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When a hate crime is committed, those affected often take solace in their desire for the incident to teach a lesson of tolerance. But as the years go by, it becomes harder for these messages of equality to stay alive.
The 1998 murder of gay college student Matthew Shepard sparked a national dialogue on homophobia and violence, but by now the story has begun to fade into the past. This has sparked GLBTQ Services and Wilde Stein to present their production of “The Laramie Project” this weekend in Donald P. Corbett Business Building. It marks the first time these groups have undertaken a play as a part of their outreach program.
“[The production] was to make sure that the people who were four years old at the time still realize that this happened,” said Gavin Pickering, GLBTQ services coordinator and director of the play. “Students around here, they don’t really know about it — it’s not as familiar as it is with the older people. It wasn’t that long ago.”
Written by Moisés Kaufman, the play tells the story of the murder, focusing on who Shepard was as a person and on the people of Laramie, Wyo. The characters in the play are real people who lived and worked in the town during this time.
Members of the Tectonic Theater Project, an experimental theater group, traveled to Laramie and conducted interviews with the people of the town a few months after the tragedy took place. The play is edited from those interviews — from a first responder who arrived on the scene, to students who knew Shepard, to those who did not. This production gives a 360-degree look of how the people of the town were dealing with Laramie’s infamy.
Pickering’s desire to do a play came from his own passion and experience with theater, as well as interest expressed by members of Wilde Stein.
“I was really excited to include something I like in my job,” Pickering said. “I think that’s important to do.”
Pickering also pointed to Laramie’s demographic resemblance to Orono as a reason for the production. Laramie is a college town with almost the same percentages of race, religion and age as Orono.
The 11-member cast is split between students with moderate to extensive acting experience and those who have none. It has presented some challenges, according to Pickering, but he has enjoyed helping.
According to Pickering, the strength of the play comes from telling Shepard’s life story, rather than painting him as a savior.
“He was a good person … he was part of a community,” Pickering said. “He should be alive still. I hope it makes people think about their own judgments in their own community.”
Well aware of the budget cuts in the university’s theater department, Pickering said he hoped GLBTQ services and other University of Maine offices and groups would continue to use theater and art as a means to emotionally connect with subject matter and educate.
“I just hope that something like this continues — that our office continues to do things in art,” Pickering said. “I feel like art is one of the more powerful forms of communication.”
“The Laramie Project” will have three performances this week on Jan. 28 and 29 at 7 p.m. and Jan. 30 at 1p.m. in the Donald P. Corbett Business Building in Room 100. All donations will go to The Trevor Project and Portland’s Center for Preventing Hate.
Dora McCarthy contributed to this article.
