Laramie Project Continues (Prelude to event #13)

Tonight I plan to attend The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, an Epilogue, a staged reading produced as a partnership between the Alliance Theatre & Actor's Express. This epilogue to The Laramie Project was written by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project and is directed here, locally, by Freddie Ashley. I say that because this event is simultaneously taking place at over 100 other theaters across the country. The show begins at 8pm on the Alliance Theatre’s Hertz Stage. Admission is free, but you must reserve your seat by calling the Box Office at 404.733.5000. [For more information about the play and the context surrounding it, I've included information below for the Alliance's website.]

Before I go to the staged reading, however, I plan to attend the Arts & Culture Mayoral Forum coordinated by MAACC. As good fortune would have it, both events take place at the Woodruff Arts Center. The Mayoral Forum is in WAC's Rich Auditorium, and then I'll zip around to the Hertz Stage.

SOAPBOX: For both of these events, I feel it's important for people of conscience to make a stand about the values that contribute to justice, beauty, goodwill, [add your value, here] and peace (if you're interest lies in those kind of things,for example). Unrest, civic engagement and peaceful protests in places like Burma, Columbia or Iran take place at the risk of potentially losing one's life. Considering the odds we face (and the low risk of injury to life or limb), it would be derelict to let these opportunities pass us by. We get what we stand up for & we get stuck with whatever we complacently sit by for.

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The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, an Epilogue

The Incident:
On October 6th of 1998 Matthew Shepard (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard) was beaten and left to die tied to a fence in the outskirts of Laramie, Wyoming. He died 6 days later. His murder became a watershed historical moment in America that highlighted the violence and prejudice lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people face.

The Play:
A month after the murder, the members of Tectonic Theater Project (http://www.tectonictheaterproject.org/) traveled to Laramie and conducted interviews with the people of the town. From these interviews they wrote the play The Laramie Project, which they later made into a film for HBO. The piece has been seen by more than 50 million people around the country.

The Epilogue:
The epilogue focuses on the long-term effects of the murder of Matthew Shepard on the town of Laramie. It explores how the town has changed and how the murder continues to reverberate in the community. The play also includes new interviews with Matthew’s mother Judy Shepard and Mathew’s murderer Aaron McKinney, who’s serving two consecutive life sentences.