Named one of the ten best plays of 2000 by TIME magazine and nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience, The Laramie Project will be performed by George School’s beginning, intermediate, and advanced drama students on Friday and Saturday, February 25 and 26, at 8:00 p.m. in Walton Center.

On Wednesday, February 23, at 10:00 a.m., noted activist Romaine Patterson, founder of Angel Action, an organization dedicated to peaceful demonstration, will speak with students about the play and her friendship with Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming whose brutal 1998 murder is the subject of the play. Romaine's discussion with students and all play performances are free and open to the public.

The Laramie Project is a complex drama that exposes audience members to a variety of viewpoints and asks them to think critically about the nature of violence and the ways in which people are or are not accepting of those different from themselves. Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project created the play in the aftermath of Matthew Shepard’s death by interviewing over two hundred Laramie, Wyoming residents about their reactions to the murder and the ways in which subsequent events transformed their lives. The play is made up of the interviews, in the subjects' original words, as well as the journal entries in which the actors recorded their own responses to the situation during their time in Laramie.

As a close friend of Matthew Shepard, Romaine Patterson was one of the Tectonic Theater Project's interviewees, and she is represented as a character in the play. She became an activist in response to Matthew's death and now speaks at colleges and high schools across the country about combating hate. Patterson was named one of 1999's "Best and Brightest Activists" by The Advocate and has been honored by the Anti-Defamation League.

George School drama teacher Nelson Camp, director of the play, said, "I think it deals with how human beings can treat [one another], both negatively and positively." While The Laramie Project takes a close look at the power of hurtful stereotypes and hatred, he said, it also demonstrates the power of love. "One of the things I love about this piece is the amount of love that is extended," he said.

George School sophomore Ben Goldberg, who portrays one of Matthew Shepard's murderers, Aaron McKinney, said that in order to play his role, he had to do a lot of difficult thinking about his character’s anger and hatred. As a result, he felt that it was important for the school community to discuss the issues that the play raises, and he helped to organize an open forum in conjunction with George School's Diversity Steering Committee. Students, faculty, and parents attended the forum last month to discuss the play and the students' responses to their roles. In a similar vein, discussion sessions will be held after each performance of the play. All audience members are invited to attend.

As with all mainstage productions at George School, costumes are by Liz Lukac, and sets are designed by Scott Hoskins and built by his stagecraft classes. For more information about the play, please call 215-579-6568.

All George School students take four year-long courses in the arts. In addition to theater arts, the arts department offers courses in vocal and instrumental music, dance, video production, journalism, painting and drawing, woodworking and furniture design, ceramics, and photography. The arts department encourages students to be creative and enjoy themselves while they practice and appreciate a specific art form. In addition, students learn to be discriminating when they evaluate their own and others' work. 

About George School 
George School, founded in 1893 by members of the Society of Friends (Quakers), teaches that each person shares a responsibility for helping to make the world a better place. The student body is diverse, representing twenty states and thirty foreign countries and a variety of ethnic, racial, religious, academic, and economic backgrounds. Each year more than $4 million in need-based financial aid is provided to eligible students.