On October 12, 1998 a young gay man in Laramie Wyoming was approached in one of that town’s watering holes by two young men, who offered him a lift home. He was found later severely beaten and tied to the rail of a fence several miles outside the town. He died a few days later in the hospital, never having regained consciousness. That young man was Matthew Shepard.

Shepard’s story is well known, in no small part because of this play. His killers are serving two consecutive life terms each for his brutal murder, and the world was – and continues to be - enthralled with the story.

A theatre troupe, Tectonic Theatre Project, and its artistic director, Moises Kaufman, visited Laramie over a period of a year speaking to residents about their impressions of Matthew Shepard, his killers, his death, and the effect it had on the town and townspeople. Their own impressions of these people and the town were presented in a play called simply The Laramie Project.

Calgary’s Company of Rogues Actors’ Studio recently performed the play at the University of Calgary’s Reeve Secondary Theatre.

This production is the result of the Company’s “Performance Intensive” series in which cast and crew must mount a workshop production of a script in only two weeks. In a production like The Laramie Project, the intensity is magnified in that each actor has to portray between four and seven different characters in a dialogue-heavy production. The piece is performed on a bare stage with a minimum of props and only the odd scarf, jacket or hat to denote different characters.

The actors are drama students with varying levels of experience, struggling with a profoundly emotional script, challenging characters, and reams of dialogue.

The play presents the good citizens of Laramie, warts and all. Like small town Alberta, small town Wyoming has some strong views around homosexuality and homosexuals’ “place.” The town itself is “traditional,” “Christian,” and focused on “family values.” The play traces the evolution of emotion and thought experienced by many in Laramie in the year following Matthew Shepard’s murder.

The timing of this play was interesting. The audience was sitting in a theatre in Alberta watching a play set in Wyoming while across the country, a movie about two homosexual cowboys set in Wyoming and filmed in Alberta was opening. Sometimes the universe appears to have a rather ironic twist to it. The two pieces compliment each other, however. Brokeback Mountain, while having nothing to do with the story of Matthew Shepard, could be seen as exploring the background in which Matthew Shepard likely grew up immersed.

The play is a difficult one to experience due not only to its emotional content, which at times is searing, but also to its very structure and emphasis on dialogue to carry the story forward. For an audience used to having visual images upon which to rely, and be entertained by, such a play presents major challenges. It is to the credit of the actors’ skills and commitment to the piece that the play, which clocks in at approximately two hours including intermission, holds one’s attention.

All of the actors deserve credit for their talent and ability to take on multiple and disparate, even complex, characters and not carry the characteristics of one over into the characteristics of the other. This was accomplished through superficial costume additions but also through styles of speech, accent, and body language. Two actors, though, stood out in my mind.

Ron Gregory first takes the stage as the rough-edged taxi driver who drove Matthew Shepard one night to the nearest gay bar, an hour’s drive from Laramie. Gregory also played the Reverend Fred Phelps of Westboro Baptist Church and founder of the infamous ‘God Hates Fags’ website who has gained fame, or perhaps infamy, for his penchant for showing up at the funerals of homosexuals and those who have died due to complications from AIDS, calling down fire and brimstone and loudly condemning their souls to hell. He and his family appear to take great delight in stating their God is a vengeful and hateful God who, literally, hates homosexuals and visits Divine Punishment on us through AIDS and death.

Gregory managed to relay the ‘live and let live’ attitude of the country taxi driver. This contrasted strikingly with the maniacal ravings of Phelps. He gestures impotently as friends of Matthew Shepard, dressed in angel robes and equipped with huge white linen wings – and earplugs - quietly line up in front of Phelps and his crew protesting outside Matthew’s funeral. They and extend their wings, blocking Phelps and his band of lunatics from the television cameras view.

Kirk Skog likewise was able to portray not only the redneck friend of killer Aaron McKinney with a truth anyone who grew up in a rural setting or small town immediately recognized. He was also the marginally-intelligent killer, Russell Henderson. Skog’s portrayal of a confused and frightened young man as he stood trembling and on the verge of tears as his sentence of two consecutive life terms of 25 years each was read out, revealing the tragedy of young life lost, reaching beyond just Matthew Shepard.

This was not easy material. Director Simon Mallett and the actors involved did an excellent job, with few errors, managing to express with clarity and sensitivity one of the most horrific crimes of the last decade.