SDSU'S Laramie Project - Opening Video

Last year, on the 10th anniversary of the death of Matthew Shepard, several students from San Diego State University, under the direction of Joan Hurwit, gathered to perform a one-night only staged reading of The Laramie Project.

The event was free, sponsored by the campus's PRIDE Resource Office, with contributing support from students Derek Smith and Thomas Hodges. In the midst of the Proposition 8 as well as the eventual election of Barack Obama as president, the play served as a reminder that there is still much to be changed in our great nation and that it has to start with all of us, with the people, with the people who most want to see the change in the world.

The Laramie Project, which also just recently received an epilogue, continues to be one of the most performed plays across the United States, at high school, collegiate, amateur, and professional levels. It is compiled from interviews with people living in Laramie, some who knew either the victim Matthew Shepard, or the convicted Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson, or were directly or indirectly related or affected by the trial and the subsequent media exposure the town had to face.

This is still one of my most favorite nights in theatre, ever. I hope to upload many more of the clips from the show.

The cast:
- David Armstrong
- Gavin Bowen
- Gracie Lee Brown
- Torrie Gekas
- Carolyn Henderson
- Patricia Hite
- Tess McIntyre
- Kevin Morrison
- and Chris Wollman

This is the prologue section of the show: a prologue, narrated by David, with the rest of the cast making their first appearances as characters. There is also director Joan's introduction to the play.

Many thanks to David Brown, who recorded the show in its entirety, from which I take the clips.