Tectonic Theater Project
On 6 October 1998 Matthew Shepard was beaten and left to die tied to a fence in the outskirts of Laramie, Wyoming. He died 6 days later. His torture and murder became a watershed historical moment in America that highlighted many of the fault lines in our culture.
A month after the murder the members of Tectonic Theater Project traveled to Laramie and conducted interviews with the people of the town. From these interviews they wrote the play "The Laramie Project". The piece has been seen by more than 30 million people around the country.
Cultural depictions of Matthew Shepard
"Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine" is a 2012 documentary directed by Michele Josue, a former friend of Matthew Shepard, which documents the personal life of Matthew Shepard through interviews with friends and family members. In an interview with the "Gay Times", Michele commented that Matthew Shepard "became this icon of the LGBT community but in the process he was being stripped away. I had this obligation to tell the world what he was like as a human being and share his story in an honest way. The only way to do that was to make my film." "Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine" premiered simultaneously at both the Mill Valley Film Festival and the Washington National Cathedral on October 4, 2013.