A year after their musical Matilda, theater returns to the stage Wednesday for their next fall performance The Laramie Project. 

The showtimes are 7 p.m Wednesday through Friday and 2 p.m. Sunday at 7 p.m., those interested can view the performance via live stream after purchasing tickets in advance.

“It’s been fun. It’s been challenging,” freshman Fabiana Rosario said. “We have a bunch of cameras recording at the same time and at different angles to capture everyone on stage. We are allowed to have our family members there, socially distanced and with masks of course, but it makes the experience feel more real and less weird considering that we will be performing that way as well.”

The show aims to shed light on serious issues with relevance to today’s world, specifically regarding violence towards members of the LGBTQ+ community.

“This show focuses on acceptance,” Rosario said. “It means a lot to me to know that the show we are doing has had such an impact on a lot of people, causing them to reevaluate their own prejudices.”

The opportunity to dissect and research characters has been rewarding for sophomore Eva Guerra, who views it as a chance to improve her acting.

“The whole cast is portraying actual people,” Guerra said, “and I was so excited to be cast at all. In one of my roles I get to play Reggie Fluty, a police officer. I was so excited to portray her. She is so strong and I have so much respect for her in general.”

Though a smaller group, each cast member tackles on more than five different roles within the performance. 

Getting to mess around with different aspects of acting is what stood out to Rosario.

“Having to memorize all of the lines and cues has been hard seeing as I play more than one character,” she said. “But I think the best part of it is getting to tap into all aspects of acting and voice styles. Doing different Accents and messing with serious versus comedic timing is really fun to play around with.”