In October 1998, a twenty-one-year-old student at the University of Wyoming was kidnapped, severely beaten, and left tied to a fence in the middle of the prairie outside Laramie, Wyoming. His bloody, bruised, and battered body was not discovered until the next day, and he died several days later in an area hospital. His name was Matthew Shepard, and he was the victim of this assault because he was gay.

Moisés Kaufman and fellow members of the Tectonic Theater Project made six trips to Laramie over the course of a year and a half, in the aftermath of the beating and during the trial of the two young men accused of killing Shepard. They conducted more than 200 interviews with the people of the town. Some people interviewed were directly connected to the case, while others were citizens of Laramie, and the breadth of the reactions to the crime is fascinating. Kaufman and Tectonic Theater members have constructed a deeply moving theatrical experience from these interviews and their own experiences in Laramie.

THE LARAMIE PROJECT is a breathtaking collage that explores the depths to which humanity can sink and the heights of compassion of which we are capable.

“A pioneering work of theatrical reportage and a powerful stage event.” —Time Magazine. “Astonishing. Not since Angels in America has a play attempted so much: nothing less than an examination of the American psyche at the end of the millennium.” —Associated Press. “There emerges a mosaic as moving and important as any you will see on the walls of the churches of the world…nothing short of stunning…you will be held in rapt attention.” —NY Magazine.

This will be a staged reading and conversation, directed, produced and facilitated by Tommy Waltz and co-presented by Mechanics’ Hall.

Proceeds from this program will benefit

MaineTransNet & Equality Community Center.

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