American Stage Performs Simultaneous Reading of LARAMIE PROJECT With 100 American Theatres 10/12

Producing Artistic Director Todd Olson today announced that American Stage Theatre Company will present the groundbreaking LARAMIE PROJECT with its new Epilogue simultaneously in a historic event that joins over 100 theaters around the country. The American Stage performance is Monday, October 12, beginning precisely at 7:30 p.m.

"American Stage is proud to be a part of this incredible project with Moisés Kaufman and our fellow theatres around the nation with this performance of the Tectonic Theater Project's powerful tribute to Matthew Shepard," said Olson.

THE LARAMIE PROJECT will be performed in a simultaneous reading led by Tectonic Theater Project in New York at the Lincoln Center and over 100 other theaters in all fifty states, including American Stage.

With the new Epilogue, Tectonic Theater Project returned to Wyoming to focus on the long-term effects of the murder of Matthew Shepard on the town of Laramie. It explores how the town has changed and how the murder continues to reverberate in the community. The play also includes new interviews with Matthew's mother Judy Shepard and Mathew's murderer Aaron McKinney, who's serving two consecutive life sentences. The writers also conducted many follow-up interviews Laramie residents from the original piece. The highly acclaimed original text of THE LARAMIE PROJECT has been one of the most performed plays in America since 2000 and made into a movie by HBO.

In tandem with preparations for the premiere of the Epilogue, an online interactive community has been launched where collaborating theaters and universities can blog, upload video and photos and share their stories about the play, experiences in preparing and presenting the Epilogue in their communities. For more information about the online community, please go to www.laramieproject.org.

The 2009-10 season opens on Sept. 19 with the next chapter in the theatre's August Wilson "Century Cycle", FENCES, playing thru Oct. 11. American Stage is the only regional professional equity theatre of its size to commit to mounting all ten of preeminent African-American playwright August Wilson's award winning plays.

American Stage Theatre Company is a not-for-profit professional theatre founded in 1977. The company's mission is to create the most satisfying live theatre in the Tampa Bay area, accessible to all members of the community. Their vision is to preserve the
greatest human stories from our past, while creating the most defining stories and
storytelling of our time. American Stage presents its six play Mainstage Series on its brand new 182-seat Raymond James Theatre each year. The very popular American Stage in the Park celebrates its 25th Anniversary year. The theatre's other programming includes: After Hours Series, School Tour, and classes and summer camp for children. The Hough Family Foundation is the season sponsor, Raymond James is the Mainstage sponsor, Bank of America is the education partner and WUSF 89.7 is the radio sponsor of American Stage.

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