September 5-21, 2025
Enter Stage Right to Bring a Message of Hope Through The Laramie Project, opening September 5
By Laura Fitzgerald
Photos by Anson Pavlov
Opening September 5, Enter Stage Right will bring to life The Laramie Project – a production of hope and resilience prevailing over grotesque acts of hate.
In 1998, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson kidnapped 21-year-old college student Matthew Shepard. They tied Matthew to a fence in the middle of the prairie outside Laramie, severely beat him, and left him to die, all simply for being gay. Matthew was discovered the next day and rushed to a nearby hospital, where he died several days later.
In the aftermath of the beating and during the trial of McKinney and Henderson, members of the New York City-based Tectonic Theater Project traveled to Laramie six times to conduct more than 200 interviews with the people of the town, including Matthew’s family and friends, the police detectives who investigated the case for more than a year, the man who found Matthew, friends and family of the perpetrators, the town judge, local clergy, and ordinary citizens.
Compiled into a breathtaking collage of humanity’s capacity for both hate and hope, The Laramie Project explores the depths to which humanity can sink and the heights of our compassion through the eyes of the people who lived through this tragedy.
The production will run from Friday – Sunday, from September 5 to 21. A special talk-back with the production’s actors and Matthew’s parents, Dennis and Judy Shepard, will take place after the show on Sunday, September 7. Tickets can be purchased for $20 for adults or $15 for youth at ESR’s website or for $25 at the door.
‘A Message of Hope’: Behind the Scenes with Director Regina Spain
Regina Spain, the production’s director, said the Laramie Project features interviews with people of all ages, genders, sexual orientations, political beliefs, races, socioeconomic statuses, and religious beliefs. She hopes the variety of backgrounds will challenge the audience’s preconceived biases and promote understanding of varying lifestyles and viewpoints.
“Typically, when you have people of different lifestyles and different environments, when you have a dislike for somebody that is not like you, almost always, it’s a lack of exposure,” she said. “So, if we can get people exposed to different aspects of the world and different viewpoints, then whether or not you agree with that viewpoint, the exposure is going to take you one step further towards understanding.”
The productions’ main message of acceptance of people of all backgrounds – but mainly those in the LGBTQ+ community – remains relevant in an era of rising hate, Spain said.
“There has never been a time when (the LGBTQ+ community) has felt safe. They’ve never been in a place where they haven’t had to defend it,” Spain said. “They’ve never been in a place where they can just be and not have to make a big deal of it and not have to wonder if this environment is ok for them to say, ‘my partner,’ or, ‘my wife’ or ‘my husband’. I do feel that in more recent days, the boldness of the hate is absolutely returning.”
From 2010 to 2019, the number of hate crime incidents recorded by law enforcement increased by 10%, from 6,628 to 7,314 incidents. By comparison, the total volume of reported crime – including both hate and nonhate incidents –decreased by 22% during the same 10-year period, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Since then, hate crimes have continued to rise. In 2022, 11,634 incidents were reported by the DOJ; numbers have stayed relatively steady since then.
While the production has been on Spain’s radar for the past decade, she felt ESR needed to build its audience – both in numbers and in their trust – before tackling such an emotionally and socio-politically complex production.
Several cast members themselves are a part of the LGBTQ+ community, and have experiences similar to their characters. During rehearsal, Spain said ESR took great care to check in on the actors’ mental health.
Including work behind the scenes, the production is the result of the hard work of about 17 artists.
“The message out of Matt’s life and out of his passing is a message of hope,” Spain said. “The message is, we can do better as humans.”
--By Laura Fitzgerald for Enter Stage Right. Fitzgerald is a freelance writer and communications specialist with years of experience living and working in the Blue Water Area. To learn more about her work, visit her website.
By Laura Fitzgerald
Photos by Anson Pavlov
Opening September 5, Enter Stage Right will bring to life The Laramie Project – a production of hope and resilience prevailing over grotesque acts of hate.
In 1998, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson kidnapped 21-year-old college student Matthew Shepard. They tied Matthew to a fence in the middle of the prairie outside Laramie, severely beat him, and left him to die, all simply for being gay. Matthew was discovered the next day and rushed to a nearby hospital, where he died several days later.
In the aftermath of the beating and during the trial of McKinney and Henderson, members of the New York City-based Tectonic Theater Project traveled to Laramie six times to conduct more than 200 interviews with the people of the town, including Matthew’s family and friends, the police detectives who investigated the case for more than a year, the man who found Matthew, friends and family of the perpetrators, the town judge, local clergy, and ordinary citizens.
Compiled into a breathtaking collage of humanity’s capacity for both hate and hope, The Laramie Project explores the depths to which humanity can sink and the heights of our compassion through the eyes of the people who lived through this tragedy.
The production will run from Friday – Sunday, from September 5 to 21. A special talk-back with the production’s actors and Matthew’s parents, Dennis and Judy Shepard, will take place after the show on Sunday, September 7. Tickets can be purchased for $20 for adults or $15 for youth at ESR’s website or for $25 at the door.
‘A Message of Hope’: Behind the Scenes with Director Regina Spain
Regina Spain, the production’s director, said the Laramie Project features interviews with people of all ages, genders, sexual orientations, political beliefs, races, socioeconomic statuses, and religious beliefs. She hopes the variety of backgrounds will challenge the audience’s preconceived biases and promote understanding of varying lifestyles and viewpoints.
“Typically, when you have people of different lifestyles and different environments, when you have a dislike for somebody that is not like you, almost always, it’s a lack of exposure,” she said. “So, if we can get people exposed to different aspects of the world and different viewpoints, then whether or not you agree with that viewpoint, the exposure is going to take you one step further towards understanding.”
The productions’ main message of acceptance of people of all backgrounds – but mainly those in the LGBTQ+ community – remains relevant in an era of rising hate, Spain said.
“There has never been a time when (the LGBTQ+ community) has felt safe. They’ve never been in a place where they haven’t had to defend it,” Spain said. “They’ve never been in a place where they can just be and not have to make a big deal of it and not have to wonder if this environment is ok for them to say, ‘my partner,’ or, ‘my wife’ or ‘my husband’. I do feel that in more recent days, the boldness of the hate is absolutely returning.”
From 2010 to 2019, the number of hate crime incidents recorded by law enforcement increased by 10%, from 6,628 to 7,314 incidents. By comparison, the total volume of reported crime – including both hate and nonhate incidents –decreased by 22% during the same 10-year period, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Since then, hate crimes have continued to rise. In 2022, 11,634 incidents were reported by the DOJ; numbers have stayed relatively steady since then.
While the production has been on Spain’s radar for the past decade, she felt ESR needed to build its audience – both in numbers and in their trust – before tackling such an emotionally and socio-politically complex production.
Several cast members themselves are a part of the LGBTQ+ community, and have experiences similar to their characters. During rehearsal, Spain said ESR took great care to check in on the actors’ mental health.
Including work behind the scenes, the production is the result of the hard work of about 17 artists.
“The message out of Matt’s life and out of his passing is a message of hope,” Spain said. “The message is, we can do better as humans.”
--By Laura Fitzgerald for Enter Stage Right. Fitzgerald is a freelance writer and communications specialist with years of experience living and working in the Blue Water Area. To learn more about her work, visit her website.
