Set the stage, cue the lights and sit back to enjoy an hour of drama, thrill and emotion. The school put on its first play of the year, The Laramie Project, Oct. 22 through 24. The play is based on the controversial story of a teenager who was beat to death because of his sexual orientation in Laramie, Wyoming in 1998.

“The show is a true story,” junior actor Ryan Marsh said. “It revolves around Matthew Shepard, a gay university student. He was beaten and left for dead on a fence for over 18 hours.”

Although the play is based on real-life events, there are some fictional components. The overall plot involves a theatre company that is interested in making Shepard’s life into a play.

Because of this, the story was not told through a traditional narrative but through a collection of interviews of characters associated with Shepard.

“The theatre company are the people who go to Laramie and interview everyone,” senior actor Meg Grinde said. “They are writing the show and portraying real-life people when they put it on.”

Interviews were not the only method used to expand the plot of the story. Other media aspects of the event were incorporated into the show.

“The plot is open-ended,” Marsh said. “Along with interviews, we used journal entries and news clips to tell the story.”

This production of The Laramie Project featured an ensemble cast of over 20 students, although traditionally the play only has a cast of eight. Roles were split up with some students playing multiple characters.

“There were no main characters or leads,” Marsh said. “Everyone was pretty much equal.”

A huge part of the production process comes from backstage. Behind the curtains, technical theatre students worked in and out of class every day to make Laramie possible. They built sets, set up sound and lights and organized costumes, which helped bring the show to life.

“Every character is different,” junior technician Emily Southard said. “Age, gender and time period have a big impact on the story.”

The costuming department of technical theatre helps put the audience into the story and allows for the small details to stand out.

“Costumes define who the characters are and how they affect the story,” Southard said. “They make the play more realistic.”

After several weeks of staying after school and working in class, the students opened The Laramie Project to a full audience that was not expecting such brutal honesty.

“It was a very sad show,” Grinde said. “I think that people enjoyed the raw way that we dealt with the truth.”