POTTSTOWN >> Matthew Shepard was a gay man, tortured and left for dead tied to a fence post outside Laramie, Wyo., in 1998.
The horror of his death, and that of James Byrd the same year – Byrd was an African-American dragged behind a pickup truck and decapitated by two white supremacists – led to new federal hate crimes legislation in 2009, and to a performance that opens at Steel River Playhouse on Friday.
Consideration of the issues raised in that performance will be augmented by Jason Marsden, a friend of Matthew Shepard and the executive director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, who will lead a discussion on hate crimes after Friday and Saturday night’s performances.
The mission of that foundation is to “erase hate by replacing it with understanding, compassion and acceptance” and Marsden has served as its leader since it was founded in 2009.
After Saturday’s performance, Marsden will be joined by Rachel Stevenson, president of the board of directors of the LGBT Equality Alliance of Chester County, which will also benefit from a 50/50 raffle held at the performances.
“This was the first show I chose for the season and the rest of the season was built around this show,” said Leena Devlin, the theater’s artistic director.
The issues the show raises have taken on a certain immediacy with the recent decision by the Trump administration to pull back bathroom rules protecting transgender people and the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the case of a transgender teen as a result.
“The Laramie Project” is a play, more a series of monologues, written after hundreds of hours of interviews with residents of Laramie undertaken after Sheppard’s death.
In preparing for the show, Devlin said the playhouse staff “Skyped” with Marsden about Sheppard and the foundation that bears his name.
“When we were finished, we were talking about how engaging Jason was and how great it would be to have him here in Pottstown to give the show more context,” she said.
“We called him back and asked if he did that sort of thing, and he said sure,” Devlin said. To help engage the community in the project, the Steel River decided to ask for donations to cover Marsden’s travel expenses from Colorado.
By Tuesday, all but about $50 was covered, she said.
“I really wanted the community to have a stake in this, because nationally and even here in Pottstown, people can live inside their own bubbles and not understand issues faced by those who are different than they are,” Devlin said. “We want to help foster those discussions in a positive way.”
That’s also why the theater has signed on to be part of the “Ghostlight Project,” a group of theaters across the nation working to emphasize that “the theater is a ‘safe place’ to be artistically expressive and to participate as an individual,” she said.
“I truly believe this is part of our mission here at Steel River. Certainly its not all we do, but we want to be a resource that helps the community explore the issues we face on a deeper level,” Devlin said.
The opening night reception begins at 6:30 p.m. Friday and on Saturday, when a wine and cheese reception will welcome the LGBT Equality Alliance of Chester County.
The show runs through March 26 with 11 performances. Showtime is 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday and matinees are at 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
Tickets are $29 for adults, $24 for seniors and $17 for students. To order tickets online or for more information visit www.steelriver.org or call 610-970-1199.
