Concept

The Laramie Project is a very touching piece, filled with emotion that is in no way artificial. Unlike most of the other shows I have been a part of, this show is based on the real tragedy of the beating and killing of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming in 1998. All of the "characters" are based on and named after the people of Laramie and the members of the Tectonic Theater Project who interviewed them. In my lighting, I wanted a design that complements the emotion in the piece. 

The show, as we executed it, was very upfront with its theatrical elements. Each actor played a variety of different characters all signified by costume transitions that were done on stage, all while utilizing eight chairs and four crates to create dozens of different scenes on a static set. For this reason, I wanted my lights to be very Brechtian in their design, not to alienate the audience, but rather to play into the theatricality of the production.

I was very attentive to the colors, intensity, and placement of lights in different moments to reveal various aspects of the characters, even if many of them shared the same actor. We share warmer, intimate moments with individual residents of Laramie, where a single area is isolated softly and other actors, even if they are not in the scene, can still engage with the material as an active ensemble. This was in contrast with some of the show's darker moments, such as the interrogation of one of the perpetrators where the hard edges and harsh shadows on the face create isolation from this individual.

In addition to the characters, I wanted to capture the essence of environments themselves. The static set alone presented challenges in portraying the many different locations throughout the show. However, it also presented opportunities for lighting to create these environments. Whether it was the morning sunrise on a hillside on the outskirts of Laramie or the intense fluorescent light of a courtroom, my vision was to create and aid the mood of these scenes through the lighting.