The final performance of “The Laramie Project” will take place on March 7 at 4 p.m. in the auditorium, according to director Maggie Cassidy. Although there is no ticket price, the group will be accepting donations, which will go towards the Matthew Shepard Foundation.

Cassidy said that this documentary-styled play, written by playwright Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project, analyzes the death of Matthew Shepard, an openly gay student who was murdered in 1998 in Laramie, Wyoming because of his sexual identity.

Duncan Moran, an actor in the play and junior, said, “We’re putting it on because this is a story that not a lot of people know. I hope the message people take away from (“The Laramie Project”) is that everyone is a person. It really does not matter who you are, or what something is about you. Everybody is a person, and if you show hate towards someone, it is just plain hate, there is no justification.”

Cassidy said via email, “It is a powerful play and speaks a message that I wanted our community to hear. It is also an event that happened in 1998 and not as well known by teenagers. I wanted the students to study and learn about Matthew’s story and share it with others.”

Moran, who plays several roles in the play, said the group has been practicing this play since June of 2013. According to Cassidy, the group has presented this production at the IndyFringe theatre and the State Thespian Competition, where it placed first. This is the only time the play will be performed at CHS.

Moran said, “We’ve done this performance hundreds of times, and we are at our prime. We are ready.”