The year was 1998, in the town of Laramie Wyoming where young homosexual man, Mathew Shepard was found brutally beaten and tied to a fence, unconscious. He was quickly rushed to the hospital were after surviving a five day coma, he dies.
This true event and the forthcoming local and national reactions afterwards are depicted in the play entitled “The Laramie Project.” The events surrounding the death of Matthew Shepard, from his last days on earth to the trials of his killers and onward are reenacted through the memories and accounts of the towns people of Laramie Wyoming according to interviews done by a New York City Theatre company that went down to Laramie shortly after the events happened.
This play about tolerance, love and acceptance as well as the reality of bigotry and hatred has been played for audiences nationwide and has since been made into a major motion picture of the same name. On November 13th, Bakersfield College will join these ranks when director Kimberly Chin and a cross section of BC students bring this play to Bakersfield.
“I saw the movie three times and although to be honest I don’t truly remember the events,” says Jared Ridgeway, 22, who plays numerous characters, including one of the Shepard’s killers, “My friend got me interested in doing the play. So I thought I would give it a try and surprisingly I got it.”
Another actor, Davis Smith, portrays various other characters in the play including Shepard’s father and the conservative minded reverend that preaches heavily against the homosexual lifestyle.
“I’m simply portraying a character here, and as such I may not agree with him, in fact I disagree strongly with what he agrees,” says Smith of the reverend character, “There was a point where I felt really bad about saying some of the things he says in this, very strong, very objectionable and abusive. At times, I felt like I should apologies.”
Directing the play is Theatre teacher, Kimberly M. Chin, 34, who has been at the College since 2000, was quite interested in bringing this play to BC.
“At the time the murder took place, I was in graduate school, I was not watching television or reading the newspaper back then so I only heard about this horrible event through my friends,” Says Chin. “Now that I am teaching here I have had a lot more time to learn more about the events that happened and figure out what I had heard was true and what was fictional.”
Chin also hopes that people will come and challenge themselves to see this play as it is a very emotional one. It will hopefully get you thinking. With the cast playing multiple characters this play has presented a large challenge both technically and emotionally.
The play will run for two separate weekends, starting November 13th until the 16th and then again on the 20th through the 22nd in the BC indoor theatre. The shows start at 4p.m. and tickets are $8 for general admission and $5 for students and seniors.