Written by Amy Stoltenberg
Photographed by Bibiana Aguero
The different Christian pastors express their views on stage. Actor Sam Ikhwan speaks.
SCAD’s freshman and transfer student cast play, called “The Laramie Project,” opens on Thursday May 22 in Crites Hall’s Mondanaro Theater. Experimental in design and nonfiction in subject matter, “The Laramie Project is,” a study of humanity.
“The show revolves around the death of Matthew Shepard, which happened in Laramie, Wyoming,” said Assistant Stage Manager Kaitlyn Ortega, a third-year performing arts major from Park Ridge, New Jersey. “It’s basically a collection of interviews and recordings with numerous leaders of the community and with Matthew Shepard’s parents, and actual documentation of the trials that has been transformed into a show.”
Two women from Laramie gossip during an interview about the death of Matt. Actress Alaina Minichiello brags about her waitressing as she smokes.
Matthew Shepard was a college student who was beaten to death in October of 1998. It is believed Shepard was targeted for being openly gay, bringing this hate crime into the attention of national news.
Props, set and costumes were kept minimal so the words of the actors and the content they delivered were at the forefront.
“The play is in this great ambiguous space, so I could be very literal with the sound, but I’m just trying to accent certain moments very minimally to underscore some scenes,” said the sound designer for the set, Steven Glen Diehl, a fourth-year sound design major from Virginia Beach. “I really want to stay truthful to what the subject of the show really is.”
Costume changes take place on stage and simply involve the tying of a scarf or donning of a jacket. The dialogue between characters is sparse and in interview format. Much of the script is comprised simply of short monologues.
Joe Casper’s character Stephen Belber interviews others to get the story behind the death of Mathew Shepard.
The “ensemble” cast consists of 15 actors who collectively play nearly 70 different characters. Character changes can occur in between sentences as an actor is speaking; they use body language and intonation to imply this transition.
Kayla Bellamy, a first-year performing arts student from North Haven, Connecticut, who plays Romaine Kaufman (among other characters), noted that having the ensemble cast required the actors to delve completely into each character.
“We’ve had to work a little harder with this one. We’re trying to understand why our characters do things, not make it up, because they’re real people, so you just have to get as honest as you can. You have to research the person,” said Bellamy. “I found my character on Facebook.”
Religion, being gay and how each of those issues may or may not affect each other are two of the topics brought to life by the show. Said Michael Board, a first-year performing arts student from Denver, Colorado, “It brings up a lot of topics that we always think about, but that aren’t always talked about.”
The character Stephen Belber continues with his interviews.
The director of the show, SCAD Performing Arts Professor Meg Kelly, noted that the play is written after the style of playwright Bertolt Brecht in such a way that the audience is not supposed to be fully immersed in the theatrical element of it. They are always meant to be aware of the fact they are watching a play. Called the “alienation effect,” it allows the audience to take a step back and consider the content of the show.
“It has really helped me understand people more in general,” said Board, “because even though you might not agree with what [your character is] saying, you know that it matters to them, and that means something, because it’s their ideas and their thoughts, and everyone’s thoughts and ideas matter.”
Said Bellamy, “It’s a very relatable show, even if you’ve never been through anything like it, and it’s something you can connect to. If you wanna see a show that’s real and that will intrigue you, not because of the fantastical part of it, but just because it’s real, then you should come see ‘The Laramie Project.’”
Admission to “The Laramie Project” is free to the public. The show runs at 8 p.m. this Thursday through Saturday.
