Proceeds from the first performance of “The Laramie Project” at High School South on Thursday, November 16, at 8 p.m. will be donated to the Matthew Shepard Foundation.
The story is about Matthew Shepard, a university student who was kidnapped, beaten, and tied to a fence near Laramie, Wyoming, in 1998. His subsequent death was considered a hate crime sparked by homophobia. The actors present more than 60 characters from the interviews, journal entries, and news reports covering the event.
The director, Roseann Lucarine, teaches advanced drama, speech and drama, and language arts. She has been in the district for five years. Kimberly Hudak, the assistant director and producer, teaches dramatic arts and language arts including gender roles in literature. She has been at South for five years.
The idea to perform “The Laramie Project” was mutually agreed upon by Lucarine and Hudak after they met Judy Shepard, the mother of Matthew Shepard, when she spoke to the freshmen class at South last spring.
Cast members include Marc Lyons, Blake Eisenberg, Manish Modi, Sasha Soundrarajan, Katia Sherman, Katie Taaffe, Ryan Alonzo, Jesse Lee, Matt Hasling, Sam Zimbler, Kelly Fisher, Annie Stuart, Christine Ogelsby, Ethan Fishbane, Kristin Robinson, and Gary Verma. The student director is Nikhita Thaper.
“I was looking for a concrete way to teach and inform the student body and community about hate crimes since I am currently enrolled in a two-year master teacher program at the Institute for Holocaust Studies at Rutgers,” says Hukak.
The Laramie Project, High School South, Clarksville Road, West Windsor, 609-716-5050. www.ww-p.org. For mature audiences only. $5. Thursday-Saturday, November 16-18, 8 p.m
