Rating: 4/5 stars

On Oct. 6, 1998, a gay University of Wyoming student, Matthew Shepard was robbed, tortured and left to die outside of Laramie, Wyoming. Six days later, he succumbed to his injuries and his assailants – Aaron McKinney and Russel Henderson – were charged with, among other crimes, first-degree murder. The heinous, hateful nature of Shepard’s death drew international attention, including from New York City’s Tectonic Theater Project, members of which repeatedly traveled to Laramie in the aftermath of the murder to interview residents and those involved; the result was “The Laramie Project.”

A postmodern piece of documentary theatre, “The Laramie Project” is a fascinating choice to open SUNY Oswego Theatre’s 2024-2025 season, but an understandable one. Director Steven Mazzoccone has spoken to the importance of the play as a sign of LGBTQ visibility and support on campus, as well as empathy and understanding more broadly – an especially significant concern in the face of the imminent presidential election. Fortunately, the script, edited from interviews by Moisés Kaufman (“Seven Deadly Sins”), Leigh Fondakowski (“Casa Cushman”) and other members of the Tectonic Theater Project presents a rather balanced view. Characters’ reactions to Shepard’s death and homosexuality fall along a wide spectrum that the play seeks to showcase as individual opinions rather than deliver a definitive one. Its thesis is contemplative, grieving for both Matthew Shepard and, arguably, his imprisoned killers; as evidenced by both overt throughlines and subtle ones, such as the use of “Amazing Grace” during both the “Snow” (Shepard’s funeral) and “Russel Henderson” (Henderson’s trial) sequences.

Strong emotions thus pervade “The Laramie Project,” and its unique format facilitates this, being entirely dialogue-driven and consisting of several small sequences in place of traditional scenes. Combine that with a ten-person cast playing over 60 roles (a postmodern element reflecting the Tectonic Theater Project members who traveled to Laramie) and an even greater burden than usual falls on the actors. 

However, the cast of the university’s theater production more than rose to the occasion. Every player has at least two memorable characters, with standouts including police officer Reggie Fluty (Ella Boedicker), actor and student Jedadiah Schultz (Ben Capilets), lesbian professor Catherine Connolly (Chelli Lopez), cyclist Aaron Kreifels (Emma Marshall) and hospital representative Rulon Stacey (Aiden O’Brien). 

Tati Copp and Nijel Dubuisson stand out further, with their mix of comedic, dramatic and memorable one-off roles. The former’s Marge Murray and Romaine Patterson and the latter’s Doc O’Connor and Dr. Cantway collectively deliver some of the play’s best laugh-out-loud and tear-jerking moments, respectively, with Act I’s “Finding Matthew Shepard” and Act III’s “Snow” being particularly moving. The “Snow” sequence also features the vitriolic Reverend Fred Phelps, passionately played by Ian Katz, whose beleaguered authority figures – academic advisor Jon Peacock, University of Wyoming president Phillip Dubois and grieving father Dennis Shepard – provide a series of pained, heartfelt monologues in Acts II and III that single out Katz as this well-cast production’s brightest star.

That is not to say SUNY Oswego Theatre’s production is a perfect one, however. There are occasional stumbles in dialogue, but the cast is always able to brush past them, the naturalistic style of the script helps disguise them. Technical issues are also notable, with the odd shaky spotlight or seemingly delayed lighting cue. However, the background projections used to label sequences throughout are smartly sparing, impressively expanding in multiple ways during Act II’s “The Gem City of the Planes” and “Medical Update” sequences, but those additional projections (and, occasionally, the regular sequence titles) are often noticeably misaligned, detracting from otherwise impactful structural elements. The most jarring technical blunder came on Friday night, when the projection software’s taskbar was briefly visible on-stage; similarly, Saturday night saw multiple costuming gaffes, including a painfully staggered on-stage costume change in Act III and an inconsistent accessory throughout.

These are all relatively minor issues. The lighting makes up for its occasional stumbles by being varied and often striking, complementing some of the play’s most emotionally intense moments with dramatic spotlights, such as during the monologues in “Finding Matthew Shepard,” “E-mail” and “Snow.” The visual design of the production is satisfyingly, beautifully minimalist in general, with simple color gradients and the abstract “mountains” of the set-shifting to establish different moods and tones. Aside from the aforementioned errors, the costuming is solid: grounded and utilitarian, with small, simple changes – donning a hat, removing a jacket – denoting a single actor’s several different characters. Most on-stage costume changes are subtle and fluid, save for those moments when an actor’s costume change is clearly intended to draw attention to itself for dramatic purposes.

All of this — the visual design, technical elements and especially the performances – make “The Laramie Project” both effective and deeply affecting. The story slowly draws you in, beginning with “A Definition” of Laramie, Wyoming in the social and cultural sense, introducing you to themes (such as the systemic problems that influenced McKinney and Henderson) and characters that recur throughout, drip-feeding you slices of life and information until you are truly, deeply engaged – and then opening the emotional floodgates. SUNY Oswego’s theatre production consistently drew an increasingly vocal audience response as it went on and every performance brought tears to several eyes, especially during three late-in-the-act tear-jerkers: Act I’s aforementioned “Finding Matthew Shepard,” Act II’s Rulon Stacy-focused “That Night”/“Medical Update”/“Magnitude,” and “Dennis Shepard’s Statement” in Act III. Again, strong emotions pervade “The Laramie Project” – and SUNY Oswego Theatre’s presentation inspires them in its audience, as well.

“Inspiring” could describe the play on the whole. SUNY Oswego Theatre’s production of “The Laramie Project” serves as an important reminder of serious, relevant issues and it is simply being chosen to open the 2024-2025 theatre season is commendable; being this well-cast, this excellently performed and this smartly, strikingly designed makes it even more impressive. It may be hampered by various small errors, but this production of “The Laramie Project” is a worthy staging of a modern classic and a fantastic showcase of SUNY Oswego’s theatrical talents.

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