The Laramie Project premiered at The Ricketson Theatre by the Denver Center Theatre Company (Denver) (part of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts) in February 2000.[4] It was next performed in the Union Square Theatre in New York City[5] before a November 2002 performance in Laramie, Wyoming.[6] The play has also been performed by high schools, colleges, and community theaters across the country.[7][8] It has been produced at professional playhouses in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand.[9]
Many of the performances in the United States have been picketed by followers of Fred Phelps from the Westboro Baptist Church. They are portrayed in the play picketing Matthew Shepard's funeral as they did in real life.[10][11]
The play has been produced worldwide in the years since its premiere. But in 2009 it still generated controversy in Colorado[12] and Las Vegas, Nevada, where some parents tried to block a production.[13]
The holder of the royalties/rights to The Laramie Project is Dramatists Play Service, Inc.[14] The Matthew Shepard Foundation provides help and resources for those wishing to produce The Laramie Project or The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later. The Foundation's Laramie Project Specialist can help with media, historical context, creative consulting, and other resources and services at no charge to non-profit theatres and educational and religious institutions. The Foundation can also help those who wish to engage their communities in a conversation about how to erase hate in the world.
