The Laramie Project:10 Years Later - An Epilogue

  • October 12th, 2009 - October 12th, 2009
  • Campus Theatre
  • Special Event
  • Special Event Series
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Laramie Project sheds light on tolerance

— Fullerton College Hornet  - Kristin Quinones - Wednesday, October 14th, 2009
Insightful: John M. Wailin and Daniel Hunt perform strong during a staged reading of The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later, an Epilogue to Fullerton College students and faculty in the Campus Theater this past Monday.

On the 11th anniversary of Matthew Shepard's death, the Fullerton Community gathered together to commemorate over the brutal murder of the University of Wyoming student.

On Monday, October 12, Fullerton College held a staged reading, performed by students, faculty, and staff, that honored the death of Matthew Shepard, a college student who had been tortured and left to die for being homosexual in Laramie, Wyoming on Oct. 12, 1998.

This 10th anniversary of .the production, put together by the Tectonic Theater Project, sought to bring together communities across the United States to educate, debate, inspire and raise our collective consciousness of civil rights, violence and bigotry.

Nearly 11 years ago, members of the Tectonic Theater Project had previously traveled to Laramie to investigate' Shepard's murder and conducted a series of interviews with several people who had been affected or involved in the case of his murder. These series of interviews were able to produce a play to emphasize the demoralization of hate-crimes, which later turned into an HBO Film known as The Laramie Project.

Those members of the Tectonic Theater Project returned to Laramie on the 10th anniversary of Shepard's death to interview Laramie residents on the changes within Laramie shaped by the biased murder, producing another play in his honor called "The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later Epilogue."

The officer who discovered Shepard on the fence after he was viciously beaten and his murders, was questioned on the effects his death had on their lives.

Stories changed, people changed, but no original Laramie resident forgot about Matthew Shepard. Everyone involved in his life still progressively laments over his death and raised causes to support toleration and acceptance, especially for homosexuals.

After the last staged reading at the Campus Theater, a line of the cast lead audience members to the Fullerton College Quad for a candlelight vigil in honor of Matthew Shepard and all those whose lives have been taken in violence by hate-crimes.