-Emily’s friend who is studying at the University of Wyoming LOVES Laramie
-there are some rumours around Laramie that Matthew Shepard might have been a drug dealer and his death might have been related to it
-is this hiding his homosexuality or trying to not paint him as a martyr
-Is the play about Matthew or is it about the town and recovery?
-Emily presented some visual research of Laramie and Matthew and the killers (McKinney and Henderson)
-also found pictures of the angels (will be made available on VSPACE & on Shannon’s wall)
-found a picture of memorials to Matthew and found the memorials on the fence on which he was left
-found a picture of the railroad which is mentioned a lot in the play
-when you google image search Laramie, WY the third image that comes up is a picture of the founders of the town being hanged (1880s)
-they were very corrupt and drove people out of the town
-Jake presented images of projections on different surfaces
-how can we use projections in our piece?
-how can we incorporate projects into the action of the play?
-should we project the images of these actual people onto the walls during the play?
-Emily: this is important because these people are real and we should acknowledge it
-Moises said it’s important to recognize that we are actually just actors portraying them à we are looking out for the interest of saying what is “right” and representing these people as they actually were
-Shannon: projects will help remind audience that this was an actual event
-let’s not forget about our idea about using slides and slide projectors!
-Charlie presented visual imagery as well à horizon lines in Laramie à very lonely and barren
-telephone wires very prevalent in the images
-static à oppressive noises that media can make
-media and press are the villains in this play
-they stop the converation in Laramie
-should we use images that are unrelated to the event?
-how do we make the play universal?
-maybe project images of other victims of gay hate crimes?
-are they the stars shining down on Laramie?
-too heavy handed?
-Jake: I want people leaving this play remembering this event
-Akari: Agrees, but this play is very much in the aftermath of this event, and what does that means for us? I’m not sure we would be projecting onto the play by relating the even to our lives now.
-Emily: should we maybe project news stories of other events related to this one on the wall? à a passive way to universalize it
-Shannon: perhaps we can have a lot of articles/news reports playing before the show à the media blew Laramie out of proportion and stereotyped it à we are making Laramie real for the audience and bringing them in
-what can we do in the preshow/in the lobby to influence our audiences?
-we are clearly actors one step removed à will projecting the real-life images of the people we are portraying get in the way of the performances?
-is it necessary to even have the real-life images for every character?
-a lot of people are thinking no
-we need to be careful with how we use the projections à need the be well planned out and useful in some way à need to be absolutely critical to the piece and not just a distraction
-Henderson and McKinney were part of this town and part of this community à if we portray them any differently, we are getting in the way of their part in their community
-they are still a part of Laramie
-This play is not only about Laramie but also about these people (the Tectonic Theater Project) who went on a journey to discover things for themselves à this is OUR journey now
-this is OUR telling of the story à how do we make it that?
-maybe playing with film, etc.?
-Emily: surprised on her first reading of the story that the actors were characters in the play
-it would be cool to bring US as actors, as people, into this piece
-This play was greatly influenced by Brechtian philosophy
-let’s keep that in mind!
-How do we want the piece to progress?
-do we start as characters and end as actors?
-or vice versa?
-How do we let the audience fall into the trap of being seduced by the story or the theatricality?
-and then how do we break that to make the audience face the consequences?
-Brecht talks about alienation for a reason, not just for the sake of it à we must be careful with alienating the audience because this play is very much about these people and the audience needs to connect
-are we the characters or are we not?
-Anna Deveare Smith à important performer we should watch
-might be interesting to see how she deals with her creation of characters à she is so specific, but you are always aware that she is an actor playing these characters
-Shannon: a lot of the feeling of actors being removed from their characters is implicit in the text because we are playing a lot of different characters and will not be having a lot of set
-we don’t have to worry to much about commenting on it
-Elana: What gives us the right to do this play? à How do we justify us as actors picking up the play doing the Laramie project?
-Do we have to convey ourselves as students at Vassar putting on this play? à how do we justify us putting this on
-and we are conveying all this information to a specific audience
-what does that mean?
-Are we approaching it from the community at Vassar or as our generation? Or both?
-Is Vassar a place where the messages of this play are required?
-YES!
-we need to make sure that the people who attend our play do not end up falling into the exactly passive role that we want to challenge
-how do we accomplish that?
-who are we trying to reach? Vassar students or college students in general? Or even the greater Vassar community?
