About time this play was performed in Pleasanton! Break a leg AVHS players!

Yawn, how very PC of the school district.

oh Ewwwwwwwww, youse so TRITE...tee hee hee, tee hee hee...

Friend's child is in play, saw it last night. Powerful piece. Highly recommend it to *everyone* - parents, educators, teens, young adults. And it is easy on the budget, too!

I went to opening night and I was absolutely blown away by the performance. These young actors were amazing, they gave life to a very powerful, poignant and difficult piece.
Congratulations to the cast, the crew and to Mrs.Hartman. Great job everybody, great job!

Opening night was beyond expectation. Its easy to forget these are teenagers when witnessing this play. The actor portraying Matthew Sheppard's father gives a heart wrenching speech at the end of the play.....truly amazing. I will see it again. As a parent of one of the actors I must say that I am so proud of the time, dedication, heart and passion that these young people put into every project put in their path, especially this one. I love you all.

I would love to see this, I didn't know about it so appreciate the heads up.

When I was in high school, they never would have allowed anything like this. This is typical liberal junk coming from our public schools once again. If you take the time to research the REAL story of Matthew Shepard, you will discover that he was not killed because he was gay. The leftists in the media created this story to fit their template of what this story SHOULD be, not what the story actually was. The fact that he was gay was an afterthought, and this was not a hate crime. But nobody digs for the real story any more.....instead, people just go with their 'feelings' and that's good enough. Couldn't these student actors do Les Miserables, Fiddler on the Roof, Little Shop of Horrors, or some other type of appropriate play for high school??

Here is a brief synopsis of the REAL story of Matthew Shepard:

Web Link

There is much more than just this. I'll be the drama teachers at the high school didn't teach this now did they? Of course not! It doesn't fit their template of the gay victim.

You know, Joe.... it is exactly because of people like you (who deem themselves the recipients of the REAL truth) that we need more of this "typical liberal junk coming from our public schools ". We need our young people to show compassion and respect to others, something that you are not clearly willing to give to this matter.
If you had even bothered to get yourself acquainted with this play, you would have found out that it is based on actual interviews with real people, the people that lived this nightmare.
Have you read any material from the trial? The testimonies that were given? The "gay panic defense" the murderers used? The "real story" you mention was entirely based on the claims of the murderers and the prosecutor and it as never really found believable by anybody with direct knowledge of the facts, like for example the Laramie Police Chief.
But more than anything in the world Joe, why would they have tied him to a fence, tortured him, and left him to die alone, in the freezing cold, if their only intent was to rob him?
Tying a human being to a fence, in fact crucifying him, does amount to a hate crime,and so much so that legislation has been passed in this young man's name : The Matthew Shepard Act was passed by the Senate and President Obama signed into law in October 2009.

Why don't you go see the play, and see that these young actors have much more compassion and tolerance that you have shown with your comments. We should applaud them, Mrs.Hartman and the administration for spreading a message a hope,caring and compassion. And by the way, I find this play VERY appropriate for a high school setting (and it is PG13), they are our future, and they will be the ones to create a more tolerant society.

@ Joe

Consider the source.

From Wikipedia:

Despite AIM's assertion of political neutrality, it is frequently described by the mainstream media and other media watchdog groups as a conservative organization.

I will buy you a ticket if you will go see the play with me! I will even take you to dinner first, to make it worth your while.

This question is for Joe. If I can find multiple sources of the "Real" Matthew Shepard story online, how do I determine which one is the truth? How did you decide which version of the story is the truth. Did you look at the evidence and weigh the possibilities against the testimony of the witnesses?
I suspect that no matter the issue I can find a story online that will support my point of view. This is not a liberal or conservative play, it is a play that was built from interviews of actual people involved in the murder and investigation.
Go see the play. I really hope that you just posted the stuff you said to be controversial, it scares me that people could actually think like that still.

You have all drank the liberal Kool-Aid. It's easy to attack me and not the topic, isn't it? (By the way, Wikipedia is known to be severely incorrect in it's contents and most major universities do not allow it's use because of this. Remember the old adage: Garbage in, garbage out).

I have nothing wrong with being compassionate and teaching compassion. But these are high school kids in a drama class. They are being brainwashed into believing that the Matthew Shepard case was a "hate crime" when it absolutely was not. It was a crime, but not a hate crime. And "poor Matthew Shepard" was a meth addict and hung around with low life scum, so let's not try to make the guy out to be some type of cult hero like he is in this play. No, he did not deserve to be murdered--nobody does (I had to say that because I know that some of you would say that I believed he deserved to die, because your liberal brainwashing tells you these things). This case was about a low life versus other another group of low life characters, and the crime of murder was committed. Why is this being made into a sob story, "oh poor me" type of hero show on a high school stage???

I don't understand why this boils down to a liberal vs. conservative agenda. One's sexuality has nothing to do with one's political viewpoint. I saw AVHS production of the Laramie Project last weekend, and it was excellent! These kids are our future, thank God! What a wonderful portrayal of a very important topic. If this means that my straw is sucking on the liberal Kool-Aid, than so be it. I'd rather suck that Kool-Aid any day than the conservative, war-mongering, hate-ridden drama that contributed to Matt Shepherd's death in the first place. Go see the play! I spread my Angels' Wings over you, dear sir!

My issue is not with the kids. I'm glad to hear that they are performing well and that they are putting on a good production. My point is that the kids have been brainwashed into believing that Matthew Shepard is some sort of martyr and/or hero who is to be looked up to. But if we examine who Shepard really was, he was a low-life meth addict who happened to be gay. High school kids don't need to be spoon fed the liberal bias on "gay victimology" by acting it out in a play! They need to be taught the TRUTH, and this play is nothing but a big, fat lie. It is fiction--but the kids don't understand this. Their minds, views, and opinions are being shaped by liberal instructors who only show them one side of the story. They are not being prepared, as they should be, to go out into this world equipped with the truth. Instead, all we're producing are a bunch of "Occupy Wall Street" idiots who have no idea what they're protesting. And the root of this type of thing goes back to what they were taught in school---IT'S ALL CONNECTED---and people need to speak up and stop remaining silent out of fear of not being liked. I knew when I posted my comments that I would be attacked for not being "sensitive" or not being "tolerant". That's actually not anywhere close to the truth---I'm more tolerant than any liberal I know, and I am very conservative. I just believe that it stinks that these high school kids have been brainwashed into working very hard to produce what sounds like is probably a good production---but it's all based on lies.

I went to the production of this same play at Dougherty Valley H.S. in San Ramon. While the subject matter was handled well, I walked away thinking that if this were a movie it would receive an R rating. The use of 4-letter words, sexual references and seeing 14 years pretending to be drinking alcohol disturbed me. This is not a community production, because grade school and middle school aged children should not see it because of these factors. I would think the student handbook would prohibit these 4-letter words as well as the references to drinking. This play should be reserved for college productions. 14 year old freshman should not say they are sh*%&$t-faced as part of a play. Hopefully the Amador production cleaned up its language.

AMAZING! SO proud that the administration allowed these students the opportunity to work on this very important project. Was additionally impressed by how articulate the students were during the dialogue after the production. It is because of events like this that I am proud to live in Pleasanton.

Hey Joe do you happen to have a facebook? I'd like to add you