“The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later – an Epilogue” will be Isis’s next 2013 production. Idyllwild’s Howard Shangraw directs this provocative and insightful piece that reverberates beyond Laramie.

On Nov. 6, 1998, gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard left the Fireside Bar with Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson. The following day he was discovered on a prairie at the edge of Laramie, tied to a fence, brutally beaten, and close to death. Six days later Matthew Shepard died at Poudre Valley Hospital in Ft. Collins, Colo.

On Nov. 14, 1998, 10 members of Tectonic Theatre Project traveled to Laramie, Wyo., and conducted interviews with the people of the town. These texts became the basis for the play “The Laramie Project.”

Ten years later, on Sept. 12, 2008, five members of Tectonic returned to Laramie to try to understand the long-term effect of the murder. They found a town wrestling with its legacy and its place in history. In addition to revisiting the folks whose words riveted us in the original play, this time around the company also spoke with the two murderers, McKinney and Henderson, as well as Matthew’s mother, Judy Shepard.

“The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later – an Epilogue” asks the question, “How does society write its own history?”

The cast includes Howard Shangraw, Suzanne Avalon, John Newman, Christina Lee Nordella, Jacob Teel, Holli Plummer, Lily Ruffner, Chris Pittman and Jeanette Knight.

The performance will be 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 3, at the Rainbow Inn in Idyllwild.

Tickets are $15. Tickets may be purchased at the door, or online at www.isistheatrecompany.com.

There is also a Dinner Theatre Package available for $45, which includes a three-course meal at the Gastrognome Restaurant and a ticket to the play with preferred seating.

For information call (951) 692-9553, or log onto the website at www.isistheatrecompany.com.