Event Article

It was a small town in Wyoming. Everyone knew each other well, well enough to go to a grocery store and talk to five or six people. every day. So when one of their own dies, it hit the town pretty hard. That's what happened in Laramie, Wyoming to Matthew Shepard. Everyone who knew him called him Matt, because that is what he preferred. He was 21 ,and gay. That was the only motive besides robbery to beat him and leave him to die tied to a fence.

Fullerton College Theatre Arts department preformed a docudrama on Moises Kaufman's Laramie Project and the members of the Tectonic Theatre Project. Kaufman and the Tectonics' traveled to Laramie, and interviewed over 290 people within a year.Their interviews were about what happened the night of the murder including the townspeople's reaction to the violent hate crime.

FC theatre department had about eight theatre students each playing about ten roles each. They did a fantastic job, with changing voices and changing clothes.

I took my brother to the performance, and he asked me "why is that guy walking around staring at everyone, and he is barefoot?" I told him, that is Matthew Shepard played by Bryce Chaddick. He was barefoot because when he was robbed the murderers took his shoes. He was also the narrator and was observing the thoughts of his fellows townsmen., There was no smile to his face and.no light in his eyes as his death stare left us with a creepy feeling.

Taming of the Shrew's Steve Garcia did an excellent job playing Moises Kaufman, the bartender. at the bar that Matthew visited before he died, and he did a tearful reading as Matt's dad Dennis Shepard.

The two murderers Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney were both played by John Goodson. Goodson's role as Russell showed some remorse on what he did to Matt, and his sympathetic apology to the Shepard

family was almost believable. On the other hand Aaron McKinney showed no remorse of his brutal beating of Matt. Goodson did such a fantastic job on playing both roles you couldn't tell it was the same person, his facial expression when Dennis Shepard was reading an excerpt felt eerie as if one would be at a real trial, with a murder on the stand.

Other, actors and actresses, Jaimie Clark, Tiffany-Denise Turner, Mia Chiaromonte, Robert Downs, Amanda Hallman, Stephan John who played more then one character sure have a lot of talent to change their voices and there appearances.

This cast did a good job following the story of Moises Kaufman's The Laramie Project. This was definetly very emotional and there was not a dry eye in the house.