I did something unusual tonight–one of those things I so often think I’d like to do, but somehow rarely get myself into gear and actually follow through on. I went over to the local high school, North Middlesex Regional High School and saw their drama department, The North Middlesex Players, put on a full, three-hour-long performance of The Laramie Project. I knew one of the cast members from the church I speak at, and I saw two adult members of the church at the performance, so I had a few personal connections. I love live theatre, and I like student theatre–I’d rather see a small intimate show than some amplified, hyper-produced Broadway spectacular any day of the week, to be quite honest. And you couldn’t beat the ticket price: $5.00, and I sat in the front row.
As most people probably know, The Laramie Project is a sort of docudrama based on more than 200 hours of interviews done in Laramie in 1998-99 by the Tectonic Theatre Project following the fatal beating of gay man Matthew Shepard. I’ve always wanted to see it done onstage (yes, I know HBO did it–I didn’t see their version, and, it’s not the same thing. This story needs to be told breath-to-breath. That’s just how I feel about it). None of it is fictionalized–every word spoken is taken from an interview of a real person, or from court records or news broadcasts. It’s earnest and forthright, but it’s never hyperbolic or melodramatic. The whole play is about how people in Laramie were affected by the event, and how they reacted to it–it’s not really about the crime itself. It’s about the experience of living through the crime, and being changed by it.
Today, December 1st, is Matthew Shepard’s birthday. He would have been 31 years old. The North Middlesex Players is donating 10% of the show’s proceeds from today’s two performances to The Matthew Shepard Foundation. That was probably one of the things that got me booted out the door to go.
The student cast did an absolutely terrific job. They double-cast it, partly because they needed a lot of “extras” for some scenes (such as the parade). What was especially impressive was how well everything was timed and paced. The show has three acts, each of which moves rapidly from one vignette or monologue to the next. There were racks of clothing at the back of the stage and at either side, about a dozen plain white benches, and only three other set pieces. One side of the proscenium had a table, chairs, and small dresser with a phone and lamp on it; the other side had a “bar” with a couple of stools, that was changed to a table and chair near the end. Most of the cast played multiple roles and some of them switched from one role directly to another one. The cast all wore khaki pants and black t-shirts (these were specially printed and were for sale in the lobby, I bought one), and when an actor spoke a role, he or she would put on one or two pieces of costume, and that was how the characters were distinguished. So, at continuous intervals of one to five minutes, the focus of the action changed, and this might involve something as simple as one actor putting on a shirt and walking to the front of the stage, or as complicated as twenty actors moving a dozen benches and other set pieces and changing clothes, all at the same time. Yet this was accomplished so smoothly, there was no time difference between the simple and complicated changes. This play doesn’t showcase any individuals, and you can’t even call it an “ensemble” play. It’s an intricately coordinated performance in which everyone worked together like clockwork for three solid hours. And The North Middlesex Players, cast and crew, were just great.
The acting ranged from competent to outstanding; there was a little problem here and there with projection and enunciation. Good solid speech training would help there–but even big-name movie actors these days seem to eat their lines half the time. However, the entire show is largely a series of monologues–non-stop speeches, mostly non-interactive, in other words. As a trained actor myself, I can testify that this is not easy to do, and the overall quality of the presentation was most impressive. Even the occasional and inevitable glitch (primarily uncooperative costumes) didn’t stop the actors from going right on with their speeches with complete (indeed, admirable) aplomb. There was a well-deserved standing ovation at the curtain call.
There is one more performance, tomorrow (Sunday, December 2nd) afternoon at 2:00pm. If you’re in this area and would like to see The Laramie Project performed live, go. You won’t find a better way to spend $5.00 on a Sunday just before a big snow storm!