As with Laramie, that place will be forever altered; it will always be connected to an unthinkable crime of savage hatred. Another character says, "It's that kind of a town, it happened here." You can't help but think that there is something wrong with that place, and the people in it. The play illuminates what's wrong with Laramie but also what's right.
The large cast of actors playing multiple roles is uniformly good. Some switch between characters more gracefully than others, but each cast member has at least one wonderful moment. It seems almost unfair to single out individual performers from the group, but a few are particularly noteworthy.
Keysha Monique Mabra, whose many roles include a Muslim student, the emergency doctor who first treated Shepard, and most astonishingly an inmate incarcerated with McKinney, is impressive but never flashy. Tom Haig as the Catholic Priest who steps up to hold the first vigil in Shepard's honor is quite convincing, especially as he implores the Tectonic company members to "say it right" when telling Shepard's story.
With believable mother-daughter chemistry, Tara Affolter as Deputy Reggie Fluty, the first law enforcement officer at the crime scene, and Ilona Pinzke as her mother, recount the tense period as they waited to find out if Fluty, who was exposed to HIV, would test positive. Adam Wolter shines as the cocky and verbose bartender who served Shepard in the bar where he encountered Henderson and McKinney and later gives a subtle performance as McKinney himself in his taped confession.
Co-directors Thomas Kasdorf and Caitlyn O'Mara have wisely kept the production simple. That restraint lets the strength of the work resonate. It's a long show with two intermissions, but it is always compelling.
The scene that closes the first act alternates between stories of three people: the college student who discovered the dying Shepard on a bike ride, first thinking he was a scarecrow; the emergency room doctor who treated Shepard and one of his attackers; and Deputy Fluty, who attempted to free Shepard from his bonds and clear an airway. Fluty recalls that the only area where Shepard wasn't covered with dried blood was where his tears had worn a path on his battered face. It's almost unbearably heartbreaking but also extremely moving in its simplicity.
This exploration of man's inhumanity to man unearths some tenderness, compassion and ultimately hope even amidst hatred and ignorance. It's well worth seeing.