Submitted by Rebecca Degnan, Blue Fire Stage Company
(June 14, 2022) — Join Blue Fire Stage Company for a unique and immersive performance of “The Laramie Project,” June 23-25 at the former Haddam Elementary School. Blue Fire is excited to produce our first non-musical, and it is being performed as a staged reading. Each performance will be followed by a community conversation facilitated by our director, Frank Borrelli.
These local people will be in the play: Christa Douyard, Mark Degnan, Heather Pach, Chase Lenart, Joe Lenart, Vanessa Lenart, Brandon Iovene (HK grad), Julia Thelen (HK grad), Henry Tobelman (HK grad), Carolina Villamizar, Jen Voegli, Amy Koepke, and Fabian Marcano. Other cast members are: Sareth Burgess, Michael Cartwright, Ari Doyle, Julie-O Faraci, Rick Fountain, Kristina Pugatch, Susan Smith, and Claudia Volano.
Written in 2000 by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project, “The Laramie Project” follows community reaction to the 1998 murder of gay University of Wyoming student Mathew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming.
This touching story explores the fallout of homophobia, violence and discrimination after Shepard’s tragic death drew national attention to the lack of hate crime laws in various states, including Wyoming. From the director, Frank Borelli: “This production of The Laramie Project is a true representation of how a community comes together to tell its story. The play has been performed thousands of times around the world in many languages and chronicles how a community responds to hate in their midst. ‘The Laramie Project’ does not tell its audience how to feel. Instead, it offers all possible perspectives around the beating and subsequent death of Matthew Shepard.”
Come to be part of the dialog and witness how a community works through its darkest moment with hope. Seating is general admission. Masking is strongly recommended for audience members during performances. Please do not attend if you have any symptoms of COVID. You may request a refund if unable to attend due to illness.Tickets are offered on a pay-what-you-can basis. (Suggested donation is $18/ticket.)
