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THE LARAMIE PROJECT
Prepares for Phelps and unwanted irony
By Jenna Scherer
del.ico.us
reddit!
I feel like I should be douching my browser history. How else to flush out the lingering stench left behind by godhatesfags.com?
I'm in the interweb home of the Westboro Baptist Church, led by hateful psycho Fred Phelps, to check up on their Boston schedule. On December 12th, after a busy day of protesting outside the Swedish Consulate (because "Sweden is DOOMED!") and then the UK Consulate (because "Queen Elizabeth is a WHORE!"), Phelps and his oogly band of batshits will be heading to the Boston Center for the Arts to protest the Bad Habit Productions' performance of The Laramie Project.
Phelps probably hates this play for two reasons. First, because it pays tribute to the memory of Matthew Shepard, the gay University of Wyoming student who was brutally beaten and murdered in 1998. And second, because Phelps isn't just a naysayer; he's also a character in the play.
To create the piece, playwright Moisés Kaufman and fellow members of the Tectonic Theater Project conducted interviews with people in the town of Laramie, Wyo., after Shepard's death—and that included Phelps.
"He actually picketed Matthew's funeral, so it's kind of ironic that he's picketing the show that he's in," explains Daniel Morris, the artistic director of BHP. "But I feel like it actually speaks to the relevancy of it. The show is less about a tribute to Matthew and more about people's reactions and attitudes. As crazy as Fred Phelps is, the show says that his opinion still matters. We live in this very blue state, and people sometimes forget that there's still this much hate in the world."
In fact, Phelps makes it his business to protest productions of The Laramie Project across the country. And the piece has seen a lot of action since it first went up in 2000—in loads of college and professional productions, and in a 2002 HBO film version.
Now in its second season, the fledgling BHP draws from Boston's non-Equity talent pool, putting up plays by everyone from Shakespeare to David Mamet. Their revival of the play comes two months after the 10th anniversary of Shepard's murder, and at a pivotal moment for the American LGBT community. "It's kind of about what's happened 10 years later," says Morris, "but also what hasn't happened."
When Morris' company chose to put up The Laramie Project last year, they couldn't have known it would open just weeks after Proposition 8 passed, and gay rights suffered another devastating blow.
I'd call that serendipity ... if it didn't suck so much.
THE LARAMIE PROJECT
FRIDAY 12.5.08-12.14.08
BCA PLAZA BLACK BOX
539 TREMONT ST., BOSTON
617.426.5000
SHOWTIMES VARY/$25
BADHABITPRODUCTIONS.ORG
BCAONLINE.ORG