Foothill College Stages "The Laramie Project"

The Foothill College Theatre Arts Department presents The Laramie Project Nov. 4–20 in the Lohman Theatre at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills. Directed by Foothill Theatre Arts Instructor Lauri Smith, the play spotlights the 1998 kidnapping, torture and murder of gay college student Matthew Shepard near Laramie, Wyoming. Shortly after Shepard’s death, playwright Moisés Kaufman and fellow members New York’s Tectonic Theater Project traveled to Laramie, and over the course of the next year, conducted more than 200 interviews with townspeople. From these interviews the troupe wrote The Laramie Project, which chronicles the life of a town torn apart by the notorious hate crime.

Evening performances are Nov. 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 17, 18 and 19 at 8 p.m. Sunday matinees will be presented Nov. 13 and 20 at 2 p.m.

About The Laramie Project, Mike Kuchwara of the Associated Press wrote, “Astonishing. Not since Angels In America has a play attempted so much: nothing less than an examination of the American psyche at the end of the millennium.”

Foothill’s production of The Laramie Project features Gilly Kelleher and Sarah Lee of Cupertino; Jeremy Griffith and Richard Medugno of Fremont; Alison Koch of Los Altos; Brooke Milos of Menlo Park; Joshua Krumbein of Mountain View; Avi Tutman, Eri Nakamura and Will Marsden of Palo Alto; Lori Grass of Portola Valley; Anna Rubchinskaya of Redwood City; Georgie Anaya, Jessica Do, Mason Nguyen and Nick Mandracchia of San Jose; Hayley Thirlwall and Taylor Sanders of San Mateo; Everett Dailey of Santa Clara; Tyler Della of South San Francisco; and Jeremy Ryan, Nobuko Kimura, Phil Talsky, Pratiksha Shah and Sarah Benjamin of Sunnyvale. The show includes scenic design by Carlos Aceves, costume design by Julie Engelbrecht and lighting design by Brendan Kierans.

Tickets are $16, general admission; $12, seniors, students and Foothill-De Anza employees; and $8, students with OwlCard and Foothill staff who purchase tickets in person. All tickets are $8 for the performance on Thursday, Nov. 10. Order tickets online at www.foothill.edu/theatre or purchase by phone by calling the Foothill College Box Office at (650) 949-7360.

Parking Lot 8 provides stair and no-stair access to the theatre. Patrons must purchase the required campus parking permit for $2. Purchase permit online at www.foothill.edu/theatre or at dispensers in any student lot. Dispensers accept one-dollar bills and quarters.

Foothill College is located off I-280 on El Monte Road in Los Altos Hills. For additional information, access www.foothill.edu or call (650) 949-7360.