In early-July, as Justin Polly prepared to direct “The Laramie Project” for CNY Playhouse, he learned that his troubled 26-year-old brother, Christian, had gone missing outside of the city where he lived and worked, Jackson Hole, Wyo.
On Sept. 4 — a week before the play opened at Shoppingtown Mall — Christian’s decomposing body was found by construction workers at the base of Snow King Mountain.
In his director’s note, Justin Polly likened his brother’s untimely death to that of Matthew Shepard, the 21-year-old murder victim who is the subject of the play.
“Whenever tragedy strikes, we as humans tend to break things down in the simplest terms,” Polly wrote. “When Matthew Shepard was beaten and murdered in the fall of 1998, he was described as a ‘Gay Laramie Man.’ When my brother disappeared and later when his body was discovered he fell under the description of ‘Mentally Ill Jackson Man.’”
Though Christian Polly was neither gay nor murdered, what he shared with Shepard, the director wrote, is that they were both “passionate, talented and selfless Wyoming men. Men who lived and died with family and friends who loved them and fought – and will continue to fight – for the causes they represent.”
CNY Playhouse’s version of “The Laramie Project” fulfills the director’s intention to further the cause of Shepard’s supporters to raise national consciousness about homophobic violence. Like its controversial subject matter, the meandering, multi-faceted show demands much of its cast as well as its audience. There’s a lot to think about here, not the least of which is the way the media makes a man a martyr.
“The Laramie Project” runs at 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, Sept. 18, 19 20 and 25, 26 and 27 and 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 21. Tickets cost $15 on Thursdays and Sundays, $20 Fridays and Saturdays; or $34.95 including 6:30 p.m. dinner on Saturdays Sept. 20 and 27. CNY Playhouse is located near the Macy’s entrance at DeWitt’s ShoppingTown Mall; 885-8960; cnyplayhouse.com.
The three-hour show (with two intermissions) features a cast of 23 playing some five dozen different characters based on real-life residents of Laramie.
Playwright Moisés Kaufman and the Tectonic Theater Project made six trips to Laramie during the trial of the two young men accused of kidnapping and killing Shepard. The thespians conducted more than 200 interviews with townspeople and those interviews inspired the play’s dialogue.
“The Laramie Project’s” unusual structure may challenge theater-goers who expect simple exposition, conflict and resolution, but Polly and his assistant director, Kasey McHale, keep things understandable by employing a rear-projection unit to set scenes and identify segments labeled “moments.”
And the performances by the varied cast shone like sunlight reflecting off the snow-capped Tetons.
Best of all was David Spiro sporting a Mangy Moose Saloon ball cap and a dusty western drawl as downhome limo driver, Doc O’Connor. Clearly world-wise despite of his rural milieu, Doc observes, “There’s more gay people in Wyoming than meets the eye.” He recalls his meeting with young Matt Shepard. “He was gay, yeah, but he was straightforward.”
Later in the play, Spiro impresses again as the anti-gay Conrad Miller, the dapper Mormon teacher and a grief-stricken Dennis Shepard, Matthew’s father.
Other standouts include Dan Rowlands as a loquacious and thirsty bartender, Kimberly Panek as tough-talking Zackie Salmon, Nottingham High School student Robert Edwards as University of Wyoming student Jedidiah Schultz, Jim Uva as a harried hospital administrator and Emily Lawson making her acting debut as Zubiada Ula, a rare Wyoming Muslim.
Binaifer Dabu runs the gamut from saucy waitress to stern-faced judge, while John Krenrich ably covers a similarly wide range from backward Baptist minister to an aging homosexual.
Jesse Navagh, often seen in CNY Playhouse chorus lines, steps out front here to excel in two tough roles: as Aaron Kreifles, the man who discovered Shepard’s near-lifeless body tied to a fencepost, and as Aaron McKinney, one of the two killers.
In a crucial scene that hints at motives other than “gay panic” to explain the Shepard slaying, Dusten Blake and Amanda Hebblethwait convincingly portray two of Shepard’s meth-addicted acquaintances. That’s an aspect of the sordid story that most observers remain reluctant to explore.
