The Laramie Project

THE LARAMIE PROJECT

by Moises Kaufmann

and the members of the Tectonic Theatre Company

In 1998, Matthew Shepard, a twenty-one-year-old gay student registered at the University of Wyoming, was tied to a cattle fence, beaten about the head, robbed, and left to die on a bitterly cold night in October. Eighteen hours later, he was accidentally discovered by a biker, who had trouble believing that the figure he saw attached to the fence was human. Police and ambulances were dispatched, and Shepard was taken to a local hospital; all to no avail. Shepard was beyond recovery. He never regained consciousness and died several days later due to his head injuries. Two local young men were charged with the crime.

The play is based on more than 400 interviews with about 100 Laramie residents, as well as journal entries from the members of Tectonic Theater Project and Kaufman, as they reflect on their own reactions to the crime and to the interviews they carried out. Structured as a documentary, it attempts to reenact the events that occurred on that fateful night.

Directed by Jules Dameron

“THE LARAMIE PROJECT is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York.”

This project is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. Matching funding provided by the Greater Austin Foundation for the Deaf. Additional funders include: the Matthew Shepard Foundation, BEA Investment Group, Michael Epstein Designs, Communication by Hand, Sorenson, Dozanu Innovations, 58 Creativity, Hypernovas Productions, SIGNmation and many amazing individuals through online fundraising.