The West Liberty University Hilltop Players will continue their performance of The Laramie Project in the Kelly Theatre this weekend. Showtimes are Feb. 18 and 19 at 7:30pm and one showing on Feb. 20 at 3:00pm.
The Laramie Project is based on the Oct. 1998 kidnapping of the 21 year-old University of Wyoming student, who was beaten and left to die in the middle of the prairie outside Laramie, Wyoming. His 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, and others were citizens of Laramie, and the breadth of their 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.
Reservations for the show may be made by calling the WLU Box Office at (304) 336-8277.