A safe city
The play begins with testimonies from different people who lived in Laramie at the time when the tragedy happened and every character had something to say about their beloved city. One of these characters is Philip Dubois who claimed that their city is one of the safest cities in the country. Of course, this is not true and his statement is ironic considering that a young man died because of homophobic ideas and prejudices.
Everyone knows everyone
The characters describe their community as being a close knit one, a community in which everyone knows everyone and a place where everyone is who they say they are and have nothing to hide. This however is not true as it is proven by Matthew’s murder. Ironically, the characters prove that even though they live in a small community, they do not know one another as good as they thought they did and the reality was that everyone was hiding something from their neighbor, friends or family.
Good reputation
Another element considered as being ironic is the fact that the people living in Laramie were more concerned with their town’s reputation than with the fact that some of the inhabitants were killed as a result of homophobia. For them, what was important, was not the value of a human life but rather how the town was perceived by those coming from the outside.
Found too late
Matthew, the boy who was killed, was taken by the two men who killed him a public place, a place frequently walked by those who liked to run. Despite being a public place, Matthew was not discovered only after 18 hours, an element which some characters point out as being ironic because they knew that people passed by him but for some reason, he was not discovered only until it was too late.
Angels in America
One of the characters, Jedadiah, arrived in Laramie because he won a scholarship due to his talent as an actor. Ironically, he won the scholarship when he played in a theater play entitled Angels in America, a play focusing on the lives of homosexual characters in the 20th century. It is ironic to see that Jedadiah was offered a change to study in a town that was homophobic and did not accept those who were different.
