The Laramie Project

When we first started reading The Laramie Project in class, I had no idea even who Matthew Shepard was nor anything about him.  Matthew was a gay man living in Laramie, Wyoming during his early twenties.  He was considered a local to most and would often go to bars on the weekends.  He was then beaten to death by two men that were against gay people.  He was left tied to a rope in the dark of the night with no one to hear his cry for help.  The play, The Laramie Project, is put together with a series of moments with interviews with people about what they saw and their opinions on this horrible tragedy.  I felt sad but at the same time interested in what people had to say about the murder when I was reading the book. 

When I was reading the play, to think of someone being killed for what they believe in put a knot in my stomach.  I was horrified when it described when the parents visited the site of their son’s death and saw that there was not much to be seen besides the vast sky filled with stars.  They also described what they thought he saw in his last moments with the city of Laramie in the background.  Also, when the murderers described what they thought had happened that night was hard to read.  They said that Matthew had approached them for a ride home and that Matthew was feeling the driver up as he was in the middle.  The driver told him to stop but he refused and beat him up with the help of his friend.  I find this hard to believe.  I don’t think anything would make a stranger that anger in order to beat him up so much and to have killed him.  

It is sometimes hard to believe the people that were interviewed for the play because of the whole media concept in and of itself.  People will do many things to become famous or not famous  When people were interviewed some would say that they would rather not say what they truly believe and how they feel about it; as if they were holding back what could be important details.  It makes me think that many details are missing and that people might have exaggerated or not elaborated enough on some of their stories.  

I thought it was an interesting way to describe the events and reaction regarding the murder of Matthew Shepard.  The story line was intriguing and kept me interested throughout the play.  Because it had so many different characters in the play, it was at times confusing to keep everyone straight on who they were and what purpose they served.  I think why Matthew was killed is an unreasonable death and that no one should have to suffer because of the sexuality.  

Overall, I feel horrible for the Shepard family and I can only imagine what they had to go through.  A death is an irreplaceable person and because he was only 21 years old I feel like he had so much more to live.  I think that the play was a good thing to read to keep everyone updated and how one death can affect so many people that you would never expect; even those still reading the play today.