Our Opinion: It’s November, drivers; be extra cautious to avoid deer collisions

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Happy birthday to Carter Michael Morrissey!

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Confronted with an unwelcome sexual advance, a person could just say no &#8212; or perhaps, no thank you.</p><p>Aaron McKinney had another response in October 1998 near Laramie, Wyoming. He and his buddy Russell Henderson tied 20-year-old college student Matthew Shepard to a split-rail fence, beat him and left him to die, claiming they went into a panic because of a sexual pass Shepard had made at McKinney when the two men were giving him a ride home from a bar.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s an antiquated defense,&#8221; said local actor Eric Lutz, who portrays McKinney &#8212; and Henderson as well as six other characters, all at different times &#8212; in Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s production of &#8220;The Laramie Project,&#8221; which opens Nov. 14. &#8220;They couldn&#8217;t use that kind of defense today, and what they did was indefensible.&#8221;</p><p>The more you think about the situation, the more likely it seems McKinney and Henderson set up the situation to trap Shepard &#8212; a slight person whose father described him as uncoordinated and wearing braces on his teeth &#8220;from the age of 13 until the day he died&#8221; &#8212; possibly because was gay.</p><p>What kind of town spawns a murder like that?</p><p>To find out, a crew of actors from Moises Kaufman&#8217;s New York-based Tectonic Theater Project traveled to Laramie and interviewed everyone from the cyclist who found Shepard tied to the fence to the police officer who untied him and the doctor who treated him at the hospital where he died several days later.</p><p>The result was &#8220;The Laramie Project,&#8221; which includes actual words and attitudes of real people, based on some 200 interviews.</p><p>&#8220;That&#8217;s what makes it so outstanding,&#8221; said Shelly Bartolomei, of Swoyersville, one of a dozen actors in the Little Theatre show, all of them portraying multiple roles.</p><p>Shepard&#8217;s family and friends are represented; so are people who knew and maybe loved the killers, including a grandmother who begs for concurrent rather than consecutive life sentences. The bartender on duty the night Shepard met his killers at the Fireside Bar appears, too, as does a professor from the University of Wyoming. Then there are the clergy members, including the Rev. Fred Phelps.</p><p>When Shepard&#8217;s friend Romaine Patterson realized Phelps intended to stand outside the funeral and shout anti-gay sentiments about the deceased rotting in hell, she organized friends to attend, dressed as angels with wings so large they would shield the family.</p><p>Patterson notes she had planned to study music but Shepard&#8217;s murder led her to change her major to communications and political science because she felt called to become an activist.</p><p>While the murder changed her career plans, it also changed the attitudes of some townspeople, like the local police chief who said he was no longer willing to hear hate speech. &#8220;I don&#8217;t have to listen to it and I&#8217;m not going to stand for it.&#8221;</p><p>Remembering a friend who came out to her in ninth grade, Little Theatre director Deirdre Lynch said. &#8220;He was more nervous about telling me than telling his own mother.&#8221;</p><p>The director and the cast say they hope people of different sexual orientations feel more acceptance today.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s OK to be yourself,&#8221; Lutz said. &#8220;You don&#8217;t have to hide who you are, and you should expect to feel safe.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Among the characters Maureen Hozempa of Dallas portrays in &#8216;The Laramie Project&#8217; is Romaine Patterson, who wore large angel wings to Matthew Shepard&#8217;s funeral to shield mourners from a haranging preacher Fred Phelps. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_laramie.angel_.jpg</photo0><caption0>Among the characters Maureen Hozempa of Dallas portrays in &#8216;The Laramie Project&#8217; is Romaine Patterson, who wore large angel wings to Matthew Shepard&#8217;s funeral to shield mourners from a haranging preacher Fred Phelps. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_laramie.cast_.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Each cast member in &#8216;The Laramie Project&#8217; portrays several characters in the show, which opens Nov. 14 at Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_laramie.cast_.jpg</photo1><caption1>Each cast member in &#8216;The Laramie Project&#8217; portrays several characters in the show, which opens Nov. 14 at Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre. </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p><strong>By Mary Therese Biebel</strong></p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>IF YOU GO</strong></p><p><strong>What:</strong> &#8216;The Laramie Project&#8217;</p><p><strong>Where:</strong> Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre, 537 N. Main St., Wilkes-Barre.</p><p><strong>When:</strong> Nov. 14 to 21 with performances 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 3 p.m. Sundays.</p><p><strong>Tickets:</strong> $18</p><p><strong>Reservations:</strong> 570-823-1875.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT</p></shirttailMeta></div>

‘The Laramie Project’ comes to Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre, tells story of 1998 murder