This will be my last post of this production blog. It has been difficult to decide when or how to close the book on the production. I spent the past summer at conferences where we discussed how to sustain the “life” of theater productions, especially those related to ongoing social issues. I still haven’t stumbled […]
Author: Jules Odendahl-James
Life after Laramie
While the curtain came down on our production many months ago, and our cast members have moved on to new projects. Recent graduate Summer Puente (Romaine Patterson) has been capturing Occupy Durham events with her camera lens. Recent graduate Ben “Mr. Bergmann” Bergmann (Doc O’Connor) is chronicling the wisdom of school children in Houston, TX […]
We are theatre
Theatre Communication Group launched it’s “I am Theatre” video campaign and YouTube channel. They’re going to feature 50 videos over the next 50 weeks. So we’ve got some time, but I say we get something cooking right after the semester starts! Are you in? http://www.tcg.org/fifty/video_submit.cfm Enjoy video #1 from Rachel Grossman of the acclaimed Woolly […]
2010 Census data and LGBT North Carolinians
As promised, here are the compiled census numbers about the state of North Carolina’s LGBT communities, courtesy of Pam’s House Blend (bolded text are her emphasis): There are a lot of gay households in places other than the large metropolitan (read solid Blue) areas of the country, and the Williams Institute has sliced and diced […]
Read the Blog!
I had to share the news this week from USA Today (via BestCollegesOnline). Duke received a mention as 1 of 20 American colleges making “good use” of social media. It got me to thinking about all the fun ya’ll had aping Jeff’s cries to “Read the blog!” The article doesn’t reference our little piece of […]
Theater (as) History
Remember talking about how young (or not) we were when Matthew Shepard died? And Jeff’s telling us about watching the first performances of Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart in the mid-1980s at the height of the AIDS crisis? I wish we could all jet up to New York City and catch the revival of Kramer’s […]
2010 Census data and LGBT Wyomingites
This news comes courtesy of friend-of-production, blogger Pam Spaulding, who will be shifting her blog over the next few weeks to a new home at Firedoglake. Today, the Williams Institute released new Census Snapshot: 2010 Reports: 125,516 same-sex couples were counted in California, 33,602 in Pennsylvania, 3,352 in Delaware, 6,176 in Kansas, and 1,147 in […]
Deadly dramaturgs
Hello all! I hope you are enjoying summertime in ways that are relaxing, intellectually stimulating, and cooooool! For those of you in or around NC, I’ll let you in on our weather so far. It’s been 90+ degrees for 12 days or more since May began. I’m beginning to think that all the recent budget […]
Taking action post-Laramie
Folks — For those undergraduate students who might be interested in taking a more direct role in securing and supporting LGBTQ rights here in North Carolina, Equality NC is looking for Fall 2011 interns for a whole host of jobs. It’s an absolutely critical time for Equality NC due in no small part to the […]
Leaving Laramie
This is Don’s last post, uploaded by Jules. Some time has passed since we closed Laramie, but somehow I still don’t feel like I’ve let it go. I know all of my posts have been about how Laramie went completely against everything that I normally expect from a show, and I’m afraid that this post […]
Documentary opera
Most Laramie participants were in performance during this event, so I wanted to share a clip from George Lam‘s documentary opera, The Persistence of Smoke, which ran April 15-16 in Durham, directed by Theater Studies’ own Jay O’Berski. George conducted the interviews from which John Justice wrote the libretto for this piece. George also composed […]
Duke event: Oral History of Community Organizers
Since a number of you pursue coursework and projects focused on documentary, oral history, and/or social justice, I wanted to pass along this notice of public presentations happening this Friday @ Duke (notice courtesy of “CDS Porch” newsletter). Note the email RSVP if you want a free dinner in addition to the presentations! Community Organizers […]
New stories of Matthew
Thanks to Summer for finding this project on Kickstarter. Apparently, the filmmaker met Matthew when they were both in high school in Switzerland. It’s got about one more month to reach its goal for funding. Here’s an introductory clip from Kickstarter:
Amazing Laramie photostream
Checking out Jackrabbit’s newest post about her visit to Durham (see my post about her post) I ran across this astonishing Flickr photo stream (sample image below): There is not a lot of information given about the photographer on her Flickr profile. I believe she might be a first-year student at Illinois Wesleyan University who is […]
Laramie sparkles, doesn’t it?
My little vial of Laramie earth sits on a bookshelf in my bedroom near family photographs and the place where we recharge our cell and smartphones. I put it there to guarantee I would look at it morning and night. I’m still so touched by Jackrabbit’s gesture to give us all “pieces” of Laramie. Spencer […]
In documentary solidarity
Due to scheduling that was either serendipitous or counter-productive (depending on your perspective), the second week of our production of The Laramie Project ran concurrently with Durham’s acclaimed Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. Since many folks in the cast have curricular and personal ties to Duke’s Center for Documentary Studies and other documentary mediums of […]
RIP Marge Murray. We love ya honey.
Upon a much belated visit to The Laramie Project Online Community I found this piece of sad news posted by company member Tiffany Redmon on April 19, 2011: Marjorie Murray – 9/2/1935- 3/12/2011 Marge Murray passed away around 11:30pm on Saturday, March 12th 2011 in Laramie, Wyoming. Marge was surrounded by children Reggie, Robin, Mike, […]
Laramie. Ten Years Later. An Epilogue. A Trailer.
For those of you curious about The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later. An Epilogue there is a trailer from a performance of that show at Lincoln Center in New York City on October 14, 2010.
Our Laramie trailer
Thanks to the spectacular work of Gary Hawkins (Duke, CDS) and his crew, we have a lovely 4 minute “trailer” of our production of Laramie to share. The music you hear is the score, played live, composed and performed by Duke alum, Bart Matthews. http://vimeo.com/22653824
You gotta leave them with hope.
After yet another wonderful Friday night talk-back (and thanks for sticking with us after we held the opening curtain for 15 minutes which put our final curtain time at 10:30pm), I came home and checked Jackrabbit’s blog to see that she got home safely after her whirlwind trip to see us. She did. She also […]
UPDATED–Local reviewers weigh in
UPDATE April 14, 2011. Classical Voice of North Carolina just posted its online review this morning. Again, you can read it in its entirety here and I’ll quote a short section: Thirteen young performers essay some sixty roles, differentiated by the slightest of costume alterations — hats, scarves, jackets — and their collective brilliance as […]
“Why Do We Need Laramie?” Talk-Back
After the performance on Sunday, April 10, I moderated a panel discussion with Brian Ammons (Duke, Education), Sean Metzger (Duke, English, Theater Studies, AMES) and Jeff Storer (Duke, Theater Studies and Durham’s Manbites Dog Theater). Our discussion (which lasted 55 minutes! we had great questions and great sharing from those who stayed to talk and […]
More documentary theater if you’re around in May
I just found out that Burning Coal Theatre (Raleigh, NC) is producing the acclaimed but controversial documentary play, My Name Is Rachel Corrie, for one weekend only, May 19-22, as part of their “Wait until you see this” second-stage series. Click here to order tickets. Our guest last week, Professor Carol Martin, has an essay […]
Maude in her own words
Those of you who have read through this blog and/or stayed for one of our talkback sessions may recognize the name of Maude Mitchell. Maude visited our Laramie class back in February when Mabou Mines was in residence at Duke working on a new re-deconstruction of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie. Maude was attached to […]
Distinguished Guest 1 — Professor Carol Martin
For our first week of performances, we enjoyed the company of our first distinguished scholar: Professor Carol Martin (NYU). I heard Professor Martin deliver the final keynote at the Acting with Facts: Performing the Real on Stage and Screen 1990-2010 at the University of Reading (UK) this past September. When I got back to the […]
