This Pride Month, a Pueblo theater company is attempting to spark conversations by performing a play about the 1998 murder of a gay man in Wyoming.
The Tectonic Theater Project created The Laramie Project, a documentary-style play. The production delves into the community’s reaction to the murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming.
Shepard was a gay man who attended the University of Wyoming. Two men were found guilty of brutally beating Shepard and leaving him tied to a fence to die in October 1998.
Shepard’s murder was widely regarded as a hate crime, although some claim it was drug-related.
The play reenacts over 60 interviews with Laramie residents who discuss the murder’s impact on the town.
The characters are a diverse group of people with opposing views on gay rights, including a Baptist minister, police officers, a doctor, a bartender, and college students.
“I think that these conversations are really important, especially as we’re looking at some hate crimes against trans people,” said Andrea Garrett, managing director of Steel City Theatre Company.
Garrett stated that the theater company has received numerous negative comments on social media posts promoting the production.
“Not a lot of the commenters have been local to Pueblo,” Garrett told me. “The majority of it has just been comments like, ‘That lifestyle is wrong. “I don’t appreciate this lifestyle,’ but I’m not talking about the show specifically.”
She said the backlash is a stark reminder of the challenges the LGBTQ+ community still faces in today’s world.
Several cast members stated that the overall goal of the play is to convey the widespread impact of Shepard’s murder.
“I think the message here is not only presenting Matthew Shepard’s story, but also everyone else’s story around it,” said Zachary Price, one of the play’s actors.
“I just think it’s very important to do this now to show people, ‘Hey, this is what’s going on.'” “This is still an issue, and we should be concerned,” said cast member Macie Gross.
The Steel City Theatre Company on North Main Street in downtown Pueblo will host The Laramie Project from June 12 to 21.
