Moment: A Definition
On November 14, 1998 the members of Tectonic Theater Project traveled to Laramie, Wyoming and conducted interviews with the people of the town. During the next year, they would return to Laramie several times and conduct over two hundred interviews. The play you are about to see is edited from those interviews, as well as from journal entries by company members, and other found texts. Company member, Greg Pierotti.
There's so much space between people and towns here, so much time for reflection.
Rebecca Hilliker, head of the theater department at the University of Wyoming.
Stewardship is one thing all our ancestors taught us.
Eileen Engen, rancher.
I love it here.
Doc O'Connor, limousine driver.
I moved here after living in a couple of big cities.
Philip Dubois, president of the University of Wyoming.
I moved here from rural Texas.
Zackie Salmon, Laramie resident.
... Even though one goes by every thirteen minutes out where I live...
Doc actually lives up in Bossler. But everybody in Laramie knows him. He's also not a doctor.
I grew up in Cody, Wyoming.
April Silva, university student.
It's hard to talk about Laramie now, to tell you what Laramie is for us.
Jedadiah Schultz.
Moment: Journal Entries (1)
Company member, Andy Paris.
Moises called saying he had an idea for his next theater project. But there was a somberness to his voice, so I asked what it was all about and he told me he wanted to do a piece about what's happening in Wyoming.
Stephen Belber.
Leigh told me the company was thinking of going out to Laramie to conduct interviews and that they wanted me to come. But I'm hesitant. I have no real interest in prying into a town's unraveling.
Amanda Gronich.
The company has agreed that we should go to Laramie for a week and interview people.
Moises Kaufman.
Moment: Journal Entries (2)
Company member, Greg Pierotti.
Also, I thought it was strange that the Wyoming sign said:
Wyoming, like no place on earth.
In stead of Wyoming, like no place else on earth.
Company member Leigh Fondakowski.
We're just passing through.
Company member Barbara Pitts.
Hate is not a Laramie value.
Moment: Alison and Marge
Greg Pierotti.
Moment: Matthew
Company member Andy Paris.
Well, on the second of October, I get a phone call about, uh, ten after seven.
Doc O'Connor.
Matthew was very shy when he first came in.
Jon Peacock, Matt's academic advisor.
Moment: Easier said than done.
My understanding when I first came here...
Catherine Connolly.
When I came here I knew it was going to be hard as a gay man.
Jonas Slonaker.
Moment: Journal Entries (3)
Today we are moving from our motel and heading to the Best Western.
Moises Kaufman.
My hope is that it is a better Western.
Amanda Goanich.
Ah, the sociology of religion in the West...
Stephen Mead Johnson, Unitarian Minister.
The mormon Church has a little different thing going that irritates some folks.
Doug Laws, Stake Ecclesiastical Leader for the Mormon Church.
Okay. I'm going to make this brief, quick, get it over with, but it will be everything - factual. Just the facts. here we go. Ten o'clock. I clock in, usual time, Tuesday nights. ten-thirty - Matthew Shepard shows up - alone, sits down, orders a Heineken.
Phil Labrie, friend of Matts.
... I have a real good feeling that they don't have any more money.
Romaine Pattrerson
Aaron said that a guy walked up to him and said that he was gay and wanted to get with Aaron and Russ.
Kristin Price, girlfriend of Aaron McKinney.
Moment: McKinney and Henderson
A friend of Aaron McKinney.
AT the time I knew him, he was just, he was just a young kid trying to , you know, he just wanted to fit in, you know, acting tough, acting cool, but, you know, you could get in his face about it and he would back down, like he was some kinda scared kid.
Sherry Aanenson.
...with that view up there, isolated, and the "God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" comes to mind.
Company member Greg Pierotti.
On the way back, I made sure that no one saw me crying.
Leigh Fondakowski.
I responded to the call.
Officer Reggie Fluty.
I was working the emergency room the night Matthew Shepard was brought in.
Dr. Cantway, Ivenson County Emergency Room.
Moment: A Laramie Man
This is Jon Peacock, Matt's academic advisor.
That's not my student. That's not this person who I've been meeting with.
Romaine Patterson
Well I'll tell you - I'll tell you what is overwhelming.
Matt Galloway.
It was Thursday afternoon.
Rulon Stacy at Poudre Valley Hospital.
Moment: The Essential Facts
Our focus today turns to Laramie, Wyoming, and the Albany County Courthouse, where Aaron James McKinney and Russell Arthur Henderson are being charged for the brutal beating of Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student.
Catherine Connolly.
Moment: Live and let live
Sergent Hing.
We have one of the most vocal populations of gay people in the state... And it's pretty much, Live and let live.
Laramie resident Jeffrey Lockwood.
And we're not used to that type of attention to begin with. We're not used to that type of exposure.
Tiffany Edwards, local reporter.
And for us to be more or less maligned.
Eileen and Gil Engen.
Moment: Medical Update (1)
Matt's medical update at three P.M., Saturday, October tenth.
Moment: Seeing Matthew
Both Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson pled not guilty to charges. Their girlfriends, Chastity Pasley and Kristen Price also pled not guilty after being charged as accessories after the fact. On their next trip, company members met with the chief investigating officer on the case, Detective Rob DeBree of the Albany County Sheriff's Department.
I know how to take care of myself, and I was irrationally terrified.
Catherine Connolly.
Ultimately, no matter how you dice it, I did have an opportunity.
Matt Galloway.
I keep seeing that picture in my head when I found him.
Aaron Kreifels.
One of the things that happened when I got to the fence...
Reggie Fluty.
The thing I wasn't telling you before is that Reggie is my daughter.
Marge Murray.
Moment: E-mail
University of Wyoming President Philip Dubois.
Moment: Vigils
That first week alone vigils for Matt were held in Laramie, Denver, Fort Collins and Colorado Springs. Soon after in Detroit, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Nashville, Minneapolis, and Portland, Maine, among others.
In Los Angeles, 5,000 people gathered, and in New York City a political rally ended in civil disobedience and hundreds of arrests.
And the Poudre Valley Hospital web site received almost a million visitors from across the country and around the world, all expressing hope for Matt's recovery.
Moment: Medical Update (2)
Matt's medical update at 9:00 A.M., Sunday, October eleventh.
Moment: Live and Live
There are certain things when I sit in church.
Jedadiah Schultz
Well, it's been preached in schools that being gay is okay and yada yada, yada.
Conrad Miller.
There's more gay people around than what you think.
Murdock Cooper.
Yes, as a lesbian I was more concerned for my saftey.
Zackie Salmon.
Well, there's this whole idea: You leave me alone, I leave you alone.
Jonas Slonaker.
Moment: It Happened Here
We went to the candle vigil.
Zubaida Ula
Moment: Homecoming
On a day that is traditionally given over to nothing more profound than collegiate exuberance and the fortunes of the University of Wyoming football team, this community on the high plains had a different kind of homecoming Saturday, as many searched their souls in the wake of a vicious, apparent anti-gay hate crime.
University President, Philip Dubois.
I live in the center of town.
Harry Woods.
Moment: One of Ours
Sherry Johnson, administrative assistant at the University of Wyoming.
Moment: Two Queers and a Catholic Priest
Company member, Leigh Fondakowski.
Moment: Christmas
Andrew Gomez.
Moment: Medical Update (3)
Matt's medical update for four-thirty, Monday, October twelfth.
And I guess it was like the worst storm that they have had.
Tiffany Edwards.
My most striking memory from the funeral...
Kerry Drake, Casper Star Tribune.
... And we're going to answer it. It's just that simple.
Six months later, the company returned to Laramie for the trial of Russell Henderson, the first of the two perpetrators. It was to be a capital murder trial. When they got to the Albany County Courthouse, Fred Phelps was already there.
You dont' like that attribute of God.
But so was Romaine Patterson.
Moment: Jury Selection
The court is in session.
Romaine Patterson's sister, Trish Steger.
Before the court decides whether the sentences will be concurrent or consecutive, I understand that there are statements to be made by at least one individual.
This is an excerpt from a statement made to the court by Lucy Thompson.
Sentencing for Count One to run consecutive to sentencing for Count Three.
After the hearing, company members spoke with Russell Henderson's Mormon home teacher.
Moment: Angels in America
Before they left Laramie, company members met again with Rebecca Hillaker from the theater department. She is producing Angels in America this year at the University.
MY PARENTS!
Jedadiah Schultz.
Not having to deal that much with the gay society here in Laramie.
Detective Sargent Rob DeBree.
Well, you're tested every three months.
Reggie Fluty.
Moment: A death penalty case
Almost a year to the day that Matt died, the trial of Aaron James McKinney was set to begin.
Probably the question that most of you have in your mind is, ah, ah, how the McKinney case will proceed.
Cal Rerucha, prosecuting attorney.
Moment: Aaron McKinney
During the trial of Aaron McKinney, the prosecution played a taped recording of his confession.
The following is an excerpt of that confession.
The following morning, Dennis Shepard made a statement to the court. Here is some of what he said:
My son Matthew didn't look like a winner. He was rather uncoordinated and wore braces from the time he was 13 until the day he died. But in his all too brief life he proved that he was a winner. On October sixth, 1998, my son tried to prove to the world that he could win again. On October twelfth, 1998, my first born son, and my hero, lost. On October twelfth, 1998, my first born son, and my hero, died, fifty days before his twenty-second birthday.
I keep thinking the same thing I did when I first saw him in the hospital. What would he have become? How would he have changed his part of the world to make it better.
Officially, Matt died in a hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado. He actually died on the outskirts of Laramie, tied to a fence. You Mr. McKinney, and your friend Mr. Henderson, left him there by himself, but he wasn't alone. He had his lifelong friends with him, friends he had grown up with. You're probably wondering who these friends were. First, he had the beautiful night sky, and the same stars and moon that we used to see through a telescope. Then he had the morning sun to shine on him. And through it all he was breathing in the scent of pine trees from the snowy range. And he felt the wind, the ever present Wyoming wind, for the last time. He had one other friend with him. He had God. And I feel better knowing that he wasn't alone.
Matt's beating, hospitalization, and funeral focused world-wide attention on hate. Good is coming out of evil. People have said enough is enough. I miss my son. But I am proud to say that he is my son.
Judy has been quoted as being against the death penalty. It has been said that Matt was against the death penalty. Both these statements are wrong. Matt believed that there were crimes and incidents that justified the death penalty. I too believe in the death penalty. I would like nothing better than to see you die Mr. McKinney. However this is the time to begin the healing process. To show mercy to one who refused to show any mercy. Mr. McKinney, I am going to grant you life, as hard as it is for me to do so, because of Matthew. Every time you celebrate Christmas, a birthday, the Fourth of July, remember that Matt isn't. Every time you wake up in your prison cell remember that you had the opportunity and the ability to stop your actions that night. You robbed me of something very precious and I will never forgive you for that. Mr. McKinney, I give you life in memory of one who no longer lives. May you have a long life, and may you thank Matthew every day for it.
