Stages Bloomington presents The Laramie Project at Waldron Arts Center Auditorium, 122 S. Walnut Street, Bloomington, IN, 47404.

October 6 – 8, 2023
October 6th at 7:00 pm
October 7th at  2:00pm and 7:00 pm
October 8th at 2:00 pm

Tickets: $21 Adult/12.50 Youth (17 and under)
Recommended for ages 14 and up.

In October 1998, a twenty-one-year-old student at the University of Wyoming was kidnapped, beaten, and left tied to a fence in the middle of the prairie outside Laramie, Wyoming. His bloody, bruised, and battered body was not discovered until the next day, and he died several days later in an area hospital. His name was Matthew Shepard, and he was the victim of this assault because he was gay.

The Laramie Project presents a deeply complex portrait of a community’s response to the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard. In a series of poignant reflections, the residents of Laramie react to the hate crime and surrounding media storm with anger, bewilderment and sorrow. The play portrays the seismic and deeply personal impact Matthew’s death had on this small town while also demonstrating the power of the human spirit to triumph over bigotry and violence.

Moisés Kaufman and fellow members of the Tectonic Theater Project made six trips to Laramie over the course of a year and a half, in the aftermath of the beating and during the trial of the two young men accused of killing Shepard.  They conducted more than 200 interviews with the people of the town. The play draws on hundreds of interviews conducted by the theatre company with inhabitants of the town, company members’ own journal entries, and published news reports. It is divided into three acts, and eight actors portray more than sixty characters in a series of short scenes.

​There will be a talkback immediately following the opening night performance (10/6).

Advisory: This play is based on a true story and includes strong language and mature content that some may find upsetting, including descriptions of homophobia, violence and death.

Recommended for ages 14 and up. For additional information please visit www.stagesbloomington.org

Doors open 45 minutes before each showing. Will-call is available at the Bloom Box Office at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. Will-call tickets are available for pick up at the Bloom Box Office at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater until approximately three hours before your selected performance time during normal Bloom Box Office hours.  After that time, your tickets will be available directly from Stages Bloomington at the Waldron Arts Center, 122 S. Walnut Street starting 45 minutes before your ticketed event. The Bloom Box office is closed on Sundays. If tickets are not sold out they will be available for purchase at the door of the event.