The Laramie Project centers on the reaction to the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student, which was denounced as a hate crime. The play sheds light on the fact that very few states had hate crime laws at the time, including Wyoming. The play draws on interviews with inhabitants of the town, published news reports, as well as personal reactions from members of the original theater company. It is divided into three acts, and the ten actors portray more than sixty characters.