News release Public Information Office   SLU 10880   Hammond, LA 70402   phone: 985-549-2341   fax: 985-549-2061 publicinfo@selu.edu     www.selu.edu/news Contact: Angey Saucier Date: 11/22/02 Click on image for publication quality photo  LIFE IN LARAMIE - Southeastern Louisiana University Theatre will present “The Laramie Project,” the true story of a small town’s loss of innocence in the wake of a hate crime  December 3-7 at Vonnie Borden Theatre. Starring in the production are students, from left back,  Bradley Barrios, Lauren Faraone, Abbigail Moonshower, front, Sarena Wedig, Betty Turner, Jacob Zeringue, Josh Tillotson and Clarence Wethern. “THE LARAMIE PROJECT” COMES TO SOUTHEASTERN THEATRE       HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana University Theatre will close out the fall 2002 season with “The Laramie Project,” December 3-7 at Vonnie Borden Theatre.   Written by Moises Kaufman and Tectonic Theatre Project, the complex and compelling story explores a true incident -- a small western town’s loss of innocence after one of the most widely recognized and publicized hate crimes of the 1990s.       The Southeastern production, directed by Larry Gray, features the talents of eight actors who take on the roles of more than 70 characters in the town of Laramie. The play takes place after Laramie resident Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay University of Wyoming student, is beaten by two young men, tied to a buck fence and left to die. The incident happened on October 6, 1998 and was motivated by Shepard’s sexual orientation.        In the year following the murder, Kaufman and actors from his Tectonic Theatre Project traveled to Laramie where they conducted more than 200 interviews with citizens, revealing as much about the collective psyche of the town and a person’s capacity for hatred and compassion as the crime itself. The interviews with the broad range of citizens, from teachers and social workers to bartenders and students, resulted in the critically acclaimed play and an HBO special film.       “It’s a play that makes you think without telling you to think and doesn’t force any one opinion,” said cast member Josh Tillotson.       “The Laramie Project” has been hailed by Time magazine as “one of the ten best plays of the year, a pioneering work of theatrical reportage and a powerful stage event.”       “The Laramie Project” is for mature audiences only due to adult language and situations, Gray said.       The cast includes Bradley Barrios of Mandeville, Lauren Faraone of Metairie; Abbigail Moonshower, Clarence Wethern, Tillotson, and Betty Turner of Hammond; Sarena Wedig of Lacombe, and Jacob Zeringue of Bogalusa.       Stage manager is Maggie Riley of Ponchatoula and set designer is Heather Martin, also of Ponchatoula. Southeastern faculty members Steve Schepker and Robin Steptoe serve as lighting-technical director and costume designer, respectively.       Gray is a long-time professor and artist-in-residence at Southeastern, with a long list of theatre credits in acting, directing and play writing both at the university and around the country.       Tickets for the 7:30 p.m. performances are $5 general admission; $3 for students, faculty & staff, and senior citizens, and admission is free for all Southeastern students with valid ID.  For more ticket information, call the box office during operating hours Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at 985-549-2115. The box office will also be open at 6:30 p.m. nights of the performance.            Return to News Releases