From Tranquility to Uproar: Laramie, the hate crime capital of America
Who are we to judge? What gives us the right to tell other people how to live their lives? And why should we feel the need to be the same in order to fit in? Being different should not be associated with or categorized as wrong. Matthew Shepard, a twenty-one-year-old openly gay student who attended the University of Wyoming, was different. Members of Kaufman's theatrical group, Tectonic Theater Project, volunteered to travel with their director to gather interviews from Laramie's populace regarding the brutal beating and subsequent death of the young college student. The Laramie Project, a play by Moises Kaufman uses many different narrative techniques and structures that helps tell the story of Mathew Shepard in a mesmerizing way.
So what happens to a beautiful town like Laramie when something unforgivable tears it apart? When a close knit community whose trust has been well kept is now completely shattered? The Laramie Project begins with the members of the Tectonic Theater Project group reading different entries from the records they have kept while interviewing the people in the small town. This type of narrative technique provides characters a chance to speak with longer monologues than those throughout the rest of the play. An example of this can be seen when Greg Pierotti interviews Detective Sergeant Hing from the Laramie Police Department. The Detective, a long time resident, provides the audience with some history on the town of Laramie “Were one of the largest states in the country, and the least populated”. More people join in and everyone describes how great it is in Wyoming. Rebecca Hilliker, a newcomer to the town, said “You have an opportunity to be happy in your life here. I found that people here were nicer than in the Midwest, because they were happy.” Doc O’Connor states “I love it here”. What all these people have in common is the love for their town. All of them give...