Referred to as "theatrical journalism," this week's No Refund Theatre production of The Laramie Project documents the life of a town in Wyoming following the death of hate crime victim Matthew Shepard.

Laramie, Wyo., was the backdrop for a hate crime in 1998 when 21-year-old Shepard was kidnapped, robbed, beaten, tied to a fence and left to die because he was homosexual.

The incident gained national attention in 1998, but playwright Moises Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project took it upon themselves to conduct more than 200 interviews to create this theatrical, documentary-like production. The play highlights the reactions of the citizens of Laramie the year following Shepard's brutal death.

Director Katie Bucaro said the purpose behind the play was to shed more light on the incident. She said the play shows multiple personalities within the town including community members who felt sympathy for Shepard.

"The media put a lot of negative light on Laramie," she said. "I think they wanted to show that they aren't all prejudiced monsters."

Bucaro (senior-communication sciences and disorders) said she wanted to direct this play because she thinks students are somewhat unaware of the level of hate crimes in our society.

"No one really thinks about Matthew Shepard anymore," she said. "We were so young when it happened, the story needs retelling."

The significant message of The Laramie Project wasn't just recognized by members of NRT. The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people community will also be promoting the performance as a part of its Pride Week.

Claire Gonyo, assistant director of the LGBTA Student Resource Center, said the reason it was important to support the play is because it was an incident that directly affected the LGBT community.

"We were united in a common outrage," Gonyo said.

She said the reason the community is pushing for participants of Pride Week to attend the play is because members want people to realize hate crimes like this occur all over the world.

"We want people to remember that hate crimes of all types still happen," Gonyo said. "But we also want to have them leave with a sense of hope and united under a cause."

Stephen Travis (junior-meteorology) is a cast member in this weekend's play. He said he ranked The Laramie Project as No. 1 on his preference list when he auditioned.

Each cast member plays multiple characters from the town of Laramie. Travis' characters include a doctor from the emergency room, a priest and Shepard's father.

Bucaro said the cast is doing an amazing job of bearing all the weight of multiple characters.

"I sit there in awe," she said in regard to recent rehearsals. "You can totally see the change in attitude as they switch characters."

Bucaro said the play and the characters do a "great job" of leaving the audience hopeful for the future. She added the production helps show how much the tragedy meant to people and how people have learned from it.

Travis said if people come to the performance with an open mind, it will force people to think about how they look at people.

"If nothing else it will open up people's minds to the hate some people have toward certain race, religion and sexual orientation."

He said he wants people to walk away from No Refund Theatre's performance with a certain level of self-awareness.

"People are people," Travis said. "We are all human beings."