The Laramie Project 10 years Later

Be sure to see "The Laramie Project: Ten Years later" at South Puget Sound Community College.

What is the "Laramie Project?"

A month after the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, the members of Tectonic Theater Project traveled to Laramie and conducted interviews with the people of the town. From these interviews they wrote the play The Laramie Project, which has become one of the most performed plays in America in the last decade. The company later made the play into a film for HBO. The play and the movie combined have been seen by more than 50 million people around the world.

Why did they want to return in 2008?

The murder of Matthew Shepard had such seismic impact on this small town in America, that the company wanted to try to observe what, if any, were the long lasting effects of such a crime. How does a town look like 10 years after an episode of this magnitude? Have the attitudes changed? The mythologies? Has change occurred that's concrete and lasting?

For those reasons, the group returned to re-interview past participants, conduct new interviews with Laramie residents and most dramatically, interview Judy Shepard and Aaron McKinney (Matthew Shepard's murderer).

SPSCC Production

The South Puget Sound Community College is doing a student production under the direction of Don Welch. The show runs August 5-7 and August 12-14 at 8:00pm and August 8 and 15 at 2:00pm at the Kenneth J Minnaert Center for the Arts at SPSCC campus. Doors open at 7:00 pm, and PFLAG-Olympia will be tabling at the event before each performance except the Aug. 8 matinee when we'll be having our annual picnic in Priest Point Park.

Picnic update

What are you bringing to the picnic?

Here's what we have so far:

Gloria - cake
Catherine - potato salad
Virgil - condiments, ice soft drinks
Alec & Gabi - corn tortillo casserole
Bill - cheese & crackers, finger foods selection

http://pflag-olympia.org/picnic.html

Our annual picnic Aug. 8

Yahoo! It's time for our annual picnic. It a pot luck picnic in Priest Point Park kitchen #3 (see our website for a map)from 1-4 p.m. Everybody's invited. Bring friends and family members.

Nobody has to bring food, but if you can, please do. We will not be using the grill, so we ask those who bring food to bring dishes that don't have to be cooked -- casseroles, desserts, snack food. To avoid the possibility of everybody bringing the same thing, we ask that you let us know what you're going to bring and we will post a list on our website of who's bringing what and what we need. That way you can check to see what others are bringing. We'll update the list immediately when we get notices from you.

For starters, we will need covered dish meals of any kind -- pasta, salads, etc. -- desserts, bread or rolls, disposable dishes, silverware, and napkins.

If you have questions or want to let us know what you can bring, email webmaster@pflag-olympia.org or newsletter @pflag-olympia.org and watch this blog and the website for updates.

Note: The picnic takes the place of the regular monthly meeting.

Anyone and Everyone

Please join us at the next meeting of PFLAG-Olympia for a screening of the film "Anyone and Everyone."

"Anyone and Everyone is a moving and beautiful portrayal of the love between parents and children, and the work some parents are willing to do for the sake of that love."
--Bent Lens Cinema


"... a moving documentary of American families' most heart-wrenching and heartwarming moments."
--Keith York, KPBS Director of TV Programming

Connected by having a son or daughter who is gay, parents across the country discuss their experiences in the documentary "Anyone and Everyone." In it, filmmaker Susan Polis Schutz, depicts families from all walks of life. Individuals from such diverse backgrounds as Japanese, Bolivian, and Cherokee, as well as from various religious denominations such as Mormon, Jewish, Roman Catholic, Hindu, and Southern Baptist, share intimate accounts of how their children revealed their sexual orientation and discuss their responses.

The parents also talk about struggling with the pain of their sons and daughters dealing with not being accepted by relatives or friends, and being ostracized by religious congregations.

PFLAG-Olympia meets every 2nd Sunday at First United Methodist Church in Olympia. Our next meeting is Sunday, July 11 from 2-4:30 p.m. We will start the film at approximately 3:15. (It's 57 minutes long; that will leave us about 15 minutes for a post-film discussion.) Guests are welcome to attend the entire meeting or just come for the film and discussion. For more information, visit out website at www.pflag-olympia.org. For more on the film visit http://www.anyoneandeveryone.com/