On Thursday, November 9th through Saturday, November 11th, the Harwood Theater Department put on “The Laramie Project.” For those who showed up, the audience was moved by the strong message embedded into the production.  

“The Laramie Project” is a play based on real life events where the Tectonic Theater department went to Laramie, Wyoming to conduct interviews with the townspeople about the murder of Mathew Shepard, who was killed because he was gay by Aaron Mckinney and Russel Henderson.  

In addition to the actors on stage, the play could not have gone on without the following people behind the scenes. The play was put on by Scott Weigand as director; Otis Neville, Harwood alum, as tech; Ben Goldhammer, Harwood freshman, who did lights; and Grady Hagenbuch and Cali Neville, Harwood sophomore and freshman, respectively, who stage managed.  

The play had three acts ending with Mathew Shepard father’s courthouse speech, which was bound to have some people crying at the end.  

On the last night of the performance the actors prepared a thank you to their director and read it on stage after their performance.  They read, “To our director Scott: We wanted to thank you for choosing to put on this play, and we will keep this short because we know you hate this kind of thing.  We know this play means a lot to a lot of people, including us, and we appreciate you for having the courage to put on the show.  Sincerely, the Cast and Crew.”