A landmark piece of verbatim theatre that confronts the aftermath of a shocking gay hate crime, New Theatre presents, this October, The Laramie Project by Moisés Kaufman and members of Tectonic Theater Project.
In 1998, in the tight-knit town of Laramie, Wyoming, a young gay man named Matthew Shepard was the victim of a homophobic hate crime.
In the wake of the national media frenzy that followed, ten members of the New York-based Tectonic Theater Project visited Laramie on six separate occasions over two years, in an attempt to find out what happened and why.
They conducted more than 200 interviews with members of the community, creating a chronicle of a town’s trauma. The play that Kaufman crafted from those transcripts has been hailed as one of the most impactful works of theatre ever produced.
Under the direction of Mark Nagle, an ensemble cast portray more than 60 characters in this shattering depiction of a profoundly moving modern tragedy.
“In the 25 years since its initial performance, The Laramie Project has been a constant study piece in schools and universities and numerous productions have been mounted, but it is still as hard-hitting and relevant as ever. It informs, entertains and educates without preaching, presenting comforting, comic, contrasts, and very challenging points of view,” says Director Mark Nagle.
“Our production embraces all the standard Verbatim Theatre tropes, however we are including other techniques so that the emotional impact in its scenes is increased, mixing and flipping the direct-address to the audience with interplay amongst the characters, and adding an original score.”
“In these times of certain megalomaniacal world leaders, where hate seems to be celebrated, war-mongering is a kind of sport, and the media at best unreliable if not totally fake, we need to draw on our own pools of self preservation as well as having hope in our own communities to reveal the truth. Hate, prejudice and injustice are taught, and smother the beauty of the human heart. This play achieves what our ailing world needs,” says Nagle.
“The play was unanimously selected for production by our seven-member Play Assessors panel, and we all felt that this landmark work was due a revival,” says New Theatre Artistic Director, Louise Fischer.
“Mark Nagle had directed three very successful Mardi Gras productions for us: Beautiful Thing, Angry Fags and Fucking Men, and I felt The Laramie Project would be a good fit for him.”
“It was synchronicity that when I approached Mark to direct, it turned out it was a play he had always wanted to do. So it couldn’t have worked out better,” says Fischer.
“A pioneering work of theatrical reportage and a powerful stage event.” – Time Magazine
Director: Mark G. Nagle | Featuring: Stephen Allnutt, Michelle Robin Anderson, Gina Cohen, Ruba El-kaddoumi, Rayyan Khan, Rich Knighton, Samantha Lambert, John Michael Narres, Riya T., Charlie White | Understudies: Damon Bishop, Julia Burns | Set Designer: David Marshall-Martin | Lighting Designer: Tash McBride | Composer: Alexander Sussman | Assistant Director: Nick Bradshaw | Assistant Lighting Designer: Raphael Gennusa | Dialect Coach: Carmen Lysiak | Production Associate: Celine Widjaya | Stage Manager: Bora Celebi
The Laramie Project
New Theatre, 542 King Street, Newtown
Season: 9 October – 1 November 2025 (previews: 7 – 8 October)
Information and Bookings: www.newtheatre.org.au
Image: © JoseLuis / Adobe Stock
Note: this production contains homophobic slurs and references to physical violence.