“We need to own this crime … We are like this. We ARE like this.”
Members of the Tectonic Theatre Project present The Laramie Project by Moises Kaufman at Sydney’s iconic New Theatre.
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 Theatre 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.
An ensemble cast portray more than 60 characters in this shattering depiction of a profoundly moving modern tragedy.
Says Artistic Director, Louise Fischer: “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. 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 Director, Mark Nagle: “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. 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, warmongering 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.”
CREATIVE TEAM
Cast 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
Director Mark G. Nagle
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
Photos (c) Chris Lundie
Please note: This production contains homophobic slurs and references to physical violence.
SEASON
7 October – 1 November 2025
PERFORMANCESThu – Sat 7:30pm, Sun 2pm
Sat 1 Nov 2pm only
TICKETS
Full $45
Concessions & Groups (6+) $40
Thrifty Thursdays $30
Preview & Early Bird $25
(+ bf)
BOOKINGS
AUnewtheatre