Don't Miss: 'The Laramie Project' At North Fork Community Theatre

MATTITUCK, NY — Live theater is back after a long pandemic pause, and the North Fork Community Theatre is presenting a work that's both moving and thought-provoking.

"The Laramie Project," by Moisés Kaufman and the Members of Tectonic Theater Project is a "seminal work of documentary theater. Hailed as a captivating and encompassing piece of contemporary theater, 'The Laramie Project 'shocks, challenges and moves audiences profoundly as it reveals the lowest depths of hatred and the greatest heights of compassion that lie within the people of this typical American community now dealing with the horrific trauma of an unconscionable hate crime in their own backyard," the NFCT said.

According to a synopsis of the show by the NFCT: "On October 6, 1998, in Laramie, Wyoming, a 21-year-old gay college student named Matt Shepard was kidnapped, savagely beaten, tied to a fence and left to die. 18 hours later, barely breathing but alive, he was miraculously found by a kid riding his bicycle. On October 12, 1998, after five days in a coma, at a hospital in Colorado, his family by his side, Matt Shepard died."

And, the synopsis continued: "A month later, Moisés Kaufman and members of Tectonic Theater Project in New York traveled to Laramie to interview a community in shock, struggling to make sense of what happened. They would return to Laramie six times in the course of a year, seeking perspective in the aftermath of this tragedy. Over 200 of those verbatim interviews were then edited and crafted to become an astonishing piece of documentary theater, revealing the complicated impasse of a broken community torn between the wreckages of hate and glimmers of hope."

The cast includes Nicholas Auletti, Esmeralda Cabrera, Julia Cappiello, Tom Ciorciari, Michael Colt, Jennifer Eager, Raven Janoski, King Johnson, Charles E. Lehner, Christian Lepore, Mike Mraz, Laura J. Pearsall, Wendy Peterson, Suzette Delia Reiss, Stuart Whalen.

The production team features director Huck Hirsch, assistant directors Justin Harris and Christian Lepore, production manager Peter Peterson, stage manager Thomas DeAngelo, scenic design by Stephen Ness, costumes by Diane Peterson, tech consultant Liz Liszanckie and dramaturg Wendy Peterson.

Remaining performances include Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m.; a talk back will take place Friday. Tickets cost $20 and are available here; tickets are also available by phone 631-298-6328 and at the box office starting an hour before performances.