I sit here with a full head and an empty page, unsure of what I want to say here; unsure of how brave and honest I want to be in this posting. The Laramie Project has come so far in the past month that it hardly resembles the play it once was. As Jeff tells […]
“…but they are honest and they’re truthful”
It’s incredible how many times you can watch a show and still learn something new each time. We’ve read and rehearsed this show and unbelievable amount of times—and yet, I notice something new almost every run. A couple things I’ve noticed in the past few rehearsals: Rebecca Hilliker’s line—“You know, I really love my students […]
Protected: Notes from Jules (Acts 2&3) Monday night’s run
Thank you, Dr. King.
Today. 6:01pm, April 4, is the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in Memphis, TN. On that day in 1968, he was in the city to lead a peaceful march of striking city sanitation workers and headed from there to Washington D.C. to launch his “Poor People’s Campaign.” In 2008, on the 40th […]
It’s weird, man.
This is Don’s post — uploaded by Jules. For the longest time, I didn’t let myself get personally involved in any of the shows I stage-managed. Laramie changed that. Let’s back up a little. I’m confident in what I do. I would never describe myself as a “great” stage-manager, or really anything other than a […]
Guest Blogger, Dan Ellison–TLP, Censorship and the Law Part II
And now, the part two of Dan’s post about The Laramie Project and censorship. Isn’t it amazing and wonderful that a play (or any work of art, for that matter) can create controversy and public debate. It is proof that art is powerful! Words matter. Art matters. Theater matters! The Laramie Project is a powerful […]
Protected: Act 1 Notes from Sunday’s Run
The Tech-ing Project
Moment: An Introduction NARRATOR: From April 1, 2011 to April 3, 2011, the Laramie Project Company at Duke University ran tech for its upcoming production. The following comes from interviews with Manny Hidalgo, an assistant stage manager for the show. MANNY HIDALGO: Well, what Laramie was like during tech…. well, I’d never seen anything like […]
It’s still getting to me
Jacob Tobia So, I know, I’ve been crying a lot during rehearsal. Like, a whole lot. As in at least two times a day, which is starting to feel a bit ridiculous by now, but I think that’s because I’m doing this whole acting thing the right way. You know how directors say that you’re […]
A Scarf & A Definition
Moment: A Scarf In the introduction to her play, Fires in the Mirror, about another community’s unravelling, Anna Deavere Smith says, “everyone, in a given amount of time, will say something that is like poetry.” Zubaida’s monologue at the candle vigil is like poetry. Bart’s music elevates it to an aria. Words, music and candles? It’s like […]
Laramie Sparkles
Never having been in the tech booth for a show, I had no idea what I signed up for when I offered to run the light board. I’ve acted, directed, and built/helped design sets for shows, but have never had the privilege of running around backstage in all black making sure that all those magic […]
The Moments Before The Show
Moment: Blog Four Days Before Opening Narrator: The following pieces are excerpts from Afftene Taylor’s thoughts made to the blog prior to the April 5th deadline. It is four days from the opening of the show. Moment: It’s More Than Me This weekend, over a span of two 5-hour rehearsals, we finally got a chance […]
And It Comes Together, As Do We
I write this in an exhausted, feverish, overly sentimental frenzy. I am very sick today. I spent all of last night throwing up, and I woke up this morning after a restless sleep to do more of the same. I sent Jeff a frantic text message at 8:30 am — “Jeff, I hate to say […]
Straight, White, Male, and 40
Cameron McCallie I can’t pretend that I was a little bit surprised when I saw what parts I was playing upon being cast in Laramie. Jeff had only ever really seen me act (excluding audition materials) as a hammy, high-energy, nervous Jewish man in The Underpants. I chuckled when I realized that I would be […]
LIVE BLOG Last Laramie rehearsal before Tech.
Tonight, I’m live-blogging our last run-through before we head into technical rehearsals. This is the place where actors will pick up some of their notes but is also a way to introduce our readers to our process, our space, our productions. Enjoy! 6:55pm Worklight views of our beautiful set. Warm-ups begin. Click LaramieCastWarmup to see […]
His Name is Jedadiah Schultz
Or his name is Andy Chu. It really could be both. Just saying. Because really, looking for differences between the two of us is a lot harder than looking for the similarities. We are two heterosexual theatre nerds raised in stable, conservative Protestant homes and attending college with the intention of becoming professional actors. We […]
Signs
I begin work on the signs on Monday night. It is after midnight; sometimes, between The Laramie Project and my scene design class, moving a bed into the design studio seems like not a bad idea. Mostly what I’m doing right now is making letter stencils. If the letters on the signs aren’t uniform, it’s […]
Moment: Magnitude
When I came back to my room after callbacks in September, I remember feeling like I had totally bombed my audition. I was incredibly impressed with the strength of the choices that the other actors at the callback had made and incredibly underwhelmed with my own performance. My nerves had gotten the best of me […]
Leaps and Bounds
This past Saturday was something else entirely. Since we’ve finished setting movement and costume change patterns, we’ve had much more time to focus on acting. I guess I should have expected a rehearsal like Saturday’s for this reason, but the level of emotion was shocking regardless. For me it was a scene between two characters, […]
“And it was so good to be with people who felt like shit.”
The Laramie moments are microcosms of all of our lives. Amongst the cast, we joke constantly that there is literally a line from the play that can go with any conversation. But today, the truth of this play was felt by many of us. Rehearsal went great, but also went beyond just smoothing out the […]
Listening to the elders.
I fear that the Laramie cast and crew will be in technical rehearsals when this event happens, but I want to promote it anyway. All too frequently the mainstream media discussion of “gay rights” pits older Americans against younger citizens. Those under 30 are categorized as “open” and “tolerant” whereas retirees are identified as “conservative” […]
Me Too Next Year!
This post is a call for artistic staff for next year’s Me Too Monologues from our very own Afftene Taylor and Kimi Goffe. This year’s production was amazing with audiences of 750+! If you missed it, check out the Me Too YouTube channel to see what you missed. Be sure to get on board for […]
Performance and Social Activism THIS FRIDAY
For those of you interested in the intersections of performance and social action, check out this event at UNC’s Memorial Hall Friday night. Tickets can be picked up/reserved at the box office (919-843-3333). ADMISSION IS FREE and there will be free food at the Health Gala Reception after the performance. The poster below lists some […]
On your day off …
World Theatre Day 2011 is this Sunday, March 27, 2011. For some reasons why it is important to note/mark this celebration, I give you Jeffrey Wright (Tony and Emmy award winner for his role as Belize in both the Broadway production and HBO miniseries of Angels in America). He speaks in this promo as an […]
Brecht Bytes #4
Since my feedback has been centered on paying attention to the specificity of expression within your characters’ testimony — switches amongst verb tenses, the distinction of different kinds of punctuation marks, the colloquial turns of phrase that marks region and culture, and the vagaries of individual word choice — I found a Brecht poem that […]