Matthew Wayne Shepard was an openly gay university student who was brutally attacked near Laramie, Wyoming in October 1998 and left to die, tied to a fence in the middle of the prairie. He died several days later.

“The Laramie Project” is a play by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project about the reactions of the people of Laramie to Shepard’s murder. The play draws on hundreds of interviews with inhabitants of the town in the months after the incident and during the trial. 

Theatre UAF is presenting “The Laramie Project” along with a panel discussion “Live and Let Live: The Local Context of The Laramie Project” after the 2 pm performance of the play on Saturday November 22. 

“We really wanted there to be some kind of discussion, so the many issues raised in this get further attention and so people can feel really involved,” said Carrie Baker, local director of the play. “We wanted a forum for dialogue. If nothing else, if people to talk about this and other hate crimes, it is a step in the right direction.”

Panel discussion members will include Kayt Sunwood of the UAF Women’s Center, Peter Pinney of Cooperative Extension, and Chris Coffman of the UAF English Department. 

“The Laramie Project,” presented by Theatre UAF at the Salisbury Theatre, 8:15 p.m. on Nov. 14, 15, 21 & 22,  and 2 p.m. on Nov. 22, 23. The discussion “Live and Let Live” follows the 2 p.m. performance on Nov. 22.

Tickets: $15 adults, $12 seniors, military and UAF employees, $7 students, available at the UAF Wood Center or the Theatre UAF box office: www.uaf.edu/theatre/season

Read the News-Miner article about the local production of “The Laramie Project.”

Read the powerful editorial by current Juneau resident and former Wyoming resident Leslie Wood about Matthew Shepard’s murder and anti-gay hate crimes, printed last month on the 10 year anniversary of Shepard’s murder: Remembering Matthew Shepard.