The Laramie Project

The Laramie Project/Kulturhuset Stadsteatern Skärholmen

Foto: Markus Gårder

The city Laramie was in 1998 shaken by the brutal murder of a young, homosexual man. Matthew Shepard was kidnapped, tortured and left to die tied to a barb-wire fence. What happened in a small town in the most sparsely populated state in the US, Wyoming, made headlines around the world as one of the first murders to receive the epitaph “hate crime”.

How does an event like this change a place and the folks that live there? What questions and answers are necessary when two people can commit such a gruesome crime in a town where they are known by all? The Laramie Project is about what should be equal for every man, but which in reality is not. Human value.  

The Laramie Project is based on documentary material collected in Laramie in 1988. Soon after the murder, a theatre company travelled to Laramie to try and form a picture of the town after what had just happened. The group conducted over 200 interviews with townspeople and used them to write The Laramie Project. Since it first opened in New York 20 years ago, they play has been performed at theatres all over the world.

The play is produced here with the permission of Josef Weinberger Limited, London.

By: Moisés Kaufman, The Tectonic Theater Project
Translation Joakim Sten
Director: Carolina Frände
Set design: Charlotta Nylund
Costume design: Elin Hallberg
Light design: Karl Svensson
Mask design: Linda Gonçalves
Music: Frida Öhrn
Prop: Tora Kirchmeier
Set- and costume design assistant: Tora Kirchmeier
Cast: Mattias Brunn, Rebecca Kaneld, Chatarina Larsson, Maria Nohra, Isak Nordström (Teaterhögskolan i Luleå), Daniel Nyström, Simon Rodriguez, Per Öhagen och Frida Öhrn