THE LARAMIE PROJECT: TEN YEARS LATER, EPILOGUE TO PREMIERE WORLDWIDE

THE LARAMIE PROJECT: TEN YEARS LATER, EPILOGUE
TO PREMIERE IN ALL 50 U.S. STATES, UK, SPAIN, CANADA, 
HONG KONG, VENEZUELA AND AUSTRALIA 

TECTONIC THEATER PROJECT ONLINE COMMUNITY GROWING AT WWW.LARAMIEPROJECT.ORG 

New York, NY, ..The creators of the highly acclaimed play The Laramie Project, which since 2000 has been one of the most performed plays in America, will premiere a compelling and groundbreaking epilogue to the original piece. Entitled THE LARAMIE PROJECT: 10 YEARS LATER, the play will be performed in New York at Lincoln Center, over 100 other theaters across the country on October 12, 2009. As of this week, all 50 U.S. states and seven countries are participating in the historic and unprecedented coordinated premiere. The writers of this play are Tectonic Theater Project members Moisés Kaufman, Leigh Fondakowski, Greg Pierotti, Andy Paris, and Stephen Belber. 

Tickets are now available for the October 12, 2009 New York City event at Alice Tully
Hall, online at:www.lincolncenter.org or by calling 800-721-6500.

Information about tickets to all other events can be found on local links via www.laramieproject.org.

“We are thrilled to have over 120 theaters in all 50 states and seven countries participating in this historic event, from major regional theaters like Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., to University-based partners such as Kingsbury Hall at the University of Utah, to community theaters like the PURE Theatre in South Carolina,” said Greg Reiner, Executive Director of the Tectonic Theater Project. “This premiere has been organized in the spirit of Hallie Flanigan’s Federal Theatre, but with some very modern technological twists, including the online connection and interactive Q and A following the performances and our own online community at www.laramieproject.org,” concluded Reiner.

The epilogue focuses on the long-term effects of the murder of Matthew Shepard on the town of Laramie. It explores how the town has changed and how the murder continues to reverberate in the community. The play also includes new interviews with Matthew’s mother Judy Shepard and Mathew’s murderer Aaron McKinney, who’s serving two consecutive life sentences. The writers also conducted many follow-up interviews Laramie residents from the original piece, including, Romaine Patterson, Reggie Fluty, Jedediah Shultz, Father Roger Schmidt, Jonas Slonaker and others.

In tandem with the Premiere, an online interactive community will be launched where participants can blog, upload video and photos and share their stories about the play, experiences in preparing and presenting the Epilogue in their communities. The members of Tectonic Theater Project will be active participants in the online community, offering participants feedback and encouragement.

MORE INFORMATION:

On October 6th of 1998 Matthew Shepard was beaten and left to die tied to a fence in the outskirts of Laramie, Wyoming. He died 6 days later. His murder became a watershed historical moment in America that highlighted the violence and prejudice lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people face.
 
A month after the murder, the members of Tectonic Theater Project traveled to Laramie and conducted interviews with the people of the town. From these interviews they wrote the play The Laramie Project, which they later made into a film for HBO. The piece has been seen by more than 50 million people around the country.


Tectonic Theater Project (Moisés Kaufman, Artistic Director,  Greg Reiner, Executive Director, Jeffrey LaHoste, Managing Director, Dominick Balletta, General Manager) is an award-winning company whose plays have been performed around the world. Since 1992 TTP has produced innovative works that explore theatrical language and form, fostering an artistic dialogue with our audiences on the social, political and human issues of the day. The company has developed and produced works for theater and film, including: the smash hit Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde; The Laramie Project (one of the most produced plays in the country, as well as an HBO movie written and directed by Kaufman); and I Am My Own Wife (2004 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for best play).  Tectonic has garnered numerous awards including the Humanitas Prize, the Obie, the Lucille Lortel Award, The Outer Critics Circle Award, the GLAAD Media Award, the Artistic Integrity Award from the Human Rights Campaign, and the Making a Difference Award from the Matthew Shepard Foundation.  The film of The Laramie Project was also honored with four Emmy Nominations, The National Board of Review Award for Outstanding Made for Television Movie and a Golden Bear Award from the Berlin Film Festival.  In addition to creating theatrical works, Tectonic Theater Project works in residence at Universities around the country and hosts a New York based training lab for theater artists. 
As a non-profit laboratory we are grateful for the long term support of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Greenwall Foundation, The Arcus Foundation, The Small Change Foundation, The Educational Foundation of America, Shawn Donnelley, Judy Dimon, and the donors and friends of Tectonic.  For more information on the company, visit www.tectonictheaterproject.org.

The International Community Convocation of The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, is made possible by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation and the support of these Presenting Partners;

Grand Performances, Los Angeles, California
Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland, Ohio
UA Presents, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
Kingsbury Hall, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
Reston Community Center, Reston, Virginia
Miami University Performing Arts Series, Oxford, Ohio
Connecticut College, New London, Connecticut
Celebrity Series of Boston, Boston, Massachusetts
The Baptist Temple @ Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Cal Poly Arts, San Luis Obispo, California
Fullerton College, Fullerton, California
Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
Newman Center for the Performing Arts, Denver, Colorado
Lied Center for the Performing Arts, Lincoln, Nebraska
Choregus Productions LLC, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, College Park, Maryland
Lensic Performing Arts Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Hope Theatre Company, Salford, United Kingdom

For more information go to:

www.laramieproject.org and www.tectonictheaterproject.org