THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
Play searches for
answers in death
By Heather Panetta
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Thn years after the murder of
Matthew Shepard, residents of
Laramie, Wyo. still cannot decide
what happened: Was Shepard's
death at the hands of two men a
hate crime, or a robbery gone
wrong?
The Tectonic Theater Project
sought to answer these questions
and more last night in "The
Laramie Project: Ten Years Later,
An Epilogue" at Eisenhower
Auditorium.
The play is a sequel to "The
Laramie Project," which focused
on townspeople's reactions to
Shepard's death. On Oct. 6, 1998,
Shepard was beaten and tied to a
fence by two men he met at a bar.
He later died from his injuries.
Witnesses during the men's
trial said that Shepard was
attacked because he was gay.
"The Laramie Project: Ten
Years Later" revisits the town on
the 10th anniversary of the mur
der.
The play begins on Sept. 12,
2008, one month before the
anniversary, and is based off of
interviews conducted by mem
bers of the Tectonic Theater
Project. The members returned
to talk with residents, family
Renowned poet shares work, life stories
By Lauren Ingeno
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Jane Hirshfield told a full audi
ence on Thursday night that she
often thinks about how many
great writers there must be in the
world that no one ever hears
about.
Fbrttmately for her fans at Penn
State, Hirshfield's poetry has
gained international attention
and she is able to share her talent
with many.
Selected as Penn State's 2010
Emily Dickinson Lecturer, which
is sponsored by the Department
of English, liirshfield gave a poet
ry reading and book signing at
Foster Auditorium.
The poet is the author of six
books of poems, including "After,"
which was named the "best book
of 2006" by six different news pub
lications and was a finalist for
England's T.S. Eliot Award.
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members, and the murderers
themselves to see how things
have changed. The eight actors in
the play reenacted the interviews
they conducted.
One of the main issues that still
dominates the minds of Laramie
residents today is whether
Shepard's death was indeed a
hate crime or a botched robbery.
While those close to Shepard
believe it was a hate crime, other
residents in their interviews said
they had heard that it was a rob
bery fueled by drugs. The editor of
the Laramie Boomerang, the
town's main paper, was one of
those residents. For the anniver
sary, the paper ran a short series
on the death. In her interview, the
editor said she believed that the
murderers wanted money and
didn't think that it was about
Shepard's sexuality.
Three of the most shocking
interviews in the play were of the
murderers, Russell Henderson
and Aaron McKinney, and Judy
Shepard, Matthew's mother.
In his interview, McKinney
admitted that although he regrets
that he didn't live the way his dad
taught him to, as far as Shepard
was concerned he had no
remorse. McKinney said that he
had heard Shepard was a sex
predator who preyed on young
Hirshfield began her reading
with various selections of her pub
lished poems and ended with
poems from her new volume of
poetry, which has yet to be pub
lished. Between poems,
Hirshfield told the audience anec
dotal stories about the origins and
aftermaths of her poems, includ
ing how many of her poems have
often been literally and figurative
ly lost in translation.
wrote this at the end of a rela
tionship. Afterwards, a friend told
me that she had it read at her
wedding, which really startled
me," she said with a laugh. "I
wrote it when I was in great dis
tress."
And when a translator was
translating Hirshfield's poetry
into Russian he had trouble with
certain words, she said.
"There's no word for 'thirsty' in
Russian," she said the translator
told her.
After a performance of "The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later,"
actors, including Amy Vashaw, left, answered questions.
guys and that he needed to be
killed.
Judy Shepard said in her inter
view that she has a lot more anger
now then she did then because
crimes like this are still happen
ing and there is still much to be
done.
Jorge Valdes (graduate-
Spanish) said he remembers
Shepard's story and when he
heard about the show playing he
thought it would be a good oppor
tunity to see it.
This comical story was refer
enced in a poem Hirshfield read
later in her lecture.
The poet said that though much
of where her poetry comes from is
a mystery, sparks from life often
inspire it.
"Life throws you material," she
said. "This is not work that can be
done on willpower alone."
Sarah Rude (graduate-English)
said that she recently had to do a
presentation on Hirshfield so she
really needed to research her and
get a sense of her.
She said that she thinks that
Hirshfield is such an engaging
poet for not only those who are
fans of poetry, but also for those
who are new poetry readers.
Rude also said that the reading
gave a good range of her work and
she liked hearing the poems from
Hirshfield's new book that has not
yet been released.
"As a reader you're always fol
0 •
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"I was shocked and taken
aback," Valdes said. "I expected
things to have changed in a differ
ent way."
And Rhonda McClain (gradu
ate-psychology) said the play was
extremely powerful in raising
awareness about this issue.
"There were very powerful
moments of intense emotions like
anger and sadness," McClain
said.
To e-mail reporter: hapl36@psu.edu
lowing behind in a poet's head,"
Rude said.
"But when you get to hear
poems from the poet's past that
still resonate with her, as well as
the things that she's thinking
about now, you get to see the arc
of her development."
Matt Walker (graduate-
English) said that he also enjoyed
Hirshfield's reading.
"I like the way that she seems
to navigate between really big
ideas and images," Walker said.
'And I like the kind of intimacy
she gives to objects."
Hirshfield said that she felt
privileged that she is able to share
and affect others with the way
she's spending her life and the
discoveries she's making.
"I'm amazed and surprised and
it makes me very grateful," she
said.
To email reporter: ImlsolB@psu.edu
Sbt*Vt
Be sure to check out our upcoming fall programs
including:
Ethical Lunchbox Series:
Is Faith Straight? - 10/14
Religion and the Media - 11/1
Disability Awareness - Date TBA
Viewing and Discussion of the Documentary,
"Telling Amy's Collegian" -10/27
Celebration of National Hunger and
Homelessness Awareness Week
Student Exhibit - 11/8
Faces of Homelessness Panel - 11/9
Hunger Banquet - 11/10
C:7Yoused in The Pasquerilla Spiritual Center-
Eisenhower Chapel, the Center is the
largest multi-faith facility in the country
and provides a venue and programs for the
ethical, spiritual, and character development
of the University community.
Peruvian
author
awarded
Nobel
NEW YORK Mario Vargas
Llosa, the newest winner of the
Nobel Prize in literature, has
never found much honor in
boundaries.
"Literature shouldn't be
secluded, provincial or region
al," the Peruvian author said in
New York after Thursday's
announcement in Sweden. "It
should be universal, even if it
has deep roots in one place."
The 74-year-old author and
political activist is a charter
member of the Latin American
literary boom of the 19605.
He has for decades been
regarded as one of the world's
greatest and most adventurous
writers.
He is considered an unpre
dictable and provocative mixer
of literature and social con
sciousness in both his work and
his life.
Artists are born dissenters -
often, but not always, of the left.
Like such recent Nobelists as
Herta Mueller and Doris
Lessing, Vargas Llosa is a dis
senter from communism, a for
mer party member who ran for
president of Peru in 1990 as an
advocate of privatization and
remains a critic of leftist leaders
such as Cuba's Fidel Castro and
Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.
The author of more than 30
novels, plays and works of non
fiction, he is known for his
expansive language, his alert
ness to the profound and the
profane, and his fierce and dark
disdain for tyranny.
His books are not without
magical touches, but he is more
grounded, more a "realist" than
fellow Nobel laureate and South
American Gabriel Garcia
Marquez.
Associated Press writers Kad Ritter,
Malin Rising and Lake Nordstrom
in Stockholm; Daniel Woolls
Madrid; Cada Salazar in Lima, Peru;
Frank Bajak in Bogota, Colombia; and
Verona Dobnik and Ana Elena
Azpurua in New York contributed to
this report.
(Visit tI
4,0444.1.
FRIDAY, Ocr. 8, 2010 I
Hillel Italie
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Ca , I fit