The Laramie Project

Act III opens with “Snow,” which is set on the day of Matthew Shepard’s funeral. Matt Galloway tells us that it snowed, and that so many people attended the funeral that they couldn’t fit into two churches. The priest begins an Easter liturgy, which deals with Christ’s resurrection. There is a call and response, which is interspersed with Tiffany Edwards’ observation that, at the time of the funeral, they had the worst storm anyone could remember; tees fell and the power was out for days. Another reporter, Kerry Drake, says that the most dramatic part of the funeral was the protest by the Reverend Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church. Kids started shouting at the protesters while people lined up for the funeral. Phelps claimed that this wasn’t just another murder, but that “fags” (73) were trying to make Matthew into “a poster boy for the gay lifestyle” (73). The narrator tells us that when the theatre company returned to Laramie six months later, for the trial of Russell Henderson, Phelps was there too. Matthew’s friend Romaine decided to do something about Phelps’ protest and, along with some friends, she dressed as an angel with huge wings.