Proud Mary Theatre Company’s live production of The Laramie Project, the award-winning play by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project, will be performed Outdoors at the USC Upstate Amphitheatre July 15-24, Thursdays-Saturdays @ 7 p.m.

This outdoor theatre production about the murder of gay college student Matthew Shepard in 1998 in Laramie, Wyoming, is directed by Ben Dawkins and will be performed at the USC Upstate 12-acre Susan Jacobs Arboretum which has a 300-seat amphitheater, a meandering creek lined with stones and boulders, 12 separate garden areas/plant collections of foliage indigenous to the area, and rows of Nuttall Oak trees.

Robert Penninger is thrilled to be making his Proud Mary Theatre debut in The Laramie Project! He started doing theatre during his freshman year of high school, and has been working on productions ever since. During his time in high school he earned multiple awards for his work in theatre including: The Mustang Stage Companies 2018-2019 Excellence in Technical Theatre, and 2019-2020 Excellence in Acting awards, a SCTA All-Star Cast awards, and two more acting based awards. Some of Robert’s previous credits include: Christopher in the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Josh in De Profundis,A featured performer in Prelude: A Young Artist Showcase at Centre Stage, and ensemble in the Upstate Shakespeare Festivals productions of Romeo & Juliet, and The Tempest. Robert stage managed and ran sound for several shows in high school, most notably the Mustang Stage Companies award winning Matt & Ben which was selected to represent South Carolina at the 2019 International Thespian Festival.in August you can catch Robert in The South Carolina Repertory Theatre’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. After that Robert will be attending Winthrop University in the fall pursuing a degree in Theatre Education.

The Laramie Project also features Quinn Davis, Doug Egge, Samantha Jemmott, Laura Bunn, Audrey Waldrop, Robyn Cheezum, Najee Joyner, Jalen Gray, and Schuyler Carson-Jackson. USC Upstate alum Joanie Blackwell is stage manager.

This production is made possible by the generosity of USC Upstate, USC Upstate Theatre, Landrum Eclectics, the LGBT Fund of Spartanburg.

PARKING: Proud Mary Theatre will have plenty of directional signs but the Parking Lot is on the back side of the campus on Gramling Drive Near North Campus Boulevard.

Thursday – Saturday @ 7 pm
July 15-24, 2021
Susan Jacobs Arboretum – USC Upstate
Gramling Drive
Spartanburg, SC

Tickets $15-20 and available at proudmarytheatre.com.

This is a weather-permitting event so check our Facebook/Instagram/website and your email/text for the latest update.