The Laramie Project is a landmark work of documentary theatre examining the aftermath of the 1998 murder of 21-year-old Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming. Created by Moisés Kaufman and members of Tectonic Theater Project from interviews with residents, the play weaves together dozens of real voices – friends, family, police, clergy, journalists and townspeople – to explore how one community confronted prejudice, grief, identity, compassion and ultimately the possibility of change.

In September 2026, The Laramie Project became the inaugural production of YoubeYou – Ngāmotu Theatre for Youth, presented by its Senior Section, aged 15–21, at Little Theatre New Plymouth from 9–19 September.

The choice was deliberate. YoubeYou exists to create theatre where diversity is celebrated, young people are empowered and everyone is valued for exactly who they are. Its guiding principle – Every Voice Belongs. Every Story Shines. Everyone Matters. – could scarcely find a more appropriate theatrical expression.

Rather than presenting simple answers, The Laramie Project asks audiences to listen. Its many contrasting voices require performers and audiences alike to encounter perspectives different from their own and consider the consequences of intolerance alongside the extraordinary capacity people have for empathy, courage and change. The production was described publicly as “bold and deeply human,” with YoubeYou’s young ensemble bringing “fresh urgency and perspective” to the story.

For YoubeYou, that made the production much more than a show. It provided rangatahi with an opportunity to tackle challenging material collaboratively, inhabit diverse identities and discover the power of theatre to begin conversations that continue after the curtain falls. The organisation’s own production material described the work as one where “truth, empathy, and collaboration lead the way.”

The Laramie Project established what YoubeYou intends its theatre to be: brave, inclusive, accessible and unafraid to tell stories that matter.