Body of Work

LARAMIE PROJECT TOUCHES A NERVE
(excerpt)
July 20, 2001, Celia Baker, The Salt Lake Tribune

Plan-B has a reputation for producing socially conscious theater, but hasn't found a broad audience in the past. That may be changing.

Bringing the play to this community with actors nurtured here personalizes the sad story for Salt Lake City.

This production has one direct link to events in Laramie. Jedadiah Schultz, an acting student at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, was interviewed for the play. He plays himself, along with several other characters. Schultz gives strong, engaging performances in all of his roles; he's an actor of promise.

The original production of The Laramie Project was a slick, multi-media affair that employed video screens and sophisticated sound and lighting effects. Plan-B's version strips the play to its theatrical bones, but with little loss of impact. Randy Rasmussen's set design is a stylization of Western sky and prairie; an effort to create lighting effects from behind the painted backdrops looks amateurish.

Rapier has a good sense for stage movement, and keeps the action running with a rapid-fire procession of sequences; actors step from one characterization to another with alacrity.

The Laramie Project is theater with the power to create civic dialogue in areas that are often avoided.