By Ashlyn Armock, Arts Editor
Aaron McKinney, played by Axle Kwiatkowski, waiting to hear the verdict of his trail – Photo by Scott Harmen
Aquinas performed The Laramie Project, written by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project, on Oct 23-26. The play is about the town’s reaction to the murder of the openly-gay University of Wyoming student, Matthew Shepard in Laramie Wyoming.
This play consists of over 200 interviews conducted by members of the Tectonic Theater Project, a theatre company from New York that traveled to Wyoming in order to cover the situation, as well as their own journal entries and news reports. This process took approximately a year and a half. The play thoroughly explores all angles of the situation and murder of Shephard as the audience follows along.
The play includes over 60 characters but averages only about eight actors, with each actor playing multiple characters. Reign Lawson, Aquinas senior, played many characters such as Tiffany Edwards, a local reporter, and Leigh Fondakowski, the headwriter of the Laramie Project, said she found it difficult at first to swap back and forth between characters.
“Eventually after some play you develop these personalities and start to understand how you want to portray these people,” Lawson said.
Carson LePage and Delaney Pocevich playing interviewers and interviewing the bar owner, played by Axle Kwiatkowski – Photo by Scott Harmen
Michaela Faith, a junior and active member within Aquinas’ theatre community, went to see the show while working at Circle’s box office.
“I think it’s always important to go see live theater in Grand Rapids,” Faith said. “It’s so accessible and it’s all around us and you can learn so much from watching all of the other performers, so I like to try to make an effort to go see almost every performance that I can.”
Actors listening to the evidence being listed by the judge – Photo by Scott Harmen
CJ Guillermo, a sophomore who went to see the show, found some parts of the play to be confusing. “I believe that there are parts of the play that didn’t make sense at first, and/or seemed almost out of place” Guillermo said. “As someone who knew nothing about what the Laramie Project is or was, and just knew the abstract, it was kind of confusing and slow during the first act.”
Although both Guillermo and Faith agreed on the incredibly moving aspects of Bud Thompson’s performance. “He gave a really good presentation of it,” said Faith when mentioning Thompson’s performance as Matthew Shepard’s father. “I also really liked another one of Bud’s scenes where he was playing this 52 year old gay man who was watching the parade and he just exuded so much joy.” Thompson has no affiliation to Aquinas, but is a local actor and friends with the director, Todd Avery.
Thompson narrating a scene within the show – Photo by Scott Harmen
When the Laramie Project’s performance date was pushed back, it overlapped with one of the nearby secondary catholic school’s production in the Circle Theater, leaving the cast with only the black box to perform in. The space was then transformed with the stage being set in the middle and chairs surrounding it on all sides. This created a more intimate space for the actors and the audience.
“The staging in the black box was interesting and something I’d never seen before,” Guillermo said. “It conveyed a very powerful message, and made it very intimate for the audience, almost like it immersed us into the Laramie Project itself.”
“It was a bit of a challenge,” said Lawson when asked about her experience working in the black box. “But it was a fun experience all around. It did get a bit cramped at times however.”
The audience was also integrated into the set. “The actors would sit on stools between audience members, so I feel like it really made you feel like you were involved. It was way better than seeing it on a stage that was further away from you.” Said Faith, when describing what she enjoyed about the show being put on in the black box.
Freshman Farae Wilson talked about this being her first experience in theatre. “I was really expecting to perform on [a real] stage,” Wilson said. “[But] I think that after having performed in the black box I would much rather perform there. You can do a lot more with the crowd that way.”
Information for future shows and tickets can be found in the link below:
https://www.aquinas.edu/arts-at-aq/performing-arts-center.html
The Saint 