The University of Wisconsin hosts “The Laramie Project” play to increase awareness about the story of a former student at the University of Wyoming.
April 12-21, the Hemsley Theater of University of Wisconsin – Madison, is presenting “The Laramie Project” play.
“The Laramie Project” is a play by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project out of New York.
The play was first staged in 2000 and became nationally famous. “The Laramie Project” written in reaction to the 1998 murder of a homosexual University of Wyoming student, Matthew Shepard, who was kidnapped, beaten almost to death and left to die tied to a fence outside of Laramie.
According to the University of Wisconsin-Madison website, “[Shepard’s] death and the aftermath of the trial uncovered an ugly story of homophobia, hate, alienation, and intolerance.”
The University of Wyoming is currently hosting the annual Shepard Symposium on social justice with Matthew Shepard’s mother speaking out to the community.
“I think, that it is a great thing, that people get to know about Matthew Shepard,” Tony Noyes, member of the LGBTQIA+ community at UW, said. “I watched ‘The Laramie Project’ for the first time in the high school, and it had a great impact on me. It changed the way I was thinking of all the LGBT issues.”
The case of Matthew Shepard brought up not only the topic of homophobia but drug abuse as well.
“There were also some drugs involved,” Noyes said. “People took the story only from LGBTQ side – ‘oh, this kid was beaten only because he was gay.’ When those two guys were found, they claimed, that it was gay panic defense. But what really happened is that they tried to buy meth from him (Shepard), and it didn’t work out the way they wanted.”
“The Laramie Project” play was created on the basis of interviews with citizens of Laramie.
According to University of Wisconsin-Madison website, “A series of interviews with the people of Laramie developed a powerfully theatrical mosaic of a community forced to look at the darkness of humanity and searching to find compassion and understanding.”
“The Laramie Project” has been performed across the United States and the impact of the performances warrants for multiple viewings.
“I’ve seen it several times throughout my life,” UW former student, Ryan Collins, said. “First time I saw it was in my hometown in Georgia, when I was in school. Then, I’ve seen it in Chicago and the last time was when I went to the performance in Laramie when I was a student at UW.”
