“The Laramie Project”, a SHSU Department of Theatre and Dance production, opened to a sold-out crowd last night in the Showcase TheaterThe production is based on the story of Matthew Shepard, a gay student of the University of Wyoming, who was beaten and tortured by two men and left to die on top of a mountain in 1998. “It really deals with the idea of how we teach hate without intending to,” said Penny Hasekoester, director of the play.A Laramie townsman found Shepard and takes him to the hospital, where he never regained consciousness. The two men claimed they beat him due to gay panic. Hasekoester said the production deals with adult issues and content. People going to see the production need to be aware of what they are going into.”It really paints a picture of small-town life. It’s something I think that everyone needs to face and that’s really hard to face,” Hasekoester said. “It looks at the town of Laramie and how they responded to the beating, the death of Matthew Shepard and the media circus that followed,” she said.The play will not show any of the torturing or beating of Shepard, but will show excerpts from the trial, the media circus and a collection of interviews from Laramie residents.”It is not about being gay or straight. It is about hate and how we as people perpetrate without really knowing it,” said Hasekoester.Eight students from the department will portray approximately 60 different roles, according to Hasekoester.The play has received good reviews from other places where it has been performed, she said.”It’s done very well,” she said. “It’s being compared to a contemporary ‘Our Town’.”The play will show every night at 8 p.m. through Oct. 5. There will also be a matinee on Saturday at 2 p.m. Though the standing-room only show is already sold out, tickets can still become available through turn-backs, meaning that people who ordered too many tickets return unused tickets to be resold, Hasekoester said. Those tickets can be purchased for $8.”People can get in,” she said, though there are no guarantees.