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Article

Memory as Resistance in Documentary Drama The Laramie Project and The Exonerated

  1. University of Arkansas

Hacettepe University Journal of the Faculty of Letters, Volume 36, Issue 1 (2018) pp. 99–109

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Abstract

Focusing on major differences between nostalgic and documentary memory in contemporary plays, this paper argueshow The Laramie Project (2001) by Moises Kaufmann and The Exonerated (2002) by Jessica Blank and Eric Jensenreinvigorate the concept of memory as an alternative political stand on stage. Memory plays use historicaldocumentation as a forerunner of their dramatic material. In this respect, The Exonerated tells the story of sixwrongfully convicted death row inmates through testimonies of the freed convicts, court recordings, and otherdocuments. The Laramie Project belongs to another category of verbatim plays, which is still centered on editedinterviews and testimonies but it is characterized by the elimination of the protagonist. It reconstructs and rewrites thestory of brutally murdered Matthew Shepard to question this tragedy and disclose the reasons for his murder, butShepard himself is not represented as a character on stage. The Laramie Project is similar to The Exonerated, but theirmethodology and construction have fundamentally different incentives and elements. Their emphasis on identitypolitics and insistence upon a more extended public discussion of politics and social issues separates them from othergenres and trends. The way memory is stripped of its nostalgic layers in these documentary plays aims to foster a newunderstanding of dramatic constructions while challenging mainstream accounts and shifting to side of the silencedfigures. Although there is little overlap between the contents and messages of the plays, a key point in both of theseworks is their emphasis on current issues through a variety of memory forms. Their accent on harsh realities of historyis especially pronounced when audience members are invited to witness the flaws of our society. It might be awrongfully convicted person, a screened and scrutinized life of a transvestite, or a brutally murdered homosexual, butin the end, documentary drama shows us the urgent need to look back to understand the present. Our mistakes are allburied in the magical box of the past. They can be our guides for tomorrow as long as we do not glorify them.

Abstract (Turkish, translation)

Belgesel Tiyatroda Karşı Duruş olarak Bellek The Laramie Project ve The Exonerated

Çağdaş oyunlardaki nostaljik ve belgesel bellek farklılıkları üzerine yoğunlaşan bu makale, Moises Kaufmann’ın TheLaramie Project (2001) ve Jessica Blank ile Eric Jensen’ın The Exonerated (2002) adlı oyunlarının belleği nasıl biralternatif politik duruş haline getirdiğini incelemektedir. Bellek oyunları olarak adlandırılan bu metinler tarihseldökümantasyonu dramatik malzemelerinin öncüsü olarak kullanırlar. The Exonerated, örneğin hatalı yargılamasonucunda ölüm cezasına çarptırılmış altı mahkumun hikayesini mahkumların tanıklıklarından, mahkemekayıtlarından ve diğer belgelerden elde edilen malzemelerle anlatır. The Laramie Project, belgesel oyunların yinetemelini kurgulanmış röportajlardan ve tanıklıklardan alan bir başka kategorisinde yer alır ancak bir baş kahramanınmetinde olmaması bu oyunu tamamen farklı kılmaktadır. The Laramie Project, Matthem Shepard’ın hunharcaöldürülüşünün hikayesini bu trajediyi sorgulamak ve cinayetin sebeplerini bulmak için yeniden kurgulanmış ancakbunu Shepard karakteri olmaksızın yapmıştır. The Laramie Project, The Exonorated oyununu andırsa da her iki oyununda metodolojisi ve kurulumu birbirinden farklı sebep ve malzemelere sahiptir. Ancak kimlik politikalarına yaptıklarıvurgu ve politik ve sosyal meselelerin daha geniş bir kamusal tartışması üzerine ısrarları onları diğer türler ve akımlardan farklı kılmaktadır. Bu belgesel oyunlardaki bellek, nostaljik taraflarından sıyrılıp ana akım versiyonlarınıkarşısına alırken, sessiz yığınların lehine kullanılmıştır. Tarihin acımasız gerçeklerine yaptıkları vurgu, izleyicilerin debu haksızlıklara tanıklık etmeleri istendiğinde artmaktadır. Haksızlığa maruz kalan yanlışlıkla hapse atılan bir kişi veyaacımasızca öldürülen bir eşcinsel olabilir ama belgesel tiyatro bizlere bugünü anlamak için geçmişe bakmamızınyaşamsal aciliyetini gösterir. Bizim yanlışlarımız mazinin sihirli kutusunda gömülüdür. Yanlışlarımız bizim gelecekiçin rehberimiz olabilir tabii, onları yüceltmediğimiz sürece.

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References

  1. Bean, Christine Simonian. (2014). “Dramaturging the Truth in The Exonerated: Ethics, Counter-Text, and Activism in Documentary Theatre.” Theatre Topics, Volume 24, Number 3, September, pp. 187-197.
  2. Blank, Jessica. Eric Jensen. (2005). “The Uses of Empathy: Theatre and the Real World.” Theatre History Studies. June.
  3. Blank, Jessica. Erik Jensen. (2005). Living Justice: Love, Freedom, and the Making of the Exonerated. New York: Atria.
  4. Dolan, Jill. (2005). Utopia in Performance: Finding Hope at the Theater. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.
  5. Forsyth, Alison and Chris Megson, eds. (2009). Get Real: Documentary Theatre Past and Present. New York: Palgrave.
  6. Gaines, Jane. (1999). “Political Mimesis” in Collecting Visible Evidence, eds. Jane M. Gaines and Michael Renov. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
  7. Isolation in the US Federal Prison System. (2014). https://www.amnestyusa.org/files/amr510402014en.pdf Access Date: 10/12/2017.
  8. Innes, Christopher. (2007). “Towards a Post-Millennial Mainstream? Documents of the Times,” Modern Drama. 50.3.
  9. Kalb, Jonathan. (2001). “Documentary Solo Performance: The Politics of the Mirrored Self.” Theater, Volume 31, Number3, Fall.
  10. Kaufman, Moises, The Members of Tectonic Theatre Project (2001). The Laramie Project. New York: Vintage Books.
  11. Kuchwara, Michael. (2000). “The Laramie Project (Review),” Associated Press Online, 18 May.
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  13. Paget, Derek. (2008). “New Documentarism on Stage”. ZAA, 56.2.
  14. Paget, Derek. (2009). “‘The Broken Tradition’ of Documentary Theatre and Its Continued Powers of Endurance” In Get Real, Forsyth, A., Megson, C., eds. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
  15. Peter Marks. (2007). “Injustice Gone Insane”. Washington Post, June 21. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/20/AR2007062002432.html. Accessed on 3/12/2017.
  16. Rickman, Alan, and Katherine Viner, eds. (2008). My Name is Rachel Corrie: Taken From the Writings of Rachel Corrie. New York: Dramatists Play Service.
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  18. Su, John S. (2005). Ethics and Nostalgia in the Contemporary Novel. New York: Cambridge UP.
  19. Svich, Caridad. (2003). “Moises Kaufman: ‘Reconstructing History Through Theatre’ – An Interview.” Contemporary Theatre Review, Vol. 13(3), 67-72.
  20. Tigner, Amy L. (2002). “The Laramie Project: Western Pastoral.” Modern Drama. Vol. 45, Number 1, Spring.
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Cite this publication

APA 7

Gul, S. (2018). Memory as Resistance in Documentary Drama The Laramie Project and The Exonerated. Hacettepe University Journal of the Faculty of Letters, 36(1), 99–109. https://doi.org/10.32600/huefd.435820

BibTeX

@article{gul2018memory,
  author = {Gul, Sinan},
  title = {{Memory as Resistance in Documentary Drama The Laramie Project and The Exonerated}},
  journal = {Hacettepe University Journal of the Faculty of Letters},
  volume = {36},
  number = {1},
  pages = {99--109},
  publisher = {Hacettepe {\"U}niversitesi},
  year = {2018},
  month = {6},
  issn = {1301-5737},
  doi = {10.32600/huefd.435820},
  url = {https://hacettepe.hbtech.com.tr/en/publication/memory-as-resistance-in-documentary-drama-the-laramie-project-and-the-exonerated},
  language = {en},
  keywords = {Creative Arts and Writing},
  abstract = {Focusing on major differences between nostalgic and documentary memory in contemporary plays, this paper argueshow The Laramie Project (2001) by Moises Kaufmann and The Exonerated (2002) by Jessica Blank and Eric Jensenreinvigorate the concept of memory as an alternative political stand on stage. Memory plays use historicaldocumentation as a forerunner of their dramatic material. In this respect, The Exonerated tells the story of sixwrongfully convicted death row inmates through testimonies of the freed convicts, court recordings, and otherdocuments. The Laramie Project belongs to another category of verbatim plays, which is still centered on editedinterviews and testimonies but it is characterized by the elimination of the protagonist. It reconstructs and rewrites thestory of brutally murdered Matthew Shepard to question this tragedy and disclose the reasons for his murder, butShepard himself is not represented as a character on stage. The Laramie Project is similar to The Exonerated, but theirmethodology and construction have fundamentally different incentives and elements. Their emphasis on identitypolitics and insistence upon a more extended public discussion of politics and social issues separates them from othergenres and trends. The way memory is stripped of its nostalgic layers in these documentary plays aims to foster a newunderstanding of dramatic constructions while challenging mainstream accounts and shifting to side of the silencedfigures. Although there is little overlap between the contents and messages of the plays, a key point in both of theseworks is their emphasis on current issues through a variety of memory forms. Their accent on harsh realities of historyis especially pronounced when audience members are invited to witness the flaws of our society. It might be awrongfully convicted person, a screened and scrutinized life of a transvestite, or a brutally murdered homosexual, butin the end, documentary drama shows us the urgent need to look back to understand the present. Our mistakes are allburied in the magical box of the past. They can be our guides for tomorrow as long as we do not glorify them.},
  affiliation = {University of Arkansas}
}
.bib

RIS

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Gul, Sinan
TI  - Memory as Resistance in Documentary Drama The Laramie Project and The Exonerated
T2  - Hacettepe University Journal of the Faculty of Letters
VL  - 36
IS  - 1
PY  - 2018
DA  - 2018/06/23/
SP  - 99
EP  - 109
PB  - Hacettepe Üniversitesi
SN  - 1301-5737
DO  - 10.32600/huefd.435820
UR  - https://hacettepe.hbtech.com.tr/en/publication/memory-as-resistance-in-documentary-drama-the-laramie-project-and-the-exonerated
AB  - Focusing on major differences between nostalgic and documentary memory in contemporary plays, this paper argueshow The Laramie Project (2001) by Moises Kaufmann and The Exonerated (2002) by Jessica Blank and Eric Jensenreinvigorate the concept of memory as an alternative political stand on stage. Memory plays use historicaldocumentation as a forerunner of their dramatic material. In this respect, The Exonerated tells the story of sixwrongfully convicted death row inmates through testimonies of the freed convicts, court recordings, and otherdocuments. The Laramie Project belongs to another category of verbatim plays, which is still centered on editedinterviews and testimonies but it is characterized by the elimination of the protagonist. It reconstructs and rewrites thestory of brutally murdered Matthew Shepard to question this tragedy and disclose the reasons for his murder, butShepard himself is not represented as a character on stage. The Laramie Project is similar to The Exonerated, but theirmethodology and construction have fundamentally different incentives and elements. Their emphasis on identitypolitics and insistence upon a more extended public discussion of politics and social issues separates them from othergenres and trends. The way memory is stripped of its nostalgic layers in these documentary plays aims to foster a newunderstanding of dramatic constructions while challenging mainstream accounts and shifting to side of the silencedfigures. Although there is little overlap between the contents and messages of the plays, a key point in both of theseworks is their emphasis on current issues through a variety of memory forms. Their accent on harsh realities of historyis especially pronounced when audience members are invited to witness the flaws of our society. It might be awrongfully convicted person, a screened and scrutinized life of a transvestite, or a brutally murdered homosexual, butin the end, documentary drama shows us the urgent need to look back to understand the present. Our mistakes are allburied in the magical box of the past. They can be our guides for tomorrow as long as we do not glorify them.
KW  - Creative Arts and Writing
LA  - en
AD  - University of Arkansas
ER  -
.ris