The Laramie Project
Alexandria Manouphath
English 5
Professor Adam Sandel
“The Laramie Project”
In the play, “The Laramie Project” by Moises Kaufman he includes many testimonies from the towns people of Laramie, giving the audience a more accurate view of what led up to the murder of Matthew Shepard. Many of the townspeople gave similar accounts of what they thought and felt of the Matthew Shepard case, but there were also those who had other thoughts. From the gathering of witnesses and their testimonies the factors that led up to Matthew Shepard’s murder was being ignorant and closed minded about the views of homosexuals and to prevent this from happening in the future citizens need to be more open minded of the things happening outside their comfort zone.
Regarding testimonies, the people giving their accounts are from Laramie or go to the university near by. In the beginning of the play a resident of Laramie, Zackie Salmon is being interviewed. He expressed the town of Laramie to be very close knit, “...if you don’t know a person, you will definitely know someone they know.” “...I love to go to the grocery store ‘cause I get to visit with four or five or six people everytime I go.” From the start you get a vibe that Laramie is a small town with small- minded traditional people. Sergeant Hing of the Laramie Police Department states, “What you have is, you have your old-time traditional- type ranchers, they’ve been here forever.” Laramie is a town filled with townspeople who have been there for with their families for generations. Sergeant Hing also expresses the fact that he was born and raised in Laramie, his family is the third generation and his grandparents moved to Laramie in the early nineteen hundreds. The citizens of Laramie are comfortable with one another and are traditional as well when it comes to the views of certain topics.
Although there were numerous testimonies sympathizing with the gay community, many expressed their traditional views
English 5
Professor Adam Sandel
“The Laramie Project”
In the play, “The Laramie Project” by Moises Kaufman he includes many testimonies from the towns people of Laramie, giving the audience a more accurate view of what led up to the murder of Matthew Shepard. Many of the townspeople gave similar accounts of what they thought and felt of the Matthew Shepard case, but there were also those who had other thoughts. From the gathering of witnesses and their testimonies the factors that led up to Matthew Shepard’s murder was being ignorant and closed minded about the views of homosexuals and to prevent this from happening in the future citizens need to be more open minded of the things happening outside their comfort zone.
Regarding testimonies, the people giving their accounts are from Laramie or go to the university near by. In the beginning of the play a resident of Laramie, Zackie Salmon is being interviewed. He expressed the town of Laramie to be very close knit, “...if you don’t know a person, you will definitely know someone they know.” “...I love to go to the grocery store ‘cause I get to visit with four or five or six people everytime I go.” From the start you get a vibe that Laramie is a small town with small- minded traditional people. Sergeant Hing of the Laramie Police Department states, “What you have is, you have your old-time traditional- type ranchers, they’ve been here forever.” Laramie is a town filled with townspeople who have been there for with their families for generations. Sergeant Hing also expresses the fact that he was born and raised in Laramie, his family is the third generation and his grandparents moved to Laramie in the early nineteen hundreds. The citizens of Laramie are comfortable with one another and are traditional as well when it comes to the views of certain topics.
Although there were numerous testimonies sympathizing with the gay community, many expressed their traditional views