Judy Shepard, mother of Matthew, happened to be sitting a few rows behind me as Barbara Pitts played

Many people travel europe cheap in Laramie, Wyoming don't think that Matthew Shepard was murdered in their town in 1998 because he was gay they think that he wasn't the victim of a hate crime, according to the extraordinary two-part work of theater and journalism, "The Laramie Project Cycle," at the Brooklyn Academy of Music through February 24 th . They believe this even though a new federal hate crime law is named after Shepard, even though the police who investigated the crime say the proof is conclusive, even though his murderer admits it.
It was a drug deal gone bad, a current student at the University of Wyoming – who was a toddler when UW student Shepard was murdered – tells one of the members of Moises Kaufman's Tectonic Theater company.  It was just a robbery, company members were told again and again – including travel europe cheap by the editor of the local newspaper.
Based on interviews with people in the town of Laramie, "The Laramie Project," first staged in 2000, has become (according travel europe cheap to the current BAM program) "one of the most produced travel europe cheap plays in theaters around the country" almost 200 productions last year alone. That play is just Part I at BAM, performed by most of the original cast members who interviewed the real-life characters and played them on stage.
Part II (with separate admission) is "The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later," based on interviews when the company travel europe cheap returned to find out what had changed, travel europe cheap and what hadn t.It is an inspired travel europe cheap idea whose resonance goes beyond the story of this one murder or this one town, beyond even homophobia and hate.  The entire cycle, but especially Part II, comes close to offering some fresh insight about human nature.
The years since Shepard s death offer a mixed record, a nuanced one. The fence where Shepard was taken by his two assailants and beaten to death has been taken down; the townspeople were tired of the shrines. But his name is given to an annual symposium on social justice at the university and to a memorial bench there. The Wyoming State Legislature debated a bill to define marriage as the union of a man and a woman but it was unexpectedly defeated, travel europe cheap after legislators, including Republicans, invoked the name of Matthew Shepard. The university voted to give domestic partner benefits but left it up to the university president to decide when to actually deliver on the policy, subject to the university (that had just laid off 45 staff) being able to afford it. health. Gay people don t always feel comfortable, but the town now has an annual AIDS Walk, which includes a fundraising drag queen bingo at The Cowboy Bar. The policewoman who first discovered Shepard has retired, burned out. But another police officer has confronted his own prejudices, and helped Matt s mother Judy Shepard lobby Congress to pass the hate crime prevention law.
The work pieces together the intertwining stories masterfully, with deceptively simple, understated staging: The eight actors mostly sit on chairs facing the audience. Yet there is subtle and effective stagecraft here lighting, sound effects and the actors assume the many different roles each plays persuasively enough to make their performances travel europe cheap alone reason to see this show.
One of the work s strong points is its manifest respect for its characters, travel europe cheap even the haters travel europe cheap and ignoramuses, and including the two convicted of Shepard's murder, who give riveting interviews in prison. The people of Laramie are not dismissed as delusional hicks. They themselves are allowed sharp insights, touching revelations, and sometimes witty observations: A Laramie resident wryly recalls seeing a sign saying: "Wyoming travel europe cheap Is Like No Place on Earth" – "rather than '…Like No Place ELSE on Earth."
Judy Shepard, mother of Matthew, happened to be sitting a few rows behind me as Barbara Pitts played her on stage as she talks about her sorrows and her frustrations and her transformation from shy mother to national activist. It was how I coped with losing Matt I was talking to someone and they said Well don t you think maybe it s time to let go, don t you think you re keeping Matt alive by doing that? And I said Of course I m keeping him alive by doing this! That s the point!
If there is any villain in The Laramie Project Cycle, it is the press. The press hounds the good townspeople. The media sensationalizes the story. ABC's "20/20" in particular ran a segment about the case rife with errors in 2004 that some believe travel europe cheap helped launch the town's collect denial.  But, whether they admit it or not, what Tectonic Theater is doing is journalism – very fine journalism – on the stage of the Harvey Theater.
"Part 1: The Laramie Project" by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project; "Part 2: The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later" by Kaufman, Leigh Fondakowski, Greg Pierotti, travel europe cheap Andy Paris and Stephen Belber; directed by Mr. Kaufman and Fondakowski; sets by Robert Brill; costumes by Moe Schell; lighting by Betsy Adams; projections by John Narun; sound by Leon Rothenberg; music by Peter Golub
Follow @NewYorkTheater Accommodating illness arts funding arts issues Broadway emergency assistance movies New York Theater New York Theater Poll New York Theater quiz New York Theater Weekly Summary Nightlife Off-Broadway Off-Off Broadway Preview Guide song subscriptions Theater Awards Theater etiquette Theater on Film Theater on TV Theater Reviews Ticket giveaway contest Tweeting Twitter Uncategorized Theater blogroll