The Laramie Project

Red Phoenix Theatre's final production for 2021 is Moisés Kaufman and Tectonic Theater Project's extraordinary play The Laramie Project. The Laramie Project is one of the most-performed theatre pieces in America and has become a modern classic. At Red Phoenix Theatre, we were amazed to discover that in South Australia this extraordinary play has never been performed outside of school and university productions. We are thrilled to be the first theatre company in Adelaide to share this powerful and compelling theatrical experience. On October 7, 1998, a young gay man was discovered bound to a fence outside Laramie, Wyoming, savagely beaten and left to die in an act of brutality and hate that shocked the nation. Matthew Shepard's death became a national symbol of intolerance, but for the people of the town, the event was deeply personal. In the aftermath, Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project went to Laramie and conducted more than 200 interviews with its citizens. From the transcripts of those interviews, the playwrights constructed an extraordinary chronicle of life in the town after the murder. Directed by Brant Eustice and featuring an outstanding cast including Robert Bell, Cheryl Douglas, Matt Houston, Jasmine Leech, Sharon Malujlo, Kate van der Horst, and Alicia Zorkovic.