Auditions for The Laramie Project are coming soon!
Wednesday, January 22nd – the audition slots are posted outside of room U716.

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The Laramie Project

Audition Info

Auditions will be on Wednesday, January 22^nd with callbacks on Thursday, January 23^rd.  The first rehearsal will be on Thursday, February 27^th.  There might be rehearsals over Spring Break.

What is The Laramie Project:

The Laramie Project tells the story of the events, consequences, rippled effects, and meaning of the murder of Matthew Shepard in Wyoming in 1998. Shepard was killed by two Laramie citizens who beat him and tied him to a fence to freeze to death because he of his sexual orientation. The members of the Tectonic Theatre project spent part of a year and a half conducting hundreds of interviews to collect material for what they hoped would become a play.

The play is not about any particular person – not Matthew Shepard, not the men who killed him, not his friends or family, nor the detectives and doctors who were immersed in the case.

The play is about the circumstances in any place in America – though for the purposes of the play that place is Laramie, Wyoming – that could develop the conditions in which a young man is murdered in such a terrible way. What does this action say about the town that it happened in? How does this town react to the intense attention that comes from the crime? What are the consequences for this town, and for all of America, of this sequence of events.

The play is told in a narrative style that the Tectonic Theatre project codified and turned in to what they call “moment work.” Every word in the play is culled from their interviews or from things that actually happened and were recorded on television or the newspaper.

The actors in this play will each play multiple distinct characters. Unique physical personifications is vital and is something you should show in the audition.

Furthermore, the plays has scenes where the actors play opposite each other in a “traditional” play form. But each actor will also directly address the audience, similar to Trap.

Make sure that each “monologue” is performed with a specific target and purpose and is not speechy.

Above all, each character is earnest and sincere and is communicating something important to them.

There are over 70 characters in the play.

Our cast will be 16 actors, probably 8 male and 8 female.

The cast breakdown is below.

Any gender can read for any part, but please note that the actual casting will be determined by gender. 

Monologues:

Sgt. Hings: Talks about what living in Laramie like and what he loves about it.

Matt Galloway: The bartender who was one of the last people to see Matthew Shepard alive. He describes what he saw in the bar that night and what sort of people there were, including Matt.

Zubaida Ula: She talks about going to the candlelight vigil for Matt and how it all felt.

Scenes:

Amanda Gronich/Baptist Minister’s Wife/Baptist Minister: This is a two-person scene! One person should play Amanda and the other should play both of the other people. The scene shows the passion of a particular point of view and the pressure that the people of Laramie feel like they are under.

Greg/Marge/Alison: Alison and Marge are old ladies and best friends who have lived in Laramie their entire life. They try to describe it to Greg, one of the members of the theatre project.

The Call Back List for Twelfth Night is posted here.