Matthew Shepard was attacked 10 years ago today...

[CapnHook]

Posted: 10/7/08 at 10:46am

...and there is no media coverage. Not even a mention on Ellen. Now I know that there are MAJOR news items out there right now, but still, no room for a mention of Matthew? I don't even see any Facebook groups. Quite sad.

I am directing a production of DOG SEES GOD (a play dealing with bullying of a homosexual) and today we begin tablework. I am showing the HBO film THE LARAMIE PROJECT.

Updated On: 10/7/08 at 10:46 AM

[tazber]

Posted: 10/7/08 at 11:02am

He did make the news, but not for the reason I'd have hoped for

Updated On: 10/7/08 at 11:02 AM

[lildogs]

Posted: 10/7/08 at 11:19am

His mother was on GMA (or some morning show) yesterday.

I still don't understand the resistance to hate crimes legislation--people say it's thought policing, but the motive behind crimes is given consideration all the time like justifiable homicide and crimes of self-defense and the Germans have laws against certain forms of Nazi expression, why should this crime be any different?

Any one of us could have been Matthew.

[StockardFan]

Posted: 10/7/08 at 11:20am

Well, I will say a prayer in his memory today.

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 10/7/08 at 1:48pm

there is a great article in the Advocate about it this month, made me cry. In a good way. i loved, also, what one interviewee had to say about calling this year an "anniversary".

http://www.advocate.com/issue_story_ektid62429.asp


Tectonic (LARAMIE PROJECT, THREE TRIALS OF OSCAR WILDE) is also returning to Laramie for more interviews and a follow-up production, which i really look forward to. There was also a piece in NYC, by Phil Hall i believe, based on Passion plays, which was called ST. MATTHEW'S PASSION or some such. i'd love to see that. One section of a Paul Rudnick compilation evening also featured Shepherd, but i can't recall the title or the evening's title, though it might have been RUDE ENTERTAINMENT. The memory is vague, but i somehow recall it featuring Paul Lynde, somehow.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 10/7/08 at 1:52pm

We should never forget this story, nor the thousands of stories like it.

I hope someone mentions it in the debate tonight, but who knows?

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 10/7/08 at 2:15pm

JERBY i think that Phil Hall is from Houston or worked a lot here, too.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/7/08 at 3:49pm

He would be 32...33 on December 1st.

[DBillyP]

Posted: 10/7/08 at 4:56pm

TTS, it is called "Matthew Passion."

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 10/7/08 at 5:13pm

thanx, did you see it? i think a new acquaintance, Craig Ramsay, was in it.

[snl89]

Posted: 10/7/08 at 7:24pm

wow... I kind of am very surprised and upset that there is no coverage of this. It's a big deal in my mind.

Just for the record:
The Laramie Project= probably the single most powerful piece of theater I've ever seen to date, and the performance was done by my high school

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 10/7/08 at 7:38pm

SNL, it is very rare that LARAMIE does not hit that way. In fact, there was a high school production that was somewhat censored or cancelled (not sure of the details/circumstances, but it reminded me of another production of SHADOW BOX with the same challenges) that was then sponsored off campus and made a real statement. Kudos to your high school for putting the show on.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 10/7/08 at 8:08pm

Fred Phelps, Jr. and his followers came to my high school to protest our production of THE LARAMIE PROJECT. One of the most awful memories I have is standing 20 feet away -- just across the street -- from 8 year old kids holding signs that said "GOD HATES FAGS!" and "AIDS IS GOD'S PUNISHMENT" and "JESUS WANTED 9/11 TO HAPPEN!"

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 10/7/08 at 8:10pm

did you guys surround them with angels as happens within the play?

[Q]

Posted: 10/7/08 at 8:12pm

I can't believe this was ten years ago. I lived in Denver at the time, and many of us went up to Laramie to participate in the memorial. One of the most chilling moments of my life was standing right in front of those 'people', and seeing the hate manifested in their eyes.

And the fight continues. Now I live in SoCal, and we have the King murder to contend with - 'it's ok if I shoot you in the back of the head, just because I don't like that you're gay'.

We have a LONG way to go.

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 10/7/08 at 8:27pm

read that Advocate article about what has happened in the bigger world of hate-crime legislation since; not where it should be, but not where it was. What the Laramie police chief had to say about his life since Shepherd was one of the things that got me crying.

There is also a great new play in LA, called THIS BEAUTIFUL CITY, which takes some of the same approach as Laramie, but with Colorado Springs as the focus. It also has a great new score, and all six performers sing wonderfully. Check it out, at the Kirk Douglas theatre in Culver City, run by the Center Theatre Group. i hope that show hits off-B'way, it's amazing.