The Laramie Project success continues

The phenomenal success of The Laramie Project continues, with 19 professional US productions currently running as well as 440 performances scheduled for high schools, colleges and amateur companies over the next six months. The doco-play about the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard has also been performed off-Broadway, although The New York Times reports that one recent high school production in Newark, California, has proved horrifically memorable and timely. Newark was the hometown of transgendered teenager Eddie Araujo Jr, found dead in a shallow grave on 16 October, having been beaten and strangled. Four former students of Newark Memorial High School have been charged with the hate crime. Moises Kaufman (who devised The Laramie Project with the Tectonic Theater Project) was present at the school’s opening night performance, and was told by students, Oh my God, we’re Laramie. A published edition of the playtext has also been set on the freshman curriculum at the University of Maryland, on a list which has included The Diary Of Anne Frank.