The Laramie Project » (VINTAGE)

Moises Kaufman is the founder and artistic director of Tectonic Theater Project, a theater company based in New York City. His 1997 play Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde was named one of the best plays of the year by Time, Newsday, The New York Post, The Advocate, and The New York Times. With Tectonic he has directed works by Samuel Beckett, Tennessee Williams, Benjamin Britten, Sophie Treadwell, and Christohper Ashley, as well as new works by Peter Golub and Naomi Iizuka. He is the recipient of the 1997 Joe A. Callaway Award for excellence in the craft of stage direction given by the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation for his work on Gross Indecency.

In his native Venezuela, Mr. Kaufman performed as an actor with the Thespis Theater Ensemble, one of the country's foremost experimental theater companies. He has lived in New York City since 1987.

On October 7, 1998, a young gay man was discovered bound to a fence in the hills outside Laramie, Wyoming, savagely beaten and left to die in an act of hate that shocked the nation. Matthew Shepard’s death became a national symbol of intolerance, but for the people of Laramie the event was deeply personal, and it’s they we hear in this stunningly effective theater piece, a deeply complex portrait of a community.

Publishers Weekly

Moises Kaufman and his Tectonic Theater Project have written a play documenting the aftermath of the savage killing of Matthew Shepard, including the perspectives of both friends and strangers: The Laramie Project. This innovative theatrical composition, structured not in scenes, but in "moments," addresses the various issues relating to the tragedy of Shepard, a young gay man whose murder has since become a symbol for America's struggle against intolerance. Kaufman's approach is actor-based, as opposed to text-based; a side-effect of this actor-based approach is that in print form it seems as though something is missing. However, the play promises to move the reader with its authentic portrayal of a small town facing a terrifying event. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.