[NEohioPAL] The Laramie Project opens Jan. 18 at Beck Center

[Fran Storch]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 15, 2007
Direct questions to: (216) 521-2540
Yvette Hanzel, ext. 225
Dawn Youngs, ext. 223
 
 
Beck Center for the Arts
Teen Theater presents
The Laramie Project
January 18-27, 2008
            Lakewood, OH - Beck Center for the Arts Teen Theater presents The Laramie Project, a deeply moving play by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project, in the intimate Studio Theater, January 18 through 27, 2008.   The Laramie Project is a poignant drama about bigotry and tolerance, fear and courage, hate and hope.  Show times are 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays.  Audience members are invited to participate in talk-back discussions with a panel of area experts after each Sunday matinee.  For tickets, call the Beck Center Box Office at 216-521-2540.
On October 7, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a young gay college student from Laramie, Wyoming, was tied to a fence on the outskirts of town, brutally beaten and left to die.  After his murder, members of the Tectonic Theater Project, a New York-based theater company, traveled to Laramie to interview residents and chronicle the town's loss of innocence.  The Laramie Project is not a retelling of the crime story but the town's reaction to it.
Directed by Dan Kilbane, The Laramie Project is based on resident interviews, the company members' own journal entries and published news reports.  "Two of my goals working with this remarkable group of young actors, is for the audience to realize that bigotry and hatred are issues that we continue to battle everyday.  And with this younger generation of performers, I hope to convey that there is still hope that we are going in the right direction as a community." remarked Kilbane.  "Also, I am honored to return to the Beck Center where I was once a part of the teen theater program myself."  A cast of 14 young actors portray more than sixty characters - from rural ranchers to university professors - in a series of short scenes in three acts.
Cast members for The Laramie Project are students from the Beck Center's Theater Education program.  They have participated in core theater classes at Beck Center.  In these classes, students explore basic acting skills through improvisation and theater games.  They study method acting, as well as develop singing and acting techniques.  In addition, they have had introduction to theater appreciation and basic theater terminology.
Tickets for The Laramie Project are $10 for adults and $8 for children (12 and under).  Discounts are available for groups of 13 or more.  To reserve tickets, call the Beck Center Box Office at 216-521-2540.  Convenient, free on-site parking is available.  Beck Center for the Arts is located at 17801 Detroit Avenue in Lakewood, just ten minutes west of downtown Cleveland.
The Laramie Project is sponsored by Cox Communications, Music Is Elementary, Lakewoodbuzz.com, and the Ohio Arts Council.  Programming at the Beck Center is made possible through the generous support of The Cleveland Foundation, The George Gund Foundation, The John P. Murphy Foundation, The Kulas Foundation, The Eva L. & Joseph M. Bruening Foundation, The Abington Foundation, and the Thomas H. White Foundation.  The Beck Center also gratefully acknowledges the citizens of Cuyahoga County for their support through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.    
Beck Center for the Arts is a comprehensive arts organization which offers professional theater productions on two stages, arts education classes in dance, music, theater, and visual arts, and art exhibits featuring local and regional artists.
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