THE LARAMIE PROJECT
Vancouver
When*
MAR 13 SUN 7PM | Open Rehearsal – Renegade Studios, 125 East 2nd Ave (near Main street). Enter through the alley. Free!
MAR 29 TUE 7PM | Open Dress Rehearsal – tickets 20 adults, 10 students / low income.
MAR 30 WED 7:30PM | Opening Night
MAR 31 THU 7:30PM
APR 1 FRI 7:30PM
APR 2 SAT 2PM & 7:30PM
APR 3 SUN 2PM & 7:30PM
*Following each performance crew and performers will be available to hold a Q&A about the play and the process for anyone wishing to participate. This is a compelling piece of theatre that raises the around how bullying has been perceived and what is considered permitted violence. We are happy to share your experiences of this piece.
Where
3rd Floor of the Festival House
1398 Cartwright Street, Granville Island
Ticket available at Brown Paper Tickets
Adults $30
Students/Low Income $20
Earlybird Discount! Tickets purchased before March 15
Adults $25
Students/Low Income $18
Tickets for Dress Rehearsal March 29*
Adults $20
Students/Low Income $10
*Open Dress Rehearsal may require stop/start moments. If this is necessary it will be explained in the evening. This is a full show, no parts will be skipped.
What is the Laramie Project?
The play is a challenge for actors as there are only 11 actors portraying more than 65 characters. Each actor delivers compelling, sometimes funny, other times heart wrenching narratives. It is entertaining and gripping. Finally, actors work with the characters and find an understanding of something. Something important.
Why do actors love doing this play?
Is it suitable for all ages?
What makes the death of Matthew Shepard & this play so important?
The history of human rights has pivotal moments that made a difference in the world. The death of Matthew is one of those moments. While divisions existed then and do today, for many the brutality of the murder, the subsequent Gay Panic defense, and the active hate expressed by some groups was enough to shift minds.
The play offers an insight into the thinking of people who came into personal contact with the murder of a young gay man, and how they rationalize discrimination in the face of a brutal murder.
The Laramie Project is a unique piece in theatre. It takes interviews from citizens of the town of Laramie Wyoming and pieces them together into a narrative. It has been called, Documentary Theatre. The interviews are about the death of a young gay man, Matthew Shepard.
The play contains nothing of a sexual nature, or any graphic scenes of violence. However, some people may find some scenes unsettling.
Interesting Stuff
You might be interested in the original New York Times newspaper article from 1998.
Here is the link to the Matthew Shepard organization.
One university group mocked the murder of Matthew Shepard after his death, but that type of bullying wasn’t being accepted by the wider community. Things were changing.
http://articles.latimes.com/1999/feb/04/news/mn-4882
Attacking someone because they are gay certainly seems as though it is less frequent today, but as this article from the CBC web site in November 2015 notes, we are not past it yet.
ABC news report on the funeral of Matthew Shepard.
Media
Read CBC News article, March 30, 2016
Listen to The Interview at CBC Radio, March 30, 2016
Read The Vancouver Present web article, March 28, 2016
Read The article in the Ubyssey newspaper, March 22, 2016
Listen to The Interview at Roundhouse Radio 98.3FM, March 22, 2016
Read The Peak newspaper article, March 21, 2016
Read Beat Route Magazine article, March 17, 2016
Co-op Radio Vancouver, Fruit Salad show. Interview Thursday March 3rd, 2016 from 7pm With Gerald Williams
Our Cast
Ashley Green
Actor
Ashley Green is an emerging actor and vancouver based local artist whom takes pleasure in all things artsy. Having spent majority of her high school career studying theatre, she is excited to propel into the acting community to be surrounded by creative minds that illuminate the world. As a criminology student studying within Simon Fraser University, on her spare time if she has any, she enjoys staying active physically and artistically. She believes success comes from perfecting your craft, and occasionally daydreams about what she'll say during her acceptance speech after winning her first oscar and/or music award. Her motto and major keys are to think positive, work hard and remain humble.
Cassandra Szabo
Actor
Cassandra Szabo is an emerging Vancouver actor, and recent graduate of the UBC BFA Acting program. Past credits include Hell of a Girl (rEvolver Festival), Triumph of Love, Twelfth Night, Ubu Roi, Two Tales by Carlo Gozzi (Theatre at UBC), and Urinetown (TPRA Theatre). Cassandra has also had the opportunity to sing with the Vancouver Bach Choir and the UBC Chamber Choir. She can be seen next in the North Shore Light Opera Society’s production of The Merry Widow at Presentation House Theatre this coming May. Special thanks to her friends and family for their continuing love and support.
Georgia Johnson
Actor
Georgia is peach plucked from the gutters of NYU and sent to the soaring pines of Mayne Island where she not only discovered her passion lay in the gentle rolling fields of her heart, a heart in which the compassion of the world swims in a shimmering light filtered through the wisdom of the leaves of the Bodhi tree, but that she also really likes Saturday morning cartoons and wearing pajamas with feet and a back door. georgialjohnson.net
Javier Sotres
Actor, Photographer
Javier is Mexican artist with a BFA in acting from the University of British Columbia and self taught photographer. He is proud to say that Canada has been his home for the past five years and he keeps on learning and enjoying everything this amazing place has to offer. Javier loves real Mexican food, anime and video games. Favorite credits include David "Quizmaster" [BNP/Tomo Suru], Ben "Dumb Waiter", Sir Toby "Twelfth Night" and Sorin "The Seagull" [Theatre at UBC]. He would like to thank his mentors and friends for all their support and especially his family for their unconditional love and support.
www.javiersotres.com
Jodi Pongratz
Actor, Writer
An accomplished actor, recently returned from a Broadway run opposite Meryl Streep in the new David Mamet play who calls Vancouver home while preparing for an upcoming cameo as the mother of Hermione Granger in the just announced J.K. Rowling prequel to the Harry Potter series is someone Jodi would really enjoy meeting. In her free time Jodi grows cantaloupes.
Kazz Leskard
Actor
Kazz was most recently seen as William Shakespeare in the 2015 Pick of the Vancouver Fringe Hit Titus: The Light and Delightful Musical Comedy of Titus Andronicus (Awkward Stage), which will see a remount this August at The York Theatre. He also appeared as The Lounge Singer in Awkward Stage's Seed Project Dogfight, which recently won multiple Ovation Awards including Outstanding Production-Small Theatre. Other favourite roles include Ned Weeks in The Normal Heart (ETC), Charlie Cowell in The Music Man (TUTS) and Daniel Quilp in The Old Curiosity Shop (United Players). Kazz has co-written two plays which have been produced at The Vancouver Fringe, 2012's Smudge and 2014's We're All Mad Here (which he also directed). Kazz is a graduate of Studio 58.
Kelly Sheridan
Actor, Teacher
A graduate of SFU’s theatre department and the Arts Club Actor’s Intensive, Kelly is an Associate Producer of Genus Theatre (www.genustheatre.com) and has worked as a writer, filmmaker, and performer there since 2005. Kelly also has over 20 years of professional experience in voice over. She can be heard in animation, radio, video games and commercials all over the world. Most notably, she has played the voice of Barbie™ in the majority of Mattel’s movies since 2001. www.kellysheridan.ca.
Kieylla Thornton-Trump
Actor
Kieylla Thornton-Trump made her theatrical debut at Christmas time 2014, This will be Kiki's 6th play. She has also attended the Michael Bean School of Acting, and Julian LeBlanc school of acting. Kieylla is 11 years old and lives in Surrey, B.C. Kieylla also plays guitar, keyboard, sings vocals, and has written and composed original songs. Outside interests include Taekwondo (second degree black belt recommended), indoor skydiving, swimming and gymnastics.
Written By: Monica Thornton-Trump
Lawrence Green
Actor, Director
Larry, as he is known to friends, knows that to achieve the level of greatness he wishes all actors aspire to that he must sacrifice himself on the altar of the demon that is theatre and give himself wholly in pursuit of a dream which provides an audience in their plush velvet seats a taste of the angels in the drafty heaven we call a theater, and that, alas, he has better things to do with his life. In his free time Larry enjoys synchronized swimming.
Michael Q. Adams
Actor, Writer
Michael Q. Adams is an award winning Vancouver- based actor who has been acting on stage for the past 20 years. Selected plays include “Trevor and Margaret”, “Elephant Sighs”, “Four Dogs and a Bone”, “K2”, and “The Boys Next Door”. Selected TV and film credits include “The Man in The High Castle”, “Unveiled”, “Once Upon a Time in Wonderland”, “Cult”, and “Jackhammer”.
He has been nominated seven times for his stage performances.
Tony Giroux
Actor, Choreographer
If you were searching for an example of someone who exudes grace, lives charm and fills those around him with the optimism that propels even his less than mediocre friends to achieve more than they never dared dream possible, then look further my friend. In his free time Tony likes to taste wind.
Gerald Williams
Director, Writer
Gerald has spent the majority of his life in Asia performing and teaching and has recently returned to his native Canada. He’s excited by stories that deceive, are layered with complex relationships and surprise.
John Dickinson
Director
John Dickinson is an emerging director and actor transplanted from Toronto. He has just graduated from UBC with a BA in Theatre. While at UBC he discovered a love for new works with the UBC Player's Club, where he directed Troubadourand Robbery.This past year he has been directing Quizmaster (BNP 2015 in addition to joining the production team for The Laramie Project. In 2016 he will be directing The Dance Teacher with Tomo Suru. Past Credits: Herm and Gertie (Vancouver Fringe 2015), Carl Williams (BNP 2015).
Amy King
Director, Actor
Amy King is a prairie girl originally from Saskatchewan. She grew up in a musical family and is a performer trained as an actor, singer, and dancer as well as a piano player, music director, choreographer, director, sound designer and marketing manager. She is a graduate of the Canadian College of Performing Arts, and some performances include Elinor Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility, the Step-Daughter in Six Characters in Search of an Author, "Estella" in Great Expectations, and two summers with multiple roles in the Gold Fever Follies in Rossland BC. Thank you for your support of the Tomo Suru Players! www.amyking.ca
Lighting design is by Daniel Tessy about whom we are in the dark.
Original Music Jeremy Hoffman. Jeremy is a Vancouver based composer known for sending people on an emotional ride that equals the midnight ride of Santa bringing joy to millions of children, though Jeremy does not wear red.
Big Thanks
Philip Williams
McIlroy & Associates
Hammer & Tong Picture Industries
James Ashcroft
Renegade Productions Inc.
Laramie Project Credits
THE LARAMIE PROJECT
by Moisés Kaufmanand the Members of Tectonic Theater Project
The Laramie Project was developed in part with the support of The Sundance Theatre Laboratory.
HEAD WRITER
Leigh Fondakowski
ASSOCIATE WRITERS
Stephen Belber, Greg Pierotti, Stephen Wangh
DRAMATURGS
Amanda Gronich, Sarah Lambert, John McAdams, Maude Mitchell, Andy Paris, Barbara Pitts, Kelli Simpkins
For more information on THE LARAMIE PROJECT and the Tectonic Theatre Project,
visit www.laramieproject.org and become part of the Laramie Project Online Community, where you can upload your own performance information, photos and more.