The Laramie Project -10 yearsLater play - Essay Example

It was the only complete performance of the piece that I was able to locate, so I have chosen to answer the required assignment questions as applied to the Denton production. Citation follows at the end. Overall, I was impressed with the quality of the actors. The most notable, I believe, were the ones portraying Aaron McKinney, one of the murderers, and Judy Shepard, Matthew Shepard’s mother. The actor playing Aaron radiated an intoxicating combination of pure ignorance and raw nihilism, with a veneer of bravado.

There is no doubt in the viewers mind that this person is a truly unlikable cad with minimal redeeming qualities, and the actor radiates those qualities with effortless panache. The actress playing Judy Shepard successfully captured the essence of continuing vulnerability over the death of her son, combined with steely determination to ensure his death was not in vain, and the confidence that has come of an active role in that goal for 10 years. Of the major roles, I found the main narrator the least engaging.

I was somewhat disappointed that such a prominent role would be given to someone so clearly unqualified in comparison to the other actors. As a heavily ensemble based play, it is integral to have all actors of roughly equal caliber, or if that is not possible, at least the top 5 most prominent parts. Denton seemed perfectly adept of working as a unit, with each member deftly cast, and in the few interactive scenes, they had excellent inter character interaction. No one actor seemed prone to showboating, and I did not see anyone step on anyone else’s lines.

All performers seemed gracious and professional, and interested in ensuring the greatest success of the play as a whole. In the 1997 film, “Wag the Dog”, the character of Stanley Motss, compares producing to plumbing in this way, and I think it holds equally true for directing: “Do your job right and nobody should notice.