Young Writers Society

The Laramie Project
by:Moisés Kaufman

The Laramie Project is a play about Matthew Shepard. He was a young gay man that was brutally beaten and then left to die out on the Wymoing prarie. What is so sad is that this event actually occured in October 1998 and is based on 200 testimoninals(sp?) of the people of Laramie. This play shows how it effects the town and the people living there. It also shows how even though we have come so far in civil rights that there is still so much hatred out there. This play is a deeply moving piece that left me just sobbing at the end. I highly recommend this play.

I saw the movie about Shepard on HBO. It was VERY well done, least, I think so. It airs every once in a while, still on HBO. That's fine by me, because it's important to never forget. What happaned to Shepard was horriable. And for what??

*shakes head*

Anyway, The Laramie Project is worth looking into. I agree 100% with marching. The story always tugs at your heart.

A theatre company in my town performed this. Incredibly sad. And scary.

-sniff......sniff-
i cried so much when i read the book and saw the movie......
it touched me in a way that i cant explain........
i recomend it to anyone.

I have the book; it sitting on my shelf collecting dust. It was on my 10th grade reading list but I read the first few chapters; and just couldn't get into it. If it's that good I might have to take a crack at it.

The same theatre company did a 10 year anniversary play last year. They went back to Laramie and interviewed some of the same people. They even got in to see one of the murderers in prison. There was a nationwide reading of it across college campuses, and my school was the only one in the entire state to participate. Both of these plays really just tear your heart out...

I live in Laramie, and while, yes, the play and HBO film are very well done, there are some things one must consider when looking at a situation like the one that they describe. This is, unfortunately, something that Moises didn't do as well as he should have. There are some fairly large stereotypes that he places on the people of Laramie, which rather annoys me, and he also didn't examine the city itself that much. Other than that, though, I did enjoy seeing some of my favorite actors from LOST in the HBO version, cavorting around the place that I live...