Heritage High Drama Dept. presents 'The Laramie Project'

Members of the cast of "The Laramie Project" practice for the play, which will be presented Oct. 18-20.

News release from the Heritage High School Drama Department:

Oct. 12 marks the 20th anniversary of the vicious beating death of Matthew Shepard, and the Heritage High School Drama Department has taken on the challenge of commemorating the event by producing the play, "The Laramie Project."

Matthew was a gay student at the University of Wyoming who was tied to a fence and beaten into a coma on Oct. 7, 1998. He died five days later. The details were so gruesome that they created an outcry that hate speech, bullying, and violence directed toward homosexuals should no longer be tolerated.

The play "The Laramie Project" is unique in that it attempts not just to document the injustice, but to examine the attitudes of the people of the town. The Tectonic Theatre Project of New York City traveled to Laramie to interview the people in the story and to determine which attitudes towards gays might have precipitated the act.

A broad spectrum of the personal and religious views of those inside and outside of Laramie are displayed. However, the play fights not to make conclusions for you, but to have the audience filter the information for themselves.

Director Greg Newman notes Hamlet’s advice to the players includes the declaration that the purpose of theatre is "to hold the mirror up to nature." The searing honesty of the play does that. In order to challenge the student actors to be as honest as possible, they were each assigned multiple roles, and when possible, each portrays one gay person, one intolerant character, and perhaps someone in between. Newman is extremely proud of his actors, and their dedication to this important play.

The production will run for three days, on Oct. 18, 19, and 20 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $8 for adults and $6 for students.