‘The Laramie Project’ Opens in Lambertville This Weekend
A production of The Laramie Project will open at the Lambertville’s Music Mountain Theater this weekend (February 14). It will run through February 23.
The Laramie Project, which is known as “documentary theater” brings attention to the brutal murder of Matthew Sheppard in 1998. Shepard, a 21-year-old student at the University of Wyoming, was brutally attacked in October 1998. Shepard was tied to a fence in a field outside of Laramie, Wyoming where he was left to die.
The case became of the most notorious anti-gay hate crimes in the nation’s history. It led to an activist movement that resulted in the passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, a federal law against bias crimes directed at lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people.
The Laramie Project, which first premiered in the year 2000, draws on hundreds of interviews conducted by the show’s original theatre company (Tectonic Theater Project) with inhabitants of the town of Laramie. Plus, company members' own journal entries, and published news reports. It is divided into three acts, and eight actors portray more than sixty characters in a series of short scenes
The theater will host eight shows between Friday, February 14 and Sunday, February 23rd. Shows will take place at 8 pm on Friday and Saturday evenings. With 3 pm matinees on both Saturday and Sunday.
Additionally, The Matthew Shepard Foundation empowers individuals to embrace human dignity and diversity through outreach, advocacy and resource programs. They strive to replace hate with understanding, compassion, and acceptance. Check out their work here.
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