally, and in Europe. Regionally, he has been seen at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Playmaker's Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Hartford Stage, Theatre Virginia, Berkeley Rep and La Jolla Playhouse. His upcoming acting work includes OR by Liz Duffy Adams, which will be coming to The Women's Project in November. He has also been the recipient of two AUDIE Awards for his audiobook narrations. As an original member of Tectonic Theater Project, Andy has worked under the mentorship of Mr. Kaufman, and now teaches the techniques which he and Tectonic developed over the past seventeen years. He has taught workshops at New York University, DePaul University, Naropa Institute and in Osaka, Japan, among others. Andy was invited to be a participant in the Lincoln Center Directors Lab in 2008. Andy grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio and is a graduate of NYU.

Stephen Belber‘s plays include Geometry of Fire (Rattlestick), Fault Lines (Naked Angels/Cherry Lane), A Small, Melodramatic Story (LAByrinth Theater Company), McReele (Roundabout), Match (Broadway, Tony nomination for Frank Langella), Tape (Naked Angels-NYC/LA/London) and The Laramie Project (Associate Writer). As a screenwriter, he wrote Tape, directed by Richard Linklater, (Sundance; Berlin); The Laramie Project (Associate Writer) for HBO Films, (Sundance, Emmy nomination for screenwriting); and Drifting Elegant, directed by Amy Glazer. He recently wrote and directed his first feature, Management, starring Jennifer Aniston, Steve Zahn and Woody Harrelson, which premiered at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival. He is currently developing screenplays based on McReele (for Will Smith's Overbrook Production Company), and Match. TV credits include Rescue Me and Law & Order: SVU, (staff writer). He has received commissions from Manhattan Theater Club, Playwrights Horizons, The Huntington Theater, Arena Stage and Philadelphia Theater Company.

Jimmy Maize (Dramaturg) is an award-winning playwright, director and actor who has been a member of Tectonic Theater Project since 2003. His interview-based play In One Room was the recipient of the first annual Bailiwick playwriting award, the David Nord Award, and has been performed nationally. He assistant directed 33 Variations with Jane Fonda on Broadway, and most recently Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (Center Theatre Group). Other directing credits include Lucky Pink Wonderland (People's Improv Theatre); Quantum Love Story, Songs for the Pac-Man (Bureau Theater) and writing/directing credits include Making Time, and In The Belly (Bureau Theater). He is a graduate of Whitman College, Artistic Director of the New York-based Bureau Theater, and a current MFA directing candidate at Columbia University's School of the Arts. He is also proud to be the Literary Manager and an Artistic Associate at Tectonic Theater Project.

 

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