Last updated on March 19, 2020
On the night of October 6, 1998, Matthew Shepard was abducted by two men who tied him to a fence, brutally attacked him, set him on fire and left to die near Laramie, Wyoming where he was attending The University of Wyoming. The murder was labeled a homophobic hate crime and brought the spotlight to LGBTQ struggles in America.
The Cabrillo Music and Theater Arts Department will be performing a choral commemorating Matt Shepard in The Crocker Theater this weekend. They will hold one performance per day from Thursday till Sunday.
Craig Hella Johnson composed the secular oratorio in conjunction with the Matthew Shepard Foundation about six years ago and has recently released rights to the work for public use.
The Cabrillo Chorus, Cantiamo, and other community members will take the stage under the direction of Cheryl Anderson and Joseph Ribeiro.
“It spans many styles of music,” said Anderson, “country, gospel, jazz, classical, and there’s a Lutheran hymn tune in there. I think [Johnson’s] aesthetics in trying to do that is to make it about everybody and all the responsibility that each of us has to be fair to people and respond with intelligence, kindness, and compassion.”
The performance will center around a wooden rail fence that is the same style as the one Shepard was tied to when he was found. The fence itself is a dynamic set-piece that, at one point in the work, takes the shape of a halo hoisted over the performers.
“The story itself is told from the point of view of the fence. The only piece of set on the whole stage is the fence. All of the emotion of the work is generated by the performers,” Anderson said.
Shepard was only 21 at the time of his murder, which prompted the response of many big names. Ted Kennedy and Ellen DeGeneres attended a vigil held on the steps of the U.S. capitol.
Elton John provided flowers for the funeral while Barbra Streisand and Madonna contacted the local Sheriff’s office and university to address the importance of the crime.
Stephen Jimenez, a gay American journalist, questioned the circumstances surrounding Shepard’s death in his book, The Book of Matt. The book was published in 2013 and was chastised by the LGBTQ community and the Matthew Shepard Foundation.
Shepard’s death sparked endless controversy and significant conversation, eventually leading to President Obama signing the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law in October of 2009. This expanded previous hate crime laws to protect all minorities including the LGBTQ community.
Anderson and Ribeiro will be presenting Considering Matthew Shepard in memory of Shepard and all that has come from his death. The work is one and a half hours long with one intermission and will hold performances March 12 through 15 in Cabrillo’s Crocker Theater.
