The Otterbein University Department of Theatre and Dance will be presenting “The Laramie Project” as its first production of the spring 2025 semester.
The show will run from Feb. 20-23 and Feb. 27 to March 1 at the Fritsche Theatre in Cowan Hall. Tickets are free for students, faculty and staff, and can be reserved at the box office or online through a QR code found on campus posters.
“The Laramie Project” was created by Moisés Kaufman and the Tectonic Theatre Project after the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming. Shepard was an openly gay student at the University of Wyoming who was targeted and tortured because of his sexuality. The members of the Tectonic Theatre Project went to Laramie and interviewed the townspeople, whose exact words are repeated in the play.
“Laramie itself is a fantastic play, and it is a huge challenge for our actors,” said Elizabeth Saltzgiver, the managing director. She said that the verbatim theater style is unique, referring to the method used by the Tectonic Theatre Project where the script is directly taken from their interviews.
Naomi Eason, a junior acting major, plays seven different characters throughout the show and said that it is unique but “a fun experience.”
“It wasn’t so much about making them super perfected; it was more about making them different from each other,” Eason said.
Quinn Seevers, also a junior acting major, plays eight characters in the show and was able to prepare for this in a previous summer production where they played 13 different roles.
“It’s a really different kind of acting method technique to seamlessly switch between two people and to fully embody more than one, completely different people,” Seevers said.
“The Laramie Project” is unique in more than just its style. It also sheds light on the reality of hate crimes and community response to them.
“The context has changed a little bit, but this play is still relevant. Queer and trans people are still threatened for the, I guess, ‘sin’ of living truthfully and authentically. ..." Seevers said. "As a queer person, it’s a scary time to exist, and that’s why Laramie is so important."
Seevers said that Otterbein has generally been a safe environment for them, and they hope it continues to be that way.
However, LGBTQ+ individuals are more likely to be victims of stalking than their cisgender and heterosexual peers. One in 17 of all undergraduate students experience stalking, and one in seven transgender and nonbinary or genderqueer undergraduate students experience stalking.
Susan Wismar is Otterbein’s sexual violence prevention specialist and co-wrote the 2025 Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Violence, which assesses students' opinions of the campus environment.
“When we make spaces safe and accommodating for sexual minorities, like queer students—for our gay, lesbian, bi, pan friends—that makes it a sexually safer space for hetero people,” Wismar said. “When we make it safe for the most targeted, we make it safer for everybody.”
For the individuals participating in "The Laramie Project," they hope students will see the relevancy the piece brings.
“I’ve seen a lot of comments and maybe more pointed things towards trans students for sure, especially since the election. It’s been very mask off, 'we can say what we want, we can do what we want,' which is a little frightening,” Eason said. “I’m hoping that people will just come see the show to get their INST credit and leave kind of with their eyes opened.”
