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Play review: Living in the face of horror - Project recreates town's reaction

By Camille-Yvette Welsch
For the Centre Daily Times

10/11/2002—Four years ago, in a university town not unlike State College, a 20-year-old man named Matthew Shepard was beaten nearly to death, tied to a fence and left to die.

He remained tied there for more than 24 hours, in the deep cold of an October night in Laramie, Wyo. He died as a result of his injuries.

As in all crimes, people look for motivation. In Shepard's case it was easy to find: He was beaten and left to die because he was openly gay.

The story rocked the country. Rooted in hatred and prejudice, Matthew Shepard's murder was not simply the isolated tragedy of a small town but rather the flashpoint of a national epidemic.

The Penn State School of Theatre will present the story in its production of The Laramie Project, a play culled from journals and interviews conducted with more than 200 townspeople.

The play has "something to say that we hoped would spark further dialogue," said director Annie McGregor, in explaining the play's selection for the School of Theatre's 2002-03 season.

"It's amazing how many people asked what it was about," said undergraduate actor Gwyneth Simone. "I said `Matthew Shepard' and they said `Who?' It's fouryears old and already forgotten."

McGregor offered her point of view as to the play's importance."Hate crimes are going on constantly," she said. "It's only when it reaches a level that it's shocking enough to rise to consciousness that we pay attention. Because it doesn't rise to consciousness doesn't mean it's not happening. And it's not just a gay thing."

The School of Theatre's production attempts to fight that apathy with a powerful message drafted by people not unlike the citizens of Centre County.

For McGregor, this is an opportunity to examine the part of the story that moved beyond a shocking act of hatred into what may well have become shocking acts of humanity.

"I would like the audience to leave aware of the heroism of the survivors," McGregor said. "The play is ultimately about our capacity to put aside hate. There is a scene where Shepard's father, who has more reason to hate than anyone, chooses mercy and compassion, not because it's easy, but because it's right."

McGregor's cast reflects her views, choosing not the comfortable act of mimicking the lives of these people, but of creating actual characters.

"We purposefully attempted to not recreate the real people, we didn't watch the specials," McGregor said. "We decided ultimately that if this was art, it had to be not just about Laramie, but about State College."

This idea provides a special challenge for her actors because, as McGregor said, "It is easier to copy the people than to really find the place where they (the actors) can feel as these people did."

"The beauty of the script can be trapping," said actor Kevin Flinn. "It's so colloquial, you get so comfortable, that you might fall into yourself. You have to overcome that."

For actor Adina Opalek, the challenge was in "not letting what you know outside the events skew your reading."

Still, in many ways, for both audience and cast, the challenge lies in mining the uglier parts of the psyche. The research involved in the show directly reflected this for McGregor.

"It made research very difficult," McGregor said. "I don't like living in the land of hate and I had to go there, and go there and go there. It hardened my stance."

Ultimately, though, this is not a show about acts of hate. It's about aftershocks, the way a single event can ripple in an infinite number of ways, some celebratory, some bigoted, in venues as diverse as undergraduate shows to an impassioned monologue by a Miss America contestant.

For McGregor, one of those ripples rests within her cast and restores her: "It's their earnestness, their commitment, their faith that what we're doing matters," she said.

As for the play itself, McGregor offers her own reflection: "I know that it touches me, makes me sad, hopeful, amazes me by showing me what kind of grace people are capable of."