First-Person: Donald Rees and Marc Roth on The Laramie Project - Ten years later

After, After and Before
A heartbreaking event explored via theatre comes to Buddies in Bad Times

After The Show
by Donald Rees
I’ve written about why Brave New Productions set out to tackle the Montreal premiere of “The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later”. I detailed our process and explained how ambitious the project was for our production company in previous articles. With a large cast and very serious subject matter, expectations (and my blood pressure) were at an all-time high when opening night finally came around.

So how did it go?

Unbelievably well. Actually, despite the ambitious nature of the project and high expectations generated from the generous amount of attention by local media (including The Charlebois Post), Laramie exceeded our expectations in every way possible. Not only did we have a fantastic turn-out for all of our shows, feedback was beyond positive with notable members of the LGBT and Theatre community reaching out to us afterwords to offer up compliments and encouragement. It warmed our hearts. Emma McQueen (Artistic Director) and I sat down halfway through the run to talk about how inspired we felt by our audience's reactions and we had an in-depth conversation about how we felt a new path had been illuminated for our company. Activist theatre? No. A permanent switch to drama over comedy? Not at all. Our new-found inspiration is hard to articulate but will hopefully make itself apparent in the coming year.
On a personal level, opening night was emotional. Watching the cast of 20 that I’d come to connect with on so many levels finally present their work in front of an audience brought tears to my eyes (not a good thing when you’re the one calling the cues and can’t see the script). Listening to the audience's audible reactions to how the story of Matthew Shepard has been twisted by members of the community reminded me that though I was familiar with the script, this was a new story for those sitting in the audience and they were going through the similar emotions and thoughts as I had gone through when first reading the script.

Closing night was bittersweet, as the show continues its life in Toronto not all Montreal cast members are coming along for this particular tour. It’s the second time we bring a show to Toronto (Being Earnest, our gender-bending comedy from the 2011 Montreal Fringe Festival took to the stage at Buddies just a little over a year ago) and we’ve decided to do something a bit different this time, replacing almost half the cast with local Toronto actors and bringing together talent from the two cities for one spectacular weekend. (cont'd)

Looking Forward
by Marc Roth

Our Laramie adventure in Toronto involved hiring local talent to fill roles for those Montreal actors unable to make the trip. The eight individuals we would choose for our Toronto run would need to not only have the talent of meeting the high expectations set from the Montreal show, but the unique ability to rehearse completely without their 10 Montreal cast-mates - who they would only meet at the dress rehearsal on the afternoon of the Toronto opening.

Our Toronto cast is an eclectic group of both actors and aspiring actors, who either heard of Laramie for the first time with our casting call or had experience with the original production. One is a former high school teacher returning to his love of theatre, another is a star of a Tim Horton's TV campaign. We have actors who trained in Vancouver, New York and St. Johns, Newfoundland. The one thing they all have in common, however, is the powerful monologue they delivered in their auditions. Each showed a profound appreciation for Laramie by choosing a text that spoke of loss, reflection, angst and longing, all themes very present in Laramie. Right from day one, these actors demonstrated that they knew what it took to bring the interviews from Laramie residents to life on stage.

It will be a unique and exciting experience to watch the dress rehearsal at Buddies on November 9, having these two groups of amazing talent meet and meld for the very first time. I know our audiences are in for a powerful experience as we bring our Laramie to Toronto, and I look forward to that first queue on opening night, watching this amazing group of people do Matthew Shepard's memory proud.

The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later opens this Friday for one weekend only at Buddies In Bad Times Cabaret.

Showtimes:
Friday, November 9th: 7:30pm
Saturday, November 10th: 3pm & 7:30
Sunday, November 11th: 3pm

Tickets: 20$ (Discounts available for students, seniors, groups)
More information available at: http://buddiesinbadtimes.com/event/the-laramie-project-ten-years-later/