“The Laramie Project” at Huron High

The stage in Huron High School’s theater is stark, as is the play that students are rehearsing: A community coming to grips with the murder of Matthew Shepard, an openly gay college student who was murdered in Laramie, Wyoming, 11 years ago.

“The Laramie Project,” which opens Friday, was a choice that several students in the Huron Players theater group advocated for, says director BJ Wallingford, and one that he’s personally wanted to do for years. The play is not without controversy – it’s one that is frequently protested by the ultra-conservative Westboro Baptist Church, and were it not for efforts by the Ann Arbor Police Department, protesters would have descended on Huron High as well. More on that later.

At a rehearsal on Monday, actors went through their paces and the technical crew worked out glitches in lighting and audio in the school’s new theater, which opened last fall. The play itself is powerful, a challenge for both actors and the audience in confronting people with attitudes and beliefs that often differ fundamentally from their own.

“I don’t think it’s a gay play,” Wallingford said. “I think it’s a play about hatred.” Written by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project, the play is based on hundreds of interviews they did with townspeople, reporters and others after Shepard’s death. It explores the hatred leveled against Shepard and homosexuals, Wallingford said, but the same themes would apply to hatred against other groups, including women, blacks, Jews or any minority that has been the target of anger and discrimination.

Students have been working on the show for two months, with each of the 23 actors taking on several roles. (In the original production, eight actors played nearly 70 parts.) They use minimalist props or costumes – a hat, a Bible, a backpack – to indicate their role change. The only real piece of set scenery is a fence, evoking the one that Shepard was tied to when his attackers left him for dead, after brutally beating him. (At Monday’s rehearsal, the crew was still working on the fence in the theater’s workshop – benches served as a substitute on stage.) Wallingford said they kept the set simple, not wanting to gloss over the content by prettying up the stage.

The content of the play has provided fodder for some deep discussions among the cast, Wallingford said. It’s been a way to examine beliefs, to try to understand views that differ from your own, to reflect on the consequences of hatred, he said: “We’re doing what we hope the audience will do.”

Some of the technical bits are challenging, as are some glitches of the new theater, which seats about 200. On Monday, for example, the air vents above the stage had opened automatically, letting in light and cold air – Wallingford wasn’t sure how that happened, but he wasn’t particularly surprised, either.

Nor was he surprised when Westboro Baptist announced plans to protest “The Laramie Project.” The church typically targets any production of the play – their leader, Rev. Fred Phelps, is featured in the production – and they were on hand to protest when the University of Michigan performed the play in 2005. What Wallingford was most concerned about was a counterprotest – he’d heard from people in the Ann Arbor community who wanted to demonstrate against the Westboro group, and he feared that things could get out of control.

Someone at the Ann Arbor Police Department (Wallingford wasn’t sure who) contacted the church and persuaded them not to protest. The Chronicle was unsuccessful in finding out who took that step – we weren’t able to reach anyone at the AAPD who knew about it.

“The Laramie Project” will be performed at Huron High School on Feb. 6-7 and Feb. 13-14 – all shows begin at 7:30 p.m. More details are on the Huron Players website. After the performances on Feb. 6 and 13, there will be a reception with the cast and the school’s Gay and Straight Alliance.