Can A School Play Make A Difference? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- by Kriten Ales & Lizzie Shipton, Media It’s four weeks now since The Laramie Project graced Aptos High’s stage, and it is hard to know what—if any—lasting effect the show has had on our campus. The Drama Production class chose this play in the hopes of opening the eyes of students and faculty to the intolerance that some people in the world have towards gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender lifestyles. Has it had the kind of effect that the Dram class had hoped for? The Laramie Project is a dramatic, moving play about the beating and death of a young gay man named Matthew Shepard. It is based on a real event that took place in Laramie, Wyoming, in 1998. The play itself is compiled from interviews with Laramie residents, as well as journal entries of the Tectonic Theatre Company—the group that originally scripted and put the play together. As well as the horrific murder around which it centers, The Laramie Project is also about the opinions of the townspeople, and the national and global response to a violent hate crime. We conducted interviews with students and staff who saw the production, to see if the Laramie Project had any lasting effect on them. Everyone interviewed said that they left the play, “depressed but uplifted.” Isaiah Sterret said it was, “poignant, brave and honest,” and Mr. Whitwam said, “It’s a sad story, but it was written and produced by a group of people who gave a lot of those silenced a voice.” Most people thought the play was well-directed, brilliantly acted, and were, as Isaiah put it, “impressed that high school students were as able to put on that type of show as they were.” But what about its lasting effect on the campus? Sara Myers, Vice President of Aptos High’s G.S.A. says, “I don’t think it did have a lasting effect, because everyone who saw it was already interested in the subject. The rest of the kids—the ones ho should have seen it—didn’t go.” Mr. Whitwam agrees, adding, “students—and people in general—live in the moment. Unfortunately, they have probably forgotten about it by now.” ...