Essential Questions:
What is an essential question? An essential question is – well, essential: important, vital, at the heart of the matter – the essence of the issue.
A question is essential when it:
The Essential Questions for The Laramie Project:
Source: http://www.authenticeducation.org/ae_bigideas/article.lasso?artid=53
What is an essential question? An essential question is – well, essential: important, vital, at the heart of the matter – the essence of the issue.
A question is essential when it:
- causes genuine and relevant inquiry into the big ideas and core content;
- provokes deep thought, lively discussion, sustained inquiry, and new understanding as well as more questions;
- requires students to consider alternatives, weigh evidence, support their ideas, and justify their answers;
- stimulates vital, on-going rethinking of big ideas, assumptions, and prior lessons;
- sparks meaningful connections with prior learning and personal experiences;
- naturally recurs, creating opportunities for transfer to other situations and subjects.
The Essential Questions for The Laramie Project:
- “Does everything depend on perspective, or are there some universal ideas on right and wrong?”
- “Who is responsible for actions or beliefs: the individual of the community?”
- “What’s the difference between hate crimes and other crimes? How should they be addressed?”
Source: http://www.authenticeducation.org/ae_bigideas/article.lasso?artid=53
What is a Docudrama?
The docudrama is a fact-based representation of real events. Unlike other forms of drama, the docudrama tries to represent the truth of an event that really happened. To think of it in another way, you might say that a docudrama is a nonfiction play.
The Laramie Project is a docudrama. It was written as if it were an actual documentary. Moisés Kaufman took his group, Tectonic Theater Project, to Laramie, Wyoming, to gather interviews concerning the murder of Matthew Shepard. This was a real event, and the interviews were given by real citizens of Laramie, where the murder occurred. The point of the play was to present the reactions of the people of Laramie to this horrendous crime. Kaufman believed that a reflection of this event by the people involved would provide a vehicle for discussion about homosexuality and hate crimes around the world. In order to accurately present the information that he and his troupe had gathered, Kaufman created the illusion of reality by formatting his play not as a fictional story, but rather as a reenactment of the interviews. The fictional, or artistic, part of the play was in how Kaufman pulled all this information together and made it tell a story. There were few props in the play, and only a handful of actors to play the multiple roles. The material was grouped according to themes that were used to build up the tension in the play. In a few cases, some of the Laramie residents asked that their names not be used, but overall, real names were used. And much of the dialogue came from the recorded interviews.
The docudrama is a fact-based representation of real events. Unlike other forms of drama, the docudrama tries to represent the truth of an event that really happened. To think of it in another way, you might say that a docudrama is a nonfiction play.
The Laramie Project is a docudrama. It was written as if it were an actual documentary. Moisés Kaufman took his group, Tectonic Theater Project, to Laramie, Wyoming, to gather interviews concerning the murder of Matthew Shepard. This was a real event, and the interviews were given by real citizens of Laramie, where the murder occurred. The point of the play was to present the reactions of the people of Laramie to this horrendous crime. Kaufman believed that a reflection of this event by the people involved would provide a vehicle for discussion about homosexuality and hate crimes around the world. In order to accurately present the information that he and his troupe had gathered, Kaufman created the illusion of reality by formatting his play not as a fictional story, but rather as a reenactment of the interviews. The fictional, or artistic, part of the play was in how Kaufman pulled all this information together and made it tell a story. There were few props in the play, and only a handful of actors to play the multiple roles. The material was grouped according to themes that were used to build up the tension in the play. In a few cases, some of the Laramie residents asked that their names not be used, but overall, real names were used. And much of the dialogue came from the recorded interviews.
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A) Questions about the Play
Questions to Answer: Choose one question from each act to answer fully (at least one paragraph/question). Remember to use specific quotes from the play in order to support your thinking. When using in-text citation, use MLA formatting (Kaufman 12) (Author & page number).
**Note: page numbers in brackets (below) reference the new text: The Laramie Project and The Laramie Project Ten Years Later
Act 1
1. Why do you think the interviewers / actors from the Tectonic Theater Company decided to include themselves as actual character in the play? How does this change the story being told? Why didn't they just include comments from actual residents of Laramie?
2. Why do you think the graphic description of finding Matthew tied to a fence and struggling for life is included in this play? Why do you think they did not choose to have a character playing Matthew in the play so we could see and understand the actual circumstances of his death?
Act 2
1. Select one passage from ACT II that reflects character development. Explain why you've chosen that passage, what that passage tells us about the character, and why that character is important to the play as a whole.
2. What role do the religious figures play in Act II? Consider the Baptist Minister and Father Roger Schmitt. Why would the playwrights include these interviews in the play?
3. What theme does Doc O’Connor help the reader explore in his quote on page 72 (69) about hope? What is Doc O’Connor telling us about hope?
4. Does the media have a positive, negative or neutral role on the Laramie community? How do we know this?
5. One of our essential questions is “Who is responsible for actions or beliefs: the individual or the community?” Find a passage from Act II that helps us to answer this question. In the space below, write the quote, the page number, the person who said it, and what it tells the reader about the role of the individual vs. the community.
6. The playwrights include an email on page 56 (53) from an anonymous email writer. What role does this email play in answering the essential questions, “What’s the difference between hate crimes and other crimes? How should they be addressed?” (THINK: Definition of a hate crime)
Act 3
1. Select one passage from Act III that reflects character development. Explain why you've chosen that passage, what that passage tells us about the character, and why that character is important to the play as a whole.
2. In Act III, we see a lot of characters evolve, grow, or show a change in thinking through the interview process. Name at least one character who has shown a change in thinking. Write the passage and page number that tells us this character has grown, and explain HOW this character has changed.
3. On page 86 (83), the playwrights include an interview from Rob Debree. Read this interview and explain WHY this passage is significant to the play. What theme is Rob exploring?
4. One of our essential questions was “Who is responsible for actions or beliefs: the individual of the community?” Find a passage from Act III that helps us to answer this question. In the space below, write the quote, the page number, the person who said it, and what it tells the reader about the role of the individual vs. the community.
5. The final act of a play is meant to sum up everything you've read – it’s meant to bring closure to the reader. Reference the essential question: “Does everything depend on perspective, or are there some universal ideas on right and wrong?” What characters or scenes do we read about in Act III that help us to answer this question? (HINT: Read about Jed Schultz or Rev. Fred Phelps!)
B) Reflective Journal
Write three reflective personal responses to the play (one per act).
In your journal you may want to identify and interpret thematic ideas, examine the effects of intolerance in situations depicted in literature and found in real life; identify and interpret conflict; make connections among literary themes and historical, social, and cultural issues and events, discuss and explain connections between literature and self; reflect on character development.
You should also take note of the following document: Close Reading and Signposts for hints about writing your journal entries.
Write three reflective personal responses to the play (one per act).
In your journal you may want to identify and interpret thematic ideas, examine the effects of intolerance in situations depicted in literature and found in real life; identify and interpret conflict; make connections among literary themes and historical, social, and cultural issues and events, discuss and explain connections between literature and self; reflect on character development.
You should also take note of the following document: Close Reading and Signposts for hints about writing your journal entries.
C) Sociogram --Analyzing Character & Character Motivation
What is it? A sociogram is a visual representation of the relationships among characters in a literary text, which allows you to visualize the relationships and conflicts between and among the story's characters. You will make use of pictures, symbols, shapes, colors, and line styles to illustrate these relationships.
YOUR TASK: Create a Laramie Sociogram that represents the relationships among at least ten characters from the play (there are thirty-three listed). Matthew Shepard must be the central figure in this sociogram and is not to be considered one of the ten characters for your sociogram.
Please see the two documents below for more information on creating your sociogram
YOUR TASK: Create a Laramie Sociogram that represents the relationships among at least ten characters from the play (there are thirty-three listed). Matthew Shepard must be the central figure in this sociogram and is not to be considered one of the ten characters for your sociogram.
Please see the two documents below for more information on creating your sociogram
“No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.”
― Stanisław Jerzy Lec