Albert College students perform The Laramie Project

By Amielle Christopherson

BELLEVILLE, Ont. (10/02/12) - Cast members from Albert College hold up signs during the play, The Laramie Project, held Friday and Saturday evenings. The play covers the murder of Matthew Shepard in Wyoming in 1998 and talks about heavy topics such as religion, homosexuality and hate crimes. Photo by Amielle Christopherson

Students from Albert College received a standing ovation for their performance of The Laramie Project on Saturday evening.

The play was written by the Tony Award-winning playwright Moisés Kaufman and is based on more than 200 interviews that he and the members of Tectonic Theatre Company conducted. It has gone on to become one the most performed plays in North America.

Matthew Shepard was a 21-year-old University of Wyoming student who died in 1998 because of wounds he suffered when he was attacked because he was gay.

The cast of 16 students acted in more than 60 parts and performed for their fellow students Thursday, and for the public on Friday and Saturday.

In Albert College, where the audience was concentrated in the front rows reserved for family of the cast members, the only sound was that of the lines being said and the humming as the spotlights switched. Other than the rare moments of humour, the space was quiet for the duration of the three-hour, three-act play.

“We learned a lot about how totally opposed people were to that kind of thing,” said student and cast member Emily Hoffman, “How totally, insanely and obsessively [against] people could be to what was going on. And we didn’t realize that that was something that happened.”

Cast members also noted that it’s not a problem that’s been fixed in the last 14 years.

“Even the fact that it had happened so many years ago, it’s something that’s still happening today,” said student Julie Burns.

“People are protesting gay soldiers at their funerals. So it’s just kind of bringing all that together, that it’s still happening today,” Burns said.

Teacher and director Leslie Austin-Profit was happy with how supportive and positive the school community was toward the students putting on the play.

“In the media lately, there’s been a lot of sad news about young people, cyber-bullying and bullying often related to homophobia and kids taking their own lives, and I just thought that it was relevant to what is happening today,” she said.

As she and her students discussed the play and some of the things that had come out of the violent incident, they covered the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act that President Barack Obama signed into law in 2009 and how it was a reflection of positive change.

While they did cut some of the harsh language out of the script, they did keep the derogatory language against gays.

“We felt we had to keep because there is the lesson that, as the priest says, ‘They’re the seeds of violence,’” Austin-Profit said. “And it’s been very supportive. Not a single person in three nights’ performances has said anything other than it was positive.”