Production Case Study: The Laramie Project

Episode 194: Production Case Study: The Laramie Project In 2014 drama teacher Zach Schneider produced The Laramie Project in Casper, Wyoming. Not only is Zach from Casper, he grew up with Matthew Shepard. When he asked his students how many of them had heard of Matthew Shepard, almost none of them raise their hands. Listen in to hear to hear Zach’s experience with this unique and emotional production. Show Notes The Laramie Project Drama Teacher Academy Episode Transcript Welcome to the Drama Teacher Podcast brought to you by Theatrefolk – the Drama Teacher Resource Company. I’m Lindsay Price. Hello! I hope you're well. Thanks for listening! This is Episode 194 and you can find any links to this episode in the show notes which are at Theatrefolk.com/episode194. Now, this is one of these episodes that really speaks for itself and I want to get to it as quickly as possible. We’re going to talk about The Laramie Project and our guest today has quite a unique perspective with the piece and with Matthew Shepard. We’re also going to talk about some strategies to producing the play and avoiding some of the common pitfalls. All right, that’s it. That’s all I got. Let’s get to it. LINDSAY: I am here with Zach Schneider. Hi Zach! ZACH: Hello! LINDSAY: We are at the International Thespian Festival so we have a little bit of excited din in the air. It’s impossible to get away from. ZACH: I don’t think you can go anywhere and get away from some of it. LINDSAY: But that’s okay. It just gives us a nice background sound for our wonderful sound guy to deal with. ZACH: Sure. LINDSAY: How long have you been a teacher? ZACH: I will be starting my ninth-year teaching in Casper, Wyoming, next schoolyear. My eighth year at Natrona County High School. LINDSAY: Why did you become a drama teacher? ZACH: It’s funny. I didn’t set out to become a drama teacher. I wanted to be a performer in high school and in college. At that point, that was the only track that a lot of people hear about is performing. I had some life stuff happen and had a child very early and decided I would do the next thing that I loved in high school and that was journalism because it pays so much better. And so, I worked at the newspaper in Casper for about eight years before I decided to become a teacher. The drama position opened up at my old high school and the theatre teacher across town said, “You need to take this.” I’d been active in our community theatre and so I just kind of fell into it. LINDSAY: We’re here to talk about a specific production but that leads me to another question which I know all of our listeners are drama teachers and many of them are walking into classrooms exactly the way that you did – not at the beginning of their career but coming from something else. ZACH: Sure. Yes. LINDSAY: What was it like your first year just walking into that classroom? It’s such a different experience. ZACH: Well, you know, my school is really unique. It was built in 1924. It’s this amazing architectural style called Collegiate Gothic. Our auditorium is beautiful. Well, when I walked in, it was 90 years old and it was showing its age. It has wonderful crown molding and carvings around the proscenium arch and it just has this wonderful feel. When I walked in, it was coming back home because I was a member of the Thespian Troupe there. We were Thespian Troupe Number 1.