Sacramento State students will get a closer look at the murder of Wyoming college student Matthew Shepard when the Department of Theatre and Dance opens its first production of the 2002-03 season with The Laramie Project on Oct. 10.

Matthew Shepard was a homosexual college student in Laramie, Wyoming when two men he met in a bar murdered him in Oct. 1998. In the aftermath of Shepard’s Murder, playwright Moses Kaufman and the members of his Tectonic Theater Project went to the small town of Laramie.

They interviewed those who had known Shepard, those who had been against his lifestyle and those who had been connected to him through his tragic end. By using interviews and court transcripts, Kaufman and his colleagues uncovered town secrets and forced Americans to acknowledge the national epidemic of intolerance and prejudice, something that had been in a tentative spotlight after Shepard’s death.

“It’s not a play about a murder,” said director Professor Robert Smart. “It’s a play about a town.”

The play has become even better known since HBO’s movie adaptation (also by Kaufman) of it premiered last spring. But this is not the reason that it has been chosen to kick off Sac State’s 2002-03 theater season. Rather, “The Laramie Project” is a chance for theater to be informative and confront the audience with an open discussion of national attitudes and opinions,” Smart said.

This is not the first time that Kaufman has broken boundaries in his writing. In 1997, Kaufman’s first original play chronicled the trial of early 20th century playwright Oscar Wilde. Wilde’s crime? He had committed “homosexual acts.”

The Tectonic Theater Project researched the trial through old court transcripts, a process that would be repeated when the research began on “The Laramie Project.”

“Their (the Tectonic Theater Project’s) purpose was to do a different type of theater,” said Smart. They took material from documents and they created a docudrama with the help of over 200 documents concerning Shepard’s murder and the reactions of the residents of Laramie,” said Smart.

Smart finds the play fascinating and the experience of directing the play has been exhilarating.

“As a director I’ve never done this sort of play before,” he said. “It differs from other plays at Sac State in more ways than content. The rehearsals for “The Laramie Project” are being held for four weeks before opening night while other plays rehearse for six. This play is also very “actor-generated,” said Smart. Each of the eight performers will be taking on four to eight roles.

Although the subject of Shepard’s murder may not hit close to home for students here, Smart believes the play’s subject matter is “applicable to many programs on campus and that the problems of intolerance and prejudice are issues that we need to continue to address.”

“The Laramie Project” will debut at Sac State at 8 p.m. on Oct. 10 in the Playwright’s Theatre in Shasta Hall and will continue on Oct. 11-13 and 17-20.

Ticket prices range from $13 for the general public and $8 for students, senior citizens and alumni. For ticket orders call the Sac State Ticket Office at 278-4323.