"The Laramie Project" got a less-than-enthusiastic reception from student audiences at the University of Mississippi.
As the The Daily Mississippian reports, a group of students -- including an estimated 20 Ole Miss football players -- disrupted the university theater department's Oct. 1 performance of "Laramie," which is based on the 1998 murder of gay Wyoming student Matthew Shepard.
Director Rory Ledbetter said some members of the audience hurled anti-gay slurs like "fag" at cast members, and described the audience's reactions as "borderline hate speech."
Theater student Garrison Gibbons, who said he was the only openly gay member of the cast, noted, "To be ridiculed like that was something that really made me realize that some people at Ole Miss and in Mississippi still can’t accept me for who I am.”
Added Rachel Staton, another theater major: “That was by far the worst audience I’ve ever performed in front of ... If I can go support and respect the football team in their stadium, I feel like they should be able to support and respect me and my fellow cast members when we are doing a show.”