皇冠足彩官方剧院导演安迪·沃特:《皇冠足彩官方》与学生息息相关, 社区
10月. 11, 2023
Driving down East Lamar Alexander Parkway on Sept. 看到当地居民排成长队抗议当天在玛丽维尔大学校园举行的骄傲活动, 肥仔安迪·沃特 意识到他选择“拉勒米计划”作为秋季制作是正确的 皇冠足彩网 Theatre Department.
沃特是一名戏剧客座讲师，现在是他指导学院戏剧项目的第二个赛季，他对此并没有怀疑. 毕竟, 在地区和全国范围内，LGBTQ问题日益严重的两极分化造就了这部剧，它探讨了1998年怀俄明大学同性恋学生马修·谢泼德在拉勒米被谋杀的事件, Wyoming — particularly poignant. 10月面世. 26岁 Clayton Center for the Arts, “The Laramie Project,沃特说。, 这是一种强有力的叙事方式，也是一种利用戏剧促进对话和反思的方式吗.
“I had such a good first season last year and really enjoyed everything, and in thinking of what we were going to do to follow it, it didn’t take long to settle on ‘The Laramie Project,’”他说。. “我开始思考外界对在这里生活的人的强烈讽刺, and that got me thinking about my students. I don’t want to speak about all students at Maryville College, but we’re a safe bubble for those who need it in a place like this.
“所以一, it’s relevant; and two, 他们需要知道我们在考虑这个问题——我们作为一个学校，我作为一个教授——我们关心他们的安全、他们的人性和他们的尊严. 所以当我看到社区里对Pride的反应时，我觉得这很有意义.”
Processing tragedy via theater
也是25th 沃特补充说，这是谢泼德被谋杀的周年纪念日，这使得它更加偶然. 10月. 1998年6月6日，谢泼德在拉勒米的一家酒吧被两名男子接近，他们提出要载他回家. They instead drove him to a remote area where they robbed, 殴打并折磨他，然后把他绑在栅栏上离开. 18小时后，一名骑自行车的人把他误认为稻草人，把他救了出来. 这两名男子——亚伦·麦金尼和拉塞尔·亨德森——被判一级谋杀罪，并被连续判处无期徒刑, but Shepard’s sexuality as a gay man, and the absence of specific hate crime legislation at the time, received extensive media coverage and inspired “The Laramie Project,” written by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project.
An example of documentary theater, 该剧取材于剧团成员对拉勒米居民的数十次采访, along with published news reports. Featuring more than 60 characters in a series of short scenes, 这是一个强有力的快照，反映了这场悲剧对那些认为他们的社区是一个田园西部山城的人的影响, and one of the most fascinating elements, Vaught说, is the absence of Shepard himself.
“马修·谢泼德不是一个角色，他的缺席只会增加他的地位，”他说. “The play itself is a lot of talking and the processing of the event, which is one reason it’s so effective. Talking about these things can be really painful, and the almost clinical nature of this play is deceitful, because it doesn’t spare you.
“在戏剧系，我想做的一件事就是创造一些东西，可以成为学院的粘合剂. 出演戏剧是一种人文体验，因为这部剧有63个角色和29位演员, 这让我能够以一种非常特别的方式敞开心扉，谈论一个社区是如何应对这场悲剧的.”
Community-building a part of play
As the child of two gay parents, 谢泼德去世的消息给了沃特当头一棒，沃特至今记忆犹新. 在甘比尔凯尼恩学院本科学习的第一周, 俄亥俄州, he was first exposed to the play, 剧作家们开创性地将悲剧和评论交织在一起，形成一种有意义的体验，在情感上产生共鸣，他认为这是他将这些作品作为皇冠足彩官方戏剧项目的一部分的灵感之一.
“这是我们想要将戏剧与社会正义结合起来的第一步，”他说. “当我在戏剧二课上做一个关于政治参与戏剧的部分时, 学生们学到了一些关于他们如何创作戏剧的方法, and while a lot of them had heard of it, they had never read it before. That surprised me, and so that was kind of the spark of us doing this.
“前几天晚上，我们第一次通读了一遍，最后人们都哭了. 这是一部非常强大的戏剧，它给了人们一个在舞台上做自己的机会. That’s really important, because I’m not asking anyone to assume a role, even the students who play the perpetrators. There’s a distance between themselves and their roles, 因为我必须确保每个人在整个阅读过程中都感到舒适, impacting it and staging it.”
皇冠足彩官方剧院的“拉勒米项目”将与皇冠足彩网骄傲俱乐部一起进行, 他补充说, and the input of the club’s members has provided invaluable insight. 这次合作意味着这部剧的演出将会是一种体验，而不仅仅是一场普通的戏剧之夜:退休的联邦调查局特工辛西娅·戴特尔, 谁领导了 Matthew Shepard Foundation 多年来，她都会出席一个晚上讨论她在仇恨犯罪方面的工作. Aja Rodriguez, 04年, 皇冠足彩网’s director of diversity, equity and inclusion, 正在讨论组织一个由校友和在校生组成的小组，就过去和现在作为一个公开的LGBTQ个体在皇冠足彩官方皇冠足彩官方的情况进行公开对话. 最后, prior to the Sunday performance, 小贩们将建立一个酷儿社区市场，以促进社区联系, Vaught补充道.
“We’re trying not only to have the show speak, but have events around it, because it’s important to do that when you have a show like this, and the odds of you being emotionally affected are real,他说. “我们不想让人们感到无助，不知道他们能做些什么. We want them to find and make connections right then, 我们在这个过程中问自己，我们如何帮助培养这些能力.”
“The Laramie Project” will be staged at 8 p.m. 周四,10月. 26 through Saturday, 10月. 28英镑，下午2点.m. 周日,10月. 29日，在克莱顿艺术中心的哈斯拉姆家庭灵活剧院. Admission is free, and the performances are open to the public.
For more information, visit the Clayton Center online or call 865-981-8590.