818 South 2nd Street •
Minneapolis, MN 55415 •
Box Office: 612.377.2224
GUTHRIE THEATER TO PARTICIPATE IN
INTERNATIONAL THEATRICAL EVENT
THE LARAMIE PROJECT: 10 YEARS LATER
TICKETS NOW ON SALE FOR OCTOBER 12 READING
GUTHRIE JOINS MORE THAN 120 THEATERS IN ALL 50 STATES AND IN 7 COUNTRIES FOR OCTOBER 12 PREMIERE READING OF EPILOGUE TO TECTONIC THEATER PROJECT'S GROUNDBREAKING ORIGINAL WORK
Event to feature global post-reading interactive talkback live via satellite from New York's Lincoln Center
(Minneapolis/St. Paul) Tickets are now on sale for the one-night-only reading of The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later, the compelling and groundbreaking epilogue to the play The Laramie Project, which was written in response to the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard. The Guthrie will present the Minneapolis-St. Paul area reading in the McGuire Proscenium, joining more than 120 theaters from around the globe in simultaneously presenting the epilogue on Monday, October 12 at 7 p.m. (CST). The Guthrie reading will be directed by Associate Director of Studio Programming Benjamin McGovern and feature actors Mark Benninghofen, Michael Booth, Bob Davis, Melissa Hart, Charity Jones, Tracey Maloney, Kris L. Nelson and Michelle O'Neill. Tickets are $15 and available through the Guthrie Box Office at 612.377.2224, toll-free 877.44.STAGE, 612.225.6244 (Group Sales) and online at http://www.guthrietheater.org/.
The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later focuses on the long-term effect 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 Matthew's murderer Aaron McKinney, who's serving dual life sentences, as well as follow-up interviews with many of the individuals from the original piece.
Immediately after the global reading, the Guthrie will participate in a special talkback featuring a panel at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall that will include creators, cast members, and other key individuals involved in The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later. The talkback is made possible via a special satellite hookup, with participating theaters from around the country able to submit questions via Twitter. Additional details on how to submit questions during the talkback will be announced in the coming weeks.
In tandem with the premiere, an interactive online community will be launched where participants can blog, upload video and photos, and share stories about the play, as well as their 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. The interactive community, including links to participating theaters, can be found via http://www.laramieproject.org/.
About The Laramie Project
On October 6, 1998, Matthew Shepard was beaten and left to die tied to a fence in the outskirts of Laramie, Wyoming. He died six 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 premiered in February 2000 and, in 2002, was made into a film for HBO. The piece has been seen by more than 50 million people around the country. Tectonic Theater Project would like to acknowledge the extraordinary leadership of The Rockefeller Foundation in supporting the development of the original Laramie Project and The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later.
About Tectonic Theater Project
Tectonic Theater Project (Moisés Kaufman, Artistic Director; Greg Reiner, Executive Director; Jeffrey LaHoste, Managing Director; Dominick Balletta, General Manager) is the company behind such plays as Gross Indecency, The Laramie Project, and I Am My Own Wife. 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 HRC, and the Making a Difference Award/Matthew Shepard Foundation. Tectonic works in universities around the country and hosts a New York based lab for theater artists. Special thanks to the National Endowment for the Arts, Greenwall Foundation, Arcus Foundation, Small Change Foundation and Educational Foundation of America. For more information, visit http://www.tectonictheaterproject.org/.
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