Jackrabbit goes to Duke: the sequel!

This last Thursday and Friday I was back in Durham, NC to talk to the cast of Duke University's production of The Laramie Project, mostly to talk about the production and spend some time with whomever had the time to stop by and chat with me the Friday before finals began.  I had a couple of great conversations with four of the cast members, had an opportunity to explore a tiny bit of Duke's enormous campus, and even attend a get-together at Duke's LGBT resource center (which is a-MA-zing!!!) while I was there. Then, after I had to run, I ran to Trader Joe's for some groceries (and some Two-buck Chuck), promptly locked my keys and wallet in my trunk, and then had a nice, quiet time watching the sun set over a strip mall as I sat on the trunk of my car waiting for the locksmith to show up.  After a lazy drive back to my home in Appalachia, I slept till eleven the next day.

So, how was my trip overall?  Well, it was great, really.  

Now that I've had a chance to talk to actually run by some of my thoughts on the production past the cast and ask a few questions, I'm going to be writing a series of posts on my first viewing of TLP since the reading of Ten Years Later back in 2009. I'd especially like to take some time to discuss how this play can look in different theater configurations and how an over-arching philosophy driving a production can do wonders for a performance.  Thanks so much, each of you, for keeping me company and sharing a little piece of your lives with me last week, and I can't wait to share the fruits of that trip with you shortly.

But there's one catch:  I need your help on this one, everybody.  Human truth is ultimately found, I believe, in dialogue, and since you know your personal experiences better than I do, I would absolutely love your feedback--  particularly because I've only really had a chance to really talk with about 20% of you all, and all your voices count.  By all means, feel free to comment, correct, disagree, or whatever you like as we go along! 

And, as always, thanks to Jules Odendahl-James and the cast and crew of TLP for letting me in on the fun.  I can't wait to read your final blog entries.

--Jackrabbit