"All the onstage reckoning, defensiveness and grappling toward understanding what happened and why doesn’t change the fact that Shepard died. But the power of theater does provide a sanctuary of consideration."

- Lisa Kennedy, The Denver Post

"‘The Laramie Project’ is an urgent story of resilience, remembrance and hope."

- Toni Tresca, Boulder Weekly Magazine

"Hard questions and healing at ‘The Laramie Project’

- Colorado Community Media

"Restaging of ‘Laramie Project’ at Arvada Center answers the question: is the play still relevant today."

- Eden Lane, Colorado Public Radio

"It is a sharp, well-thought-out production that uses multiple elements to tell this true story without being overly sentimental."

- OnStage Colorado review

"A solemnity envelopes you with a sense that something significant is going to happen here tonight. It does."

- Beki Pineda

When gay college student Matthew Shepard was found brutalized and tied to a fence outside Laramie, Wyoming in 1998, his death made people across the country take a hard look within. Twenty-three years after its World Premiere at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, The Laramie Project still resonates today. As America continues to grapple with hate crimes, we dive deep into a very human story of the prejudice, hatred, conflicts and contradictions revealed by Matthew’s death. 

Patchworked together from hundreds of interviews, The Laramie Project explores the reactions of sixty real-life characters at the epicenter of one of the country’s most heinous anti-gay crimes, examining the depth of human hatred and the heights of compassion and love.

CONTENT WARNING:

The Laramie Project is a play about the absence of Matthew Shepard, and neither Matthew nor his death are depicted.

This production contains strong language (swearing and inflammatory slurs), discussions of brutality and anti-gay violence, and depicting of hateful words and signs created by the Westboro Baptist Church. It is not recommended for middle school student groups for this reason.

For more specific details on the content, please contact our Box Office at 720-898-7200.