Moorestown Friends School Tackles Matthew Shepard Murder With Performance This Weekend

A play this weekend at Moorestown Friends School tackles the lack of progress following the death of Matthew Shepard in 1998.

Moorestown Friends School presents “The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later” this weekend.

The production is a potent sequel to the landmark docudrama about community reactions to Matthew Shepard’s 1998 murder. This new play explores what progress, or lack thereof, has been made over the past decade.

The murder of 21-year-old Shepard, who was homosexual, on the outskirts of Laramie, Wyoming in October of 1998 was characterized as a hate crime.

Following his death, Moisés Kaufman, Andy Paris, and other members of the Tectonic Theater Project conducted more than 200 interviews with residents of the town.

Using interview transcripts, court documents and media reportage as source material, they created “The Laramie Project,” a play that chronicles how the community grappled with the murder.

The original Laramie won numerous awards and is one of the most-performed pieces of theater in America today. It has been seen by more than 30 million people across the country and was adapted for the screen by HBO.

In the fall of 2008, Paris, Kaufman, Leigh Fondakowski, Greg Pierotti and Stephen Belber returned to Laramie to interview the same people.

These interviews focus on how Laramie has changed: politically, socially, religiously, and educationally. Using “Moment Work,” Tectonic’s unique approach to developing plays, the new interviews have been crafted into an Epilogue: “The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later.”

Moorestown Friends School performed the original Laramie Project in 2005, and members of the original cast will be present at both performances, scheduled for Friday, March 6, and Saturday, March 7, 7 p.m.

Paris, an Emmy-nominated writer, will speak to the audience after the performance on Friday.

Parental discretion is advised. The performance contains mature-themed subject matter and instances of strong language that may not be appropriate for children under 14.

All tickets are $12 and may be purchased online at mfs.booktix.com.

The attached image was provided by Moorestown Friends School

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