On Thursday, February 12, Andy Paris, one of the five playwrights of The Laramie Project and The Laramie Project : Ten Years Later, paid a visit to the MFS cast of his latter play (full disclosure: this writer is part of the cast).  Paris spent three hours with the actors doing “moment work.”  A “moment” is a scene constructed from a certain point in time to tell a specific story or part of a story.  Since The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later is in the “moments” format, the workshop was helpful to the actors.

When asked about the intention of the workshop, Paris said, “I was looking for a sense of people thinking about the different elements that tell a story and feeling empowered by knowing their goals.”  In accordance with this mission, Paris had the cast members create a list of the “Elements of the Stage” so that they had a sense of all of the tools available to them as actors that go beyond the text.

In addition to that list, the cast members did a series of group moment work under Paris’s direction in order to put their new knowledge to the test.  Paris spoke to the importance of working as a cast.  “I think that a group of people who are working together and are aware of each other and their surroundings is a powerful element on the stage.”

Paris will attend opening night of the show on Friday, March 6, and will answer questions from the audience.