The Laramie Project

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Re-enacted protests by Westboro Baptist Church in a performance at Mercer Island High School, Washington.

The Laramie Project was originally a theater project by Moisés Kaufman and members of the New York City Tectonic Theater Project. After the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard , who was murdered out of gay hatred, the members of the theater company decided to go to Laramie ( Wyoming ) in November 1998 and interview the residents there in order to develop a play.

The project did not let go of the group around director Kaufman. For almost a year they repeatedly traveled to the Far West to conduct interviews. They interviewed neighbors, clergymen, and former classmates and teachers; People close to the victim or who knew Matthew personally, but also residents of Laramie who had nothing to do with the story. "We are not journalists, we do not invade your city only to disappear again immediately" , reassured the interviewees.

The play "The Laramie Project" emerged from the conversations. The eighty or so roles were voiced by a handful of actors. The play premiered at the Denver Center Theater in February 2000 , then premiered at the Union Square Theater in New York City and premiered in Laramie in November of that year.

Due to the success of the play, the American pay TV broadcaster HBO decided to make a film of the play. Filming began in May 2001 with a top-class cast (including Peter Fonda , Joshua Jackson , Christina Ricci , Laura Linney , Clea DuVall , Ben Foster and Steve Buscemi ). The film celebrated its acclaimed US premiere in January 2002 at the Sundance Film Festival . The film premiered in Berlin at the Berlinale in February 2002, and was shown on US television on HBO in March 2002.

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