5.29.11
This is an Archival Site
There is now a new Rogovoy Report home
5.18.11
Weekend Preview May 19-24
Bob Dylan tributes, Deborah Voigt, Tom Paxton, Bill Kirchen, John Kirk and Trish Miller
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Celebrating Bob Dylan's 70th Birthday in Style
Paying tribute to the greatest rock songwriter ever
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FILM REVIEW: In a Better World and Of Gods and Men
Review by Seth Rogovoy
5.17.11
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5.12.11
Deborah Voigt Headlines Mahaiwe Gala
Opera star to sing arias, show tunes on Saturday, May 21
5.15.11
Famed Spiritual Teacher to Speak on Nonviolence
Mother Maya in free talk at Sruti Yoga in Great Barrington, Mass., on Friday May 20 at 7pm
5.12.11
Special Effects Wizard to Be Honored by Film Festival
Doug Trumbull to be Feted by BIFF
5.11.11
Weekend Preview May 12-16
Cultural Highlights of the Berkshire Weekend
6.4.09
Talk about a small world
Elaine and I grew up together, but only just recently met....
5.8.11
Berkshire Living to Cease Publication
A Farewell from Publisher Michael Zivyak
5.8.11
twiGs Branches Out
Lenox boutique launches new e-tail site
5.8.11
[MUSIC REVIEW] Avalon Quartet in Close Encounters at Mahaiwe
Review by Seth Rogovoy
5.8.11
[MUSIC REVIEW] Avalon Quartet in Close Encounters at Mahaiwe
Review by Seth Rogovoy
5.7.11
[FILM REVIEW] Bill Cunningham New York
Review by Seth Rogovoy
5.7.11
[FILM REVIEW] Bill Cunningham New York
Review by Seth Rogovoy
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The Laramie Project Diaries: Chapter Four
10.11.09
by Seth Rogovoy
(Sunday, October 11, 2009) - As I drove home from today's five-hour rehearsal of The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later (An Epilogue) in an unheated storefront on Fenn Street, truly chilled to the bone (first thing I did when I got home was to immerse myself in a tub of hot water, and upon drying immediately donned long johns to keep in the heat) as I spent nearly the entire five hours standing right in front of the door, which offered little protection from the chilly outside air, I heard an extensive report on National Public Radio about today's rally for gay rights in Washington D.C.
It's like the universe was trying to tell me something.
Or rather, my antenna are highly attuned now to paying attention to this story.
After three days of immersion in the story of the lynching of Matthew Shepard and the aftermath in Laramie, Wyoming, and around the nation, the characters have fully come alive.
I haven't written much in this diary about the content of the play itself, or the issues surrounding it. It is such a huge topic, and I fear to address it for failing to do it justice or just skimming the surface. Plus I don't want to give away any spoilers to the theatrical event taking place on Monday, October 12, at Barrington Stage in Pittsfield, Mass., at 3 and 7.
There was one truly chilling (emotionally speaking -- there were dozens of other chilling moments, but that had to do with the temperature in the room) moment for me in today's rehearsal. Actually, there were several -- a few performances really moved me, but again, I don't want to mention them for fear of putting actors and potential playgoers on the spot.
But there is a moment in the play when one of the characters is discussing the very play we are staging with one of Matthew Shepard's two convicted killers (both are alive and in prison), and the killer says he'd like to read the script of the play when it is finished.
At that moment, I realized that this killer could very well be sitting in his cell, reading the very text that we will be acting out tomorrow on BSC's Mainstage.
I shivered as I felt just one degree or at most two degrees of separation from this person. And I realized at that moment how important the work is that we are doing here, and how important it is that all of you reading this find the time to come to one of our productions on Monday afternoon or evening.
Tomorrow the work we've been doing since Friday culminates in the performances. We're due at the theater to be ready to run the play at 11 a.m., which will give us a bit of time to grab lunch before the matinee. It's going to be a long, long day, but I have no doubt that being on that stage, with everyone in the cast in top form, in front of a theater filled to capacity for both shows, will make the effort expended by this weekend by the cast and crew -- all of whom are donating their time and expertise -- all worth it.
And I am privileged to have been allowed in, and humbled to be allowed to play a small role in the proceedings.
Seth Rogovoy is Berkshire Living's award-winning editor and cultural critic.
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