'Laramie Project' Kicks Off New Era for North Farmington Theater

senior Paige Setsuda, 17, remembered hearing about Wyoming college student Matthew Shepard, who was murdered in 1998 by two men who targeted him because he was gay.

But she didn't really understand the story and its implications for her own life before she took on multiple roles in North's production of The Laramie Project, which opens at 7:30 p.m. Thursday on the stage of North Farmington's Cobb Center for the Performing Arts. 

"It made me kind of define who I am and the opinions I want to have," Setsuda said. "I want to be heard. I don't want to be in the shadows and not caring."

Written by by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project, The Laramie Project shares perspectives from 70 characters drawn through interviews conducted with residents of Laramie, WY, after the murder. Director Samantha Feldman, a 2007 North graduate, is working with a cast of 30 students, who play multiple roles.

Setsuda plays two characters who knew Russell Henderson, one of the two men convicted of torturing and murdering Shepard, leaving him hanging from a fence on a rural road. Shepard was found hours later by Aaron Kreifels, played in the North production by Aaliyah Brown, a junior who was 3 years old when the murder occurred.

Not only had Brown never heard of the case, but this is her first play with North's theater program.

"It's kind of cool to play a role that's so emotional the first time," she said, adding that the play wasn't what she expected it to be. The play is more a series of monologues, rather than a set in which cast members interact on stage.

Still, Brown said, being involved has affected the way she reacts when people start labeling others. "When I hear it in school," she said, "now I notice it more often, and I say something about it."

Students may toss out phrases such as, "that's so gay," or call someone or something "retarded," without thinking much of it, Feldman said. One of the troupe's goals with the performance is to draw attention to the way name-calling or labeling can escalate, she added.

To take it one step further, $2 from every ticket sold will be donated to Defeat the Label, a nonprofit organization that creates awareness of bullying issues among middle school- and high school-age students.

While she's new to the director's chair, Feldman performed in about a dozen shows under the direction of Dean and Sue Cobb, who retired this past spring. Feldman worked as their assistant for the in March. In selecting this year's first production, she read scripts and worked with new North Principal Joe Greene.

"With bullying issues being so prevalent right now, we decided this would be an excellent story to show how that can escalate into tragedy," she said.

Feldman said the school community at North has "just embraced the whole thing. It's been nothing but support, and that just shows what kind of community this is."

Performances start at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Tickets will be available at the door and cost $12.