Extra PURE
Free Special Event
Please join us for a special, one-night-only reading of
The Laramie Project:
Ten Years Later
downstairs in Keller Hall
at Circular Congregational Church
Oct 12, 2009
PURE Theatre's core group of actors will perform a one-night-only reading of The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later, the compelling and groundbreaking epilogue to the play The Laramie Project, which was written in response to the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard. The epilogue, by Tectonic Theatre Project members Moisés Kaufman, Leigh Fondakowski, Greg Pierotti, Andy Paris and Stephan Belber, will be performed simultaneously in theatres across the globe on Monday, October 12, starting at 8:00 p.m.
Includes online connection and an interactive Q&A following the performances at
The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later focuses on the long-term effect of the murder of Matthew Shepard on the town of Laramie. It explores how the town has changed and how the murder continues to reverberate in the community. The play also includes new interviews with Matthew’s mother Judy Shepard and Mathew’s murderer Aaron McKinney, who’s serving dual life sentences, as well as follow-up interviews with many of the individuals from the original piece.
In tandem with the premiere, an online interactive community will be launched where participants can blog, upload video and photos, and share their stories about the play, experiences in preparing and presenting the epilogue in their communities. The members of Tectonic Theatre Project will be active participants in the online community, offering participants feedback and encouragement.
On October 6, 1998 Matthew Shepard was beaten and left to die tied to a fence in the outskirts of Laramie, Wyoming. He died 6 days later. His murder became a watershed historical moment in America that highlighted the violence and prejudice lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people face.
A month after the murder, the members of Tectonic Theatre Project traveled to Laramie and conducted interviews with the people of the town. From these interviews they wrote the play The Laramie Project, which they later made into a film for HBO. The piece has been seen by more than 50 million people around the country.