MARGARET River Senior High School students will perform a powerful and emotive production of The Laramie Project to Margaret River and Busselton audiences in the coming weeks.
Arts teacher Mem McCormack said the play was a highly emotive piece of theatre and an example of documentary drama.
"In 1998 a young gay student, Matthew Shepard, was brutally beaten and left to die in the small US city of Laramie, in Wyoming. The event sparked a media frenzy as various groups responded to this ugly hate crime," Ms McCormack said.
"Throughout the 18 months following Shepard's death a company of actors visited Laramie to complete extensive interviews with members of the community.
"Their intent was to chronicle the response of the town members to a crime which had drawn the world's attention."
The Laramie Project is the result of those interviews.
The students will perform the play in Margaret River next Tuesday, from 7pm, before travelling to Busselton to perform for fellow years 11 and 12 students.
"Our production of this play requires a challenging performance from every actor as students present multiple roles, each playing up to four parts," Ms McCormack said.
"This play is suitable for mature audience members as it involves heart-breaking accounts of the violence Shepard experienced and the use of some coarse language."
Tickets for the Margaret River show, $10 each, are available through high school reception.
