Students at Cesar Chavez High School spent three months preparing to perform The Laramie Project , but just hours before the scheduled opening, the school’s administration postponed the production due to the “seriousness of the play’s content.”
The play tells the story of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay college student whose 1998 murder in Laramie, Wyoming, became a defining moment in the fight against hate crimes.
“It’s technically a pretty tough piece to produce, because there are lots and lots of characters, so most of the students were acting multiple parts. And just in terms of getting that quality of theater out of a group of high school students, it is dazzling, and the kids themselves were wonderful,” said Cesar Chavez High School English teacher Whitney Johnson.
Many of Johnson’s students are in the play and she went to see the preview of the production Thursday night.
“I’m not exaggerating when I say they moved me to tears. I was sobbing by the end of the play because it was so powerful,” Johnson said.