NE performing reality drama
by Ashley Smicker
ne news editor

   The reactions of residents in a town following a hate crime is the basis of the play opening the NE Campus spring theater season.
   The Laramie Project, based in Laramie, Wyo., will run Wednes-day-Saturday, March 3-6, at 8 p. m. with 2 p.m. matinees Thursday and Saturday in the NE Theatre.
   The drama begins Oct. 8, 1998, when Matthew Shepard, a student at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, left with two men he had met at the Fireside Bar, unaware that the two acquaintances would later leave him for dead.
   The next day, a passing bicyclist found Shepard tied to a fence at a deserted ranch.
   Shepard had been kidnapped, robbed, pistol-whipped and left to die.
   Because of the severe brutality and near-freezing temperatures Shepard endured, he immediately fell into a coma and died five days later.
   The Laramie Project reenacts the observation Moises Kaufman and the members of the Tectonic Theater Project made when they conducted extensive interviews with the people of Laramie between November 1998 and November 1999.
   The Laramie Project team visited the small town of Laramie on six occasions and conducted more than 200 interviews
Jakie Cabe, NE drama director, said he wanted to do this play because he enjoys the documentary format and the way a theater used that format to create a moving piece of drama.
   “The play delivers a very important message about hate,” he said.
   Christopher Reaves said he found the play interesting.
   “It’s a good play that can be challenging because it’s a hard subject. But it can change the way someone thinks,” he said.
   Shannon Wright believes the audience will be moved by the production.
   “The play teaches tolerance. It brings the reality of what you see on the news and puts it in a way that you can relate to it to being your town,” she said.
   Lindsey Garret believes The Laramie Project can be life changing.
   “You’ll come in with a different perspective,” she said.
   Garret said she went into the production thinking it was just another show.
   “Now it’s more of a passion,” she said.
   Henry Williamson said actors usually have lines and an objective, but in this play the cast members actually had to research their roles and the situation.
   “The play is cool. I have a lot in common with my character,” he said.
   “Laramie Project is the most exciting theatre I’ve been involved in,” he said.
   Derek McKnight said, “I learned different perspectives, beliefs and acceptance of where people are coming from.”
   McKnight believes that this a great play and written most movingly.
   “The cast brings a life of its own,” he said.
   Dr. Vern Boyd, NE music instructor and cast member, said the production is important because it involves something from the news.
   “People usually don’t think about prejudice and hate crimes,” he said.
   Although based on an incident of hate crime, Laramie Project is mainly about the town of Laramie and the way the event affected the residents, Boyd said.
   “This play is worthwhile. I am glad I am in it, but it’s the hardest play I have ever been in,” he said.
   Tickets are $5 general admission, $3 for non-TCC students and senior citizens and free for TCC students, faculty and staff.
   For reservations call 817-515-6687 or e-mail NEPlayhouse @tccd.edu.