Neil Patrick Harris and Mary Louise Parker will take part in “Laramie: A Legacy,” a one-night benefit reading in September of “The Laramie Project,” set to honor Matthew Shepard on the 20th anniversary of his murder.
Presented by Tectonic Theater Project, “Laramie: A Legacy” is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 24, at the Gerald Lynch Theater at John Jay College in Manhattan.
Also confirmed for the event is Tony Award winner Billy Porter (“Kinky Boots”).
Harris, Parker and Porter will join the original company of “The Laramie Project” — Stephen Belber, Amanda Gronich, Mercedes Herrero, Andy Paris, Greg Pierotti, Barbara Pitts McAdams and Kelli Simpkins — with Tectonic Theater Project founder and Artistic Director Moisés Kaufman directing.
Additional cast members will be announced at a later date.
In advance of the reading, the Matthew Shepard Foundation and Tectonic Theater Project are filming a PSA video featuring Parker, Porter, Kaufman, Michael Urie, Harvey Fierstein, Zachary Quinto, Annaleigh Ashford, Bridget Moynahan and Raul Castillo, along with Matthew Shepard’s parents Judy and Dennis Shepard.
The video, directed by Sue Kramer, will highlight the work of Tectonic Theater Project and the Matthew Shepard Foundation to erase hate, and will be released in the weeks leading up to “Laramie: A Legacy.”
The reading comes just before the 20-year mark of the Oct. 12, 1998, murder of the 21-year-old Shepard, a hate crime that drew international attention to violence against the LGBTQ community.
In the weeks that followed his death, the Matthew Shepard Foundation was founded and the Tectonic Theater Project began conducting the interviews that would form the basis of the docu-play “The Laramie Project.” Since then, “The Laramie Project” has become one of the most performed contemporary plays in the world.
Proceeds from “Laramie: A Legacy” will benefit both the Matthew Shepard Foundation and Tectonic Theater Project. Among the Tectonic’s initiatives is the Moment Work Institute, which trains more than 1,000 students and emerging artists every year in company’s technique.