CLIFTON – The setting is Laramie, Wyoming — the year is 1998 — the story is a horrific crime that rocked the nation — the characters are everyday citizens including a bartender, a social worker and a minister, whose lives were touched in some way by an unimaginable event.
That’s the Theater League of Clifton’s next production for the stage that will debut on Oct. 4.
"The Laramie Project," written by Moises Kaufman, engrosses the audience in a story of those connected to Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old openly gay student at the University of Wyoming who was murdered in an anti-gay hate crime. Shepard was getting a ride home from two locals he met at a bar, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson, when they drove him to the outskirts of Laramie, beat him and tied him to a fence on the side of a road. A cyclist discovered his body 18 hours later. Shepard died of severe head injuries five days later and McKinney and Russell are currently serving life sentences in prison.
The Tectonic Theater Project traveled to Laramie shortly after the crime to interview the townspeople. The play is based on more than 200 interviews with Laramie residents, as well as journal entries from the members of the Tectonic Theatre Project. It is essentially a documentary that attempts to piece together the days before the night of Oct. 7 when Shepard was murdered, the sequence of events from that night and the community’s response in the aftermath.
The show first debuted in 2000 in Denver and has been performed more than 2,000 times since then. It was also turned into an Emmy-nominated HBO film.
October marks 10 years since Shepard’s death and Clifton Theater League President and producer Mark Peterson said he saw the anniversary as an opportunity to remind and re-educate the public about the murder.
"The hate crime touched society and we just wanted to explore the same impact 10 years later," Peterson said. He had the opportunity to meet Judy Shepard at a dinner hosted by Garden State Equality, a statewide organization that supports gay rights.
"I was inspired by her courage and determination to turn her tragic experience in losing her son into something positive for the gay community throughout the country and the world. Meeting her inspired me to do the show," he said.
The League then sought the support of the Matthew Shepard Foundation in putting on "The Laramie Project."
Peterson said the audience will be "captivated" by the dialogue and the themes will resonate with viewers. "I though this was something that would open up minds," Peterson said. "It was a terrible thing that happened and it can happen anywhere."
The play is divided into three acts and 14 Theater League actors play an average of five characters each. However, "The Laramie Project" is not your typical theatrical experience.
"Very little of it is actually scenes like in most plays. It’s somebody who’s talking to an interviewer, or somebody that’s talking to the jury, or a priest that’s talking to the congregation," said Director Ed Guinan.
"The Laramie Project" is a first for Guinan who is a full-time drama teacher at Elizabeth High School.
"I’m hoping that the audience will follow it and understand it and appreciate it," Guinan said. "It’s not really about this kid who was brutally murdered. People that created the play will be the first to tell you it’s not about him. It’s about the people of Laramie and how they first responded. It’s humanity in a bunch of forms."
The murder influenced people like Romaine Patterson, a friend of Shepard’s, to act on the rage they felt by people’s reaction to the crime. Patterson, who is openly lesbian, becomes a gay rights activist in real life.
"During Matthew’s funeral, there was one reverend who was protesting at the funeral and was very angry," said Odette Coronel, an actress from Clifton who portrays Patterson in the play. "She organized her friends and dressed up as angels for the trials for one of the accused just to make a statement. She is my favorite character. She didn’t like what was going on and took some action."
Show dates are Friday, Oct. 10 at 8 p.m., Saturdays, Oct. 4 and 11 at 8 p.m. and Sundays, Oct. 5 and 12 at 2 p.m. All shows are being held at School 3 on Washington Avenue.
General admission tickets are $15 each; $10 for students and seniors. There is an opening night special of 2 tickets for the price of 1. For group rates and other information, 973-458-9579. Tickets will also be sold at the door.
