Reflections on the Laramie Project

by Nora Matthews, Director

This fall I told many friends of mine that I would be directing The Laramie Project at my church. Without exception, they were amazed to hear it. This play simply cannot be performed in every church. It takes some courage to look at this important play, which examines the violent death of an openly gay college student and say that this is an incident that members of this church, of every church, ought to view and meditate on. Over the rehearsal period, the cast had several stimulating conversations about the many questions this play brings to light. How should people of faith view homosexuality? How should religious institutions respond to the perpetrators of violence? What constitutes an appropriate use of the death penalty? How can we learn the truth about what happens in our world in the face of an increasingly sensationalistic media? How is it that children who grow up in tight religious communities can still be lured by illicit drugs and violence? How safe do Americans feel in their own communities, and are some less safe than others? We do not profess to have clear answers to these questions, but it is an enormous gift to have a place to be part of the asking. I personally am staggered to think how blessed I was to be able to direct this play here, in my spiritual home.

The Laramie Project is a dramatization of over 200 interviews of Laramie residents and Poudre Valley Hospital employees in the year and a half following Matthew Shepard's death on October 12, 1998. The interviewees include college students, religious leaders, civil servants, convicted criminals, medical professionals, members of the media, and many others. Every person seeing the play finds someone in The Laramie Project that they relate to, and someone with whom they strongly disagree. There are no saints in this play, only human beings. We performed this drama in our Meetinghouse to ask how human beings of all faiths can and ought to respond to "the magnitude of some people's hate," something that affects us all.

What touched me most about this play is its treatment of religion. Religious issues weave throughout the play, illuminating the spiritual responses many different people had to this event. We live in a time when our own United Church of Christ's commercial promoting tolerance is deemed "controversial," and when ours and many other denominations are being divided and even torn apart by the issue of homosexuality. Perhaps taking time to study, struggle with, and pray over the death of Matthew Shepard is an extremely appropriate way to spend our time.

This production was sponsored by Seeds of Hope, a small group in the church that works to foster awareness, communication, educational opportunities, and action regarding our role as compassionate Christians living in a small, small world and taking seriously Jesus' statement, "Whatever you do to even the least of my brothers and sisters, you do to me. " You are all invited to attend our next Seeds of Hope meeting on Sunday, April 3 at 7:30PM.