The Laramie Project
Kit Live, Amsterdam – 2025
Orange Theatre Company presents The Laramie Project — a moving, physical, and urgent new take on an American theatre classic, staged in the Netherlands for the very first time.
The Laramie Project, Moisés Kaufman and the Tectonic Theatre Project’s groundbreaking play about the aftermath of a hate crime that shocked the world. This story will have its Dutch premiere at KIT Live Theatre, Oosterpark, from November 13–23.
The Laramie Project tells the story of a small town forced to reckon with itself after the brutal 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay university student in Laramie, Wyoming. He was tied to a fence, beaten, and left to die and it became one of the most infamous hate crimes in modern American history, igniting an international conversation about prejudice, justice, and compassion.
In the months that followed, members of New York’s Tectonic Theater Project, led by playwright Moisés Kaufman, traveled to Laramie to conduct more than 200 interviews with local residents, from friends and family to police officers, ministers, and bartenders. From those voices, they created a remarkable piece of documentary theatre: a tapestry of testimonies that captures both the depths of human cruelty and the resilience of community spirit.
Now, more than 25 years later, Orange Theatre Company presents a new adaptation by Kiefer Lloyd, directed by Shane Dempsey, marking The Laramie Project’s first-ever production in the Netherlands. Known for its bold, English-language productions that challenge and connect Amsterdam’s international community, OTC brings its signature blend of intimacy and innovation to this unforgettable story.
"Bringing this story to Amsterdam feels both necessary and hopeful,” says the OTC team.
"The staging created a sense of accumulation rather than spectacle. Details were layered rather than spotlighted, gathered until the space felt weighted with what the town had said, done, and denied. The structure lets the audience hold certainty and uncertainty at the same time; we know the crime, but we’re still searching for the forces that allowed it to happen. It’s a subtle and deliberate tension" – Artstalk Magazine / Jay Mansilla
"Shane Dempsey's tight direction perfectly complements the documentary nature of the piece. Short fragments are interrupted by harsh lighting changes and emphatic movements of the actors onstage. The film is constantly cutting, as it were. The actors also deftly alternate in their performances. Thus, the many characters and diverse settings weave together like a fluid montage." – Theaterkrant /Jane Stuhlmacher
"The acting is unanimously excellent: eight actors switch effortlessly and convincingly between dozens of roles. The staging is deliberately simple: eight chairs form the heart of the "chair choreography," complemented by blackboards displaying powerful one-liners and names" – theaterparadijs
