On the Road With Laramie

Click here to read the first installment of Greg Pierotti's biweekly road journal, "On the Road With Laramie." 

What a relaxing first rehearsal it was. Here, three of the writers — Moisés Kaufman, Leigh Fondakowski, and I — listen to Mercedes Herrero (in hat) tell a story about her new baby, Xavier, who will be coming on the road with us.Moisés, at left, is directing The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later; Leigh Fondakowski, center, is directing The Laramie Project; and I, (drinking coffee as usual), will be acting in both.

Two weeks later, I am less relaxed. In fact, I am completely freaking out. We are working on part 2. We’re almost halfway through the rehearsal process, and I am wondering how we are ever going to get it all done.

Of course, it’s always like this in our theater company. Ten years ago, on the very day of the world premiere of The Laramie Project at the Denver Center, we rewrote and restaged so much that I had to post a scene list in the wings so the actors could figure out where and who we were supposed to be next. That went pretty well, so I am hoping that our track record is an indication that a bit of chaos is good for the work.

If it is, then this is going to be a really great show, because it’s nothing but chaos right now. I have spoken so many versions of so many scenes that I no longer know which version I am in. If I’m saying the right words, I am standing in the wrong place. If I’m standing in the right place, I am saying the wrong words. If by some miracle I am saying the right words in the right place, I have no idea what any of it means.