For the first play at the Oakville Centre of 2022, West End Studio Theatre (WEST) is presenting a free live stream of Moisés Kaufman's The Laramie Project - a docudrama about the true story of a tragedy in Wyoming.
The show premieres tonight, Wednesday, February 16, 2022, and will first show as a free to watch live stream from the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts before being presented live, again at the Oakville Centre, later in April this year when full audiences are allowed once again.
This production marks the first time the play is being presented in Halton Region (aside from two productions done at local high schools) and features a local cast with several veteran actors from the company, and as WEST artistic director Yo Mustafa describes it, "it's just fantastic theatre."
First premiered in 2000, The Laramie Project is play formally credited to author/director Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project. The story is about the reactions to the 1998 murder of gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming. Mustafa says he chose the The Laramie Project "because it is an important story to tell."
"We have not come that far with our attitudes not just towards homosexuals but also about how people are handling hatred. That's why it's so important we tell the story of Matthew Shepherd."
The play's live stream from the Oakville Centre main stage tonight at 8:00 p.m. EST. While the show is free to watch, a small $2.95 service fee is required to access the live stream at home which helps cover the filming cost.
If you can't see the live stream tonight, there are two other ways to see the show:
- The play will be available through website Broadway on Demand, also for a $2.95 fee, this weekend from Feb. 18-20, 2022
- Live performances of this same production will take place the weekend of April 22-24, 2022 live from the Studio Theatre, also at the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts
WEST, as a production company in Oakville over 40 years, is making some radical changes to their playbill and productions in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mustafa says that this show is the beginning of their new initiative to produce more intimate and small-scale shows in Oakville.
"This is the type of theatre that we want WEST to present," he says. "We want to make more alternative theatre, more small-cast shows, and more profound theatre than what defined us in the former Oakville Drama Series. I love what we did, but with shows like The Laramie Project goes back to the roots of what made WEST when we started."
Mustafa finishes by saying, "Halton needs more of this kind of theatre." This is true - with more plays like this, and following last year's closure of the Knockout Theatre Company, WEST will be the only company in Oakville dedicated to producing this scale of theatre in town.
More information about The Laramie Project is available online here.