The Laramie Project

The Laramie Project

• Genre: Nonfiction; docudrama
• Originally Published: 2001
• Reading Level/Interest: Grades 9-12; College/Adult
• Structure/Length: 3 acts; approximately 110 pages; approximately 2 hours, 45 minutes of running time
• Protagonist/Central Conflict: The play is set in the town of Laramie, Wyoming. It does not have a single protagonist, as it is a series of interviews with residents of Laramie. The conflict centers around the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay university student, and the community’s subsequent grappling with and reactions to the hate crime, as well as the intense national media attention it brought.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Contains hate crime depiction; anti-gay bias; strong derogatory language and anti-gay slurs; intense emotional content

Moisés Kaufman, Author

• Bio: Born 1963; grew up in Caracas, Venezuela; moved to New York City to study theater; co-founded the Tectonic Theatre Project; deals with social themes and incorporates elements of research and real-life events in his work; received the National Medal of Arts in 2016; known as an influential LGBTQ+ artist and activist
• Other Works: Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde (1997); 33 Variations (2007); The Tallest Tree in the Forest (2014); Carmen: An Afro-Cuban Jazz Musical (2016)
• Awards: Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play (2001); Matthew Shepard Foundation’s “Making a Difference” Award for The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later (2009)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Guide:

• The Violent Effects of Anti-LGBTQ+ Bias
• Religion and Tolerance
• The Tension Between Spreading Public Awareness and Maintaining Privacy

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Teaching Guide, students will:

• Develop an understanding of the historical and sociological contexts regarding the diverse views of the LGBTQ+ community in the US that incite Kaufman’s development of the play.
• Analyze paired texts and other brief resources to make connections via the text’s themes of The Violent Effects of Anti-LGBTQ+ Bias, Religion and Tolerance, and The Tension Between Spreading Public Awareness and Maintaining Privacy.
• Draft and present a research paper that demonstrates an understanding of hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community in the US, based on text details.