Passion of 'Laramie' Lionface play confronts gay bashing

Cast members act out a court case in the murder of Matthew Shepard during a rehearsal of "The Laramie Project" by Lionface Productions on April 24, 2013. (Photos: Enoch Wu/Sentinel-Tribune)

"The Laramie Project," the documentary play about the death of gay college student Matthew Shepard, is an American Passion play.
Lionface Productions' staging makes that all the more obvious. Using a former church on Court Street in Bowling Green, the fence on which Shepard was tied after being severely beaten is at center stage with the action in the first act revolving around the fence, and then culminating with the actors gathered around it.
While Shepard is the victim, he is not as the Catholic priest Roger Schmit says "condemned to perfection."
He is a human full of personality and foibles, warm, caring, and maybe a bit confrontational.
All this comes to us filtered through those who knew him or knew of him. Shepard does not get to speak for himself.
Lionface's "The Laramie Project" is being staged Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. at 123 E. Court St., Bowling Green. Tickets are $7 and $5 for seniors and students.