Jan. 28, 2011

HARRISBURG – Students from the Dramatic Arts Club and HACC Allies of HACC-Harrisburg Campus will present a staged reading of “The Laramie Project” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Feb. 17 and 18, in the Rose Lehrman Arts Center, One HACC Drive.

“The Laramie Project” is a play based on hundreds of interviews and news reports collected by playwright Moisés Kaufman and fellow members of the Tectonic Theater Project following the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming. The group traveled from New York City to Laramie, Wyo., where members spent a year conducting interviews, research, collecting their own journal entries and developing the script. The play is divided into three acts, with eight actors portraying more than 60 characters in a series of short scenes. The play was made into an HBO film in 2002.

The production at HACC is under the professional direction of HACC theatre faculty Brenda Eppley and Dave Olmsted.

Admission is $5. Proceeds will go to support Common Roads, The Trevor Project and the HACC Allies’ lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and allies (LGBTQA) scholarship fund.

Common Roads is the program arm of the GLBTQ Community Center Coalition of Central Pennsylvania in Harrisburg. It provides education, advocacy and programming to help LGBTQ youth throughout the region.

The Trevor Project is a national organization based in California focused on crisis and suicide prevention efforts among LGBTQ youth.

HACC Allies is an education and support group for LGBTQ students.

 The readings are also supported by HACC’s Office of Student Life.

Tickets are available in Cooper Student Center 107B or by contacting Adrienne Thoman in the Office of Student Life, 717-780-1159 or e-mail althoman@hacc.edu.