Trinity Wheeler just wanted to give his hometown a meaningful production of ‘The Laramie Project.’ He ended up sparking a political controversy
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| TRINITY’S TYLER TRIUMPH | Trinity Wheeler’s return to his hometown stage has made him a hero to the East Texas gay community. (Arnold Wayne Jones/Dallas Voice) |
THE LARAMIE PROJECTS
Tyler Civic Theatre,
400 Rose Park Drive, Tyler.
June 17–19 at 7:30 p.m. $20.
TylerCivicTheatre.com.
Certainly Trinity Wheeler — who grew up as a geeky gay kid among the roses and Baptist churches of Tyler — never considered his hometown a bastion of liberalism. But the controversy that befell his efforts at mounting a production of The Laramie Project caught him completely off-guard.
"I feel the country has come so far when it comes to gay rights, so it’s interesting going back to Tyler because this community hasn’t moved forward," he says. "There’s still fear of the word ‘gay.’ That’s what we’ve been facing with this show. The Laramie Project has no agenda — it’s not a ‘gay’ play or a ‘race’ play or a ‘class’ play. It’s across the board about the effect of a crime on a small town. But they hear the words ‘Matthew Shepard’ and it’s gay panic!"
Wheeler knows what he’s talking about.
"I grew up in the country. My dad was a bull rider and my mom was a rodeo queen — like Miss America on horses. And I said ‘I wanna do musical theater!’"
He got interested in theater as a ninth grader when he attended theater at summer camp at Stephen F. Austin University. It was there he met Josh Allbright, a gay kid who proudly wore a rainbow belt.
"I loved him!" Wheeler still says with genuine affection. "He gave me his gay Pride belt and I wore it to my private Episcopalian school. That did not go so well."
And other students weren’t the issue, he says — its was the teachers, the chaplain, the headmaster. Things weren’t much better at home, either.
"I just needed to get out of East Texas," he says.
Wheeler made it through high school and moved to Houston, where he worked at the box office of the Alley Theater. There, he heard Holiday Spectacular on Ice was looking for a singer.
"I got me some skates and went to the Galleria and got a coach and learned to skate in two weeks," he says. He got the part. From there, he went on to be cast in a tour of Damn Yankees as a dancer.
Watching how shows changed as they moved from venue to venue began to fascinate him more than performing. That’s when he got involved in stage management, first with the national tour of Oklahoma!, then The Producers, The Wedding Singer and Rent; he’s been dividing his time managing the new tour of Young Frankenstein while getting Laramie off the ground.
"My whole career, people have said to me, ‘I’ll help you, but when you can, you have to help somebody else out,’" he says. "So I’ve always wanted to come back to my home theater and do something." And The Laramie Project seemed like the perfect opportunity.
"I know what it’s like to grow up as a gay kid there — it’s not nice," he says. "I know what it’s like to be in an environment where you’re not accepted. It was like hell on earth. Now I’m in a position to help that 18-year-old try to figure out how to live his life."
Wheeler’s whole intent was to help save the Tyler Civic Theater, which has suffered declining season ticket sales and a graying subscriber base.
"They do living room comedies — the Neil Simon stuff," he says. "They wanted me to come back and do a show. I presented titles and said ‘I think The Laramie Project would work well in that space.’ The play [about the aftermath of the Matthew Shepard gay bashing on the town where it occurred] was a go but for one board member and one staff member — two people — who have real problems with it," he says. They were especially upset that the Tyler Area Gays group would have its name featured on the website for the theater.
There was an historic significance in his choice of play. "A major hate crime happened in our back yard," he says.
Tyler is home to the Nicholas West murder, a 1993 incident where three young men posed as gays and lured West out and killed him. Wheeler hoped Laramie would help salve those lingering wounds.
"This show is the best thing for the gay community. They are quiet at times but they are blooming now. It’s not like they have all these outlets," he says. Still, he was unprepared for the reaction.
"I don’t expect Tyler to change over night but something’s gotta give. Small steps will get us on the way," he says. "I hear the word all the time about this ‘close-knit family’ at the theater — but to me that just means ‘closed.’ The community has overwhelmingly supported this production. More than 100 supporters have come out for the show. There have been over 500 letters of support and I think six against it … and all six had the same verbiage."
Ultimately, though, he feels the protests had the exact opposite effect.
"Before we’re even in rehearsal and the play has already accomplished what it set out to do," Wheeler says. "The show’s not a side dish anymore, it’s the main course. The fact the show’s happening there is fantastic. Because the show is very different from what the theater normally does, there’s still a fear within the theater it will alienate its audience base. But the audience isn’t as dumb as they are making them out to be. I think it uncovered a lot of deep-seated fear in the community. But instead of ‘Let’s go on another day and be 10 years in the same place,’ there’s a sense of ‘Let’s move forward and make a difference.’"
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition June 11, 2010.
I am a 52 year old gay woman who has a 17 year old gay son living in Tyler, TX and I am so excited about the upcoming play The Laramie Project. When it first was announced that it would be performed here at our local community theatre I was so excited to have some new blood run through the veins of our theatre. I was not shocked by the reaction of our town but on the other hand I was appalled. Because of the close mindedness and prejudice here my son is ready to get out of town like Trininty. Anyway, I can’t wait to see the play and I applaud Trinity, Ms. Felicity and all of the other great staff at Tyler Civic Theatre who had a hand in making this a possibility.
Glad to see that the play made it past the controversy. I remember the incident in ’93 and how horrible it was.
Trinity fits every definition of a hero in my book, and I am glad that his perseverance paid off. It is really pleasing to hear of the supportive response in the letters as well. I hope this can help put a solid positive spin on people of all walks, for the citizens of Tyler and East Texas. I know there are good people out there and now there will be more that have their eyes opened up to humanity versus intolerance and hate.
This is one production that I am going to have to attend, despite the distance and late night return. The standing ovation alone will be worth the late drive home.
Congratulations Trinity!
“…the aftermath of the Matthew Shepard gay bashing…”
Matthew Shepard was MURDERED.
Congratulations, Trinity! This is truly a transformative moment for LGBT East Texans. Although the subject matter of TLP is extremely relevant in any setting, the fact that it’s being performed in a place like Tyler makes it doubly significant. Everyone involved with its production should be proud.
With respect to so-called “protestsâ€, I attended the Laramie or Bust demonstration in response to The Civic Theatre’s initial decision not to show the performances. A UT Tyler alumnus, I’ve been a resident of Tyler for the past 6 years. Generally speaking, folks in this area are deeply uncomfortable with the idea of a demonstration, period. This experience changed the perspectives of many in the community. The demonstration was attended and organized by members of the Tyler Civic Theater, local and university groups, families, and members of local churches. The idea was for those in attendance to be a “peaceful presenceâ€, and that objective was achieved. We effectively got our point across, and The Civic Theatre decided to continue with TLP.
From my personal experience, and from listening to the experiences of others, it’s my impression that the “protests†were an overall positive experience for those involved. I disagree with the assertion that this event was a “step in the wrong direction.†A great many people learned that if they can be both diplomatic and firm in standing up for what they deserve, others will consider what they have to say. This is tremendous progress! And, quite simply, without this demonstration there would be no Laramie Project at Tyler Civic Theatre.
Again, best of luck to Trinity and everyone else! I have no doubts that this will be a memorable performance.
Thank you, Nathan and Joel for your comments. Your experience is similar to the experiences I’ve heard for decades from many gay and lesbian persons living in small towns. The belief that homophobia thrives in small bible belt towns is as stereotypical and prejudice as homophobia itself. Homophobia certainly exists but much less than the news makes us believe. As each small town community educates itself on gay and lesbian facts and realities the acceptance begins and grows. There is a whole world living somewhere between the extremes of a bull riding dad, a rodeo queen mom, six letter writers and a musical theater kid.
As a bisexual woman living in Dallas, I can attest that the mindset of the majority of Dallasites does not deviate much from those of Tyler residents. I was invited by a friend to attend the performance of The Laramie Project, and I look forward to doing anything that I can to support the efforts of the gay and gay-supporting community of Tyler. KUDDOS!!!
after enduring the initial shock (and subsequent grief and deep sorrow) of losing my best friend Nick in 1993, i must say this is a huge deal for the play to be performed in Tyler. i hope this is a sign that the light of truth is indeed shining on the Tyler area which has been too long under seige by the darkness of homophobia. Nick would have been proud….and more than a little amused at pissing off all the right-wingers and general protestors. Nick would have LOVED the fact that those involved at the theatre had the “gall” to speak the word ‘gay’ (egads!) let alone stage a whole play about the evil that comes from such ignorance and hate. i always found it ironic that having grown up in Tyler, i saw more crime and hatred there than in my current home–New York City. Nick would have yearned for some of the tolerance and acceptance and open-mindedness of NYC and other major progressive cities to take root in East Texas. Hopefully it has!