THE LARAMIE PROJECT
by Moises Kaufmann and the members of the Tectonic Theatre Company
In 1998, Matthew Shepard, a twenty-one-year-old gay student registered at the University of Wyoming, was tied to a cattle fence, beaten about the head, robbed, and left to die on a bitterly cold night in October. Eighteen hours later, he was accidentally discovered by a biker, who had trouble believing that the figure he saw attached to the fence was human. Police and ambulances were dispatched, and Shepard was taken to a local hospital; all to no avail. Shepard was beyond recovery. He never regained consciousness and died several days later due to his head injuries. Two local young men were charged with the crime.

The play is based on more than 400 interviews with about 100 Laramie residents, as well as journal entries from the members of Tectonic Theater Project and Kaufman, as they reflect on their own reactions to the crime and to the interviews they carried out. Structured as a documentary, it attempts to reenact the events that occurred on that fateful night.

Directed by Jules Dameron of Hypernovas Productions,

In the Fall of 2023, Deaf Austin Theatre will be partnering with Hypernovas Productions to produce the first professional ASL production of this powerful, award winning play. The project will include a live stage production during the fall of 2023 here in Austin.

Our stage production will be filmed and lived streamed through Broadway On Demand on October 12, 2023, in honor of the death of Matthew Shepard.

“THE LARAMIE PROJECT is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York.”

This project is produced by Deaf Austin Theatre, Hypernovas Productions and SIGNmation, and is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. Matching funding provided by the Greater Austin Foundation for the Deaf. Additional funders include: the Matthew Shepard Foundation, BEA Investment Group, and many amazing individuals through online fundraising.