Bob Verini – ArtsInLA
Time heals everything, so the song goes, and a quick overview of history reveals there’s no calamity so atrocious that the passage of time won’t soften its impact. Shed any tears over the massacre of the Huguenots lately? How about the victims of the Children’s Crusade? Fortunately, art often comes forward to try to ensure that an event’s power will not be blunted for future generations.
Les Spindle – Edge on the Net
Though “The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later” has previously been presented in Los Angeles as a staged reading, and a full production was presented this past spring at Orange County’s Chance Theater, this sequel is currently making its L.A. bow in a fully staged rendition. Read more…
Neal Weaver – LA Weekly
The original production of The Laramie Project rode on the wave of passion and grief spawned by the murder of Matthew Shepard. The current work, which looks at Laramie and the related issues as they appear 10 years after the fact, is necessarily more contemplative and thoughtful, but it builds up its own brand of steam. Read more…
Sharon Perlmutter – Talkin’ Broadway
I admit to a certain reluctance to see The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later. The original play was so extraordinary, I feared this would be one of those sequels which is not only weaker than the original, but which somehow spoils the memory of its predecessor. Beyond that, the subject matter alone was somewhat lesser. The original Laramie Project asked what kind of town could give birth to a crime as vile as the murder of Matthew Shepard; the follow-up asks what, if anything, has changed…..Read more…
David C. Nichols – LA Times
History forgotten is history repeated, which underscores “The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later” in its Los Angeles premiere at the Gay & Lesbian Center’s Davidson/Valentini Theatre.
This potent follow-up to the landmark Tectonic Theater Project docudrama about community reactions to Matthew Shepard’s 1998 murder reminds anew of how theater provides context in ways no other form can match. Read more…
Now running through November 16.