Exactly 25 years after the death of Matthew Shepard, Springfield Contemporary Theatre is teaming up with the Springfield Chamber Chorus for a unique and powerful oratorio in his memory.
Craig Hella Johnson’s “Consider Matthew Shepard” runs for only two nights, Oct. 12 and 13. Both shows start at 7:30 p.m. in the Historic Fox Theatre on Park Central Square. It is described as a “fusion oratorio” and it features the Springfield Chamber Chorus, a nine-piece orchestra and several soloists. The Springfield-Drury Community Choir is also participating in the production.
“We’ve never done anything quite like this,” Rick Dines, Springfield Contemporary Theatre’s managing artistic director said. “It’s not a traditional theatrical piece like our audiences are used to seeing. It’s more of the music realm. It’s truly a fusion piece because the creators of the show envisioned it a little bit more as a theatrical piece than a standard oratorio or music piece.”
Shepard’s murder made national headlines
Shepard, who was gay, was a student at the University of Wyoming. On the night of Oct. 6, 1998, Shepard was beaten, tortured, tied to a fence and left to die near Laramie, Wyoming. He was rescued the next morning and taken to a hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, where he died Oct. 12 from severe head injuries suffered during the attack.
Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson were arrested and charged with first-degree murder. They were later convicted and both of them were sentenced serve to two consecutive life sentences in prison.
The case brought attention to hate crime legislation at both the federal and state levels. On Oct. 28, 2009, President Barack Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law.
Finding space to stage the production
It was Alex Huff, Springfield Contemporary Theatre’s resident music director, who brought “Considering Matthew Shepard” to Dines’ attention.
“I first discovered ‘Considering Matthew Shepard’ in 2019 and was immediately drawn to it,” Huff said in an email to the Daily Citizen. “It meshes together my love for choral music and musical theatre. I was only 9 years old in 1998 when Matthew Shepard was killed, but I remember being drawn to the news coverage. It's one of the first things I can still remember seeing on TV.”
SCT, at that time, was still emerging from COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and didn’t have a regular home for its productions. It certainly didn’t have a space big enough to handle this massive production.
But then SCT became the resident theatre company at the Fox Theatre, owned by the History Museum on the Square, giving it room to stage “Considering Matthew Shepard” — and the timing just so happened to coincide with the 25th anniversary of Shepard’s death.
Not a traditional theatre piece and not a traditional oratorio
The enmeshing of choral music and musical theatre is key to understanding oratorios, the most famous of which, Huff said, is Handel’s “Messiah.” Chris Brammer, of the Springfield Chamber Chorus, said it sits somewhere between choral music and theatre or choral music and opera.
“Occasionally there will be some dialogue in oratorio, and in this particular case there are some spoken word parts,” Brammer said. “The choir, or the chorus, much like in Greek theatre delivers most of the necessary information. It gets the story from Point A to Point B and the soloists in oratorio generally expound on whatever the subject matter is. Their arias or their songs will not necessarily move the action along, but will pick out a moment in time and kind of expound on that.”
And they expound on it in a variety of ways, as the composer fuses together several different styles of music and includes spoken-word pieces, narration and soloists in addition to the choir’s material.
“There’s some Gregorian chant, bluegrass, opera aria, musical theatre and contemporary choral music,” Huff said. “There’s really something for everyone musically.”
And, Brammer said, Johnson and the lyricists and poets he worked with use imagery as characters in the work.
“The fence, for example, becomes a primary character in the oratorio,” Brammer said. “In fact, the fence even takes on personification and sings some as part of the work. The wind is a character. The state of Wyoming becomes a character in the work. So instead of just focusing on the actual human beings or the newsworthy elements, he’s really able to build a very beautiful atmospheric piece of music by bringing in elements that are not necessarily on the top of your mind in terms of things that would be talking to you.”
Drawing from a wide range of sources
Johnson didn’t stick to news clippings while writing “Considering Matthew Shepard.” Dines said Johnson was in communication with Shepard’s parents, Dennis and Judy, and got some unique access to material.
“They gave him access to Matthew’s journals and some other things, so there were things that had not really been put out there publicly that he was able to get access to through them for this piece. But even then he’s drawing from some sources that aren’t even related to this. He’s using poetry and other things to comment on this. He draws from a lot of sources.”
That includes poetry from Lesléa Newman, who spoke at the University of Wyoming as part of their LGBT Awareness Week while Shepard was hospitalized. Shepard was on the planning committee for that event.
“She spoke at the university the night before he passed away,” Dines said. “So she was very much there when all of this was happening. She then wrote a whole book of poetry called ‘October Mourning’ that was kind of about that experience of being there and about Matthew. And she has since written another book of poetry about Matthew.”
That book, “Always Matt: A Tribute to Matthew Shepard,” was released Sept. 26.
Turning a tragic event into an uplifting and hopeful production
Brammer, Huff and Dines all say that while the subject matter is heavy and emotional, audiences will leave the theatre feeling uplifted.
“While it’s an emotional topic, it should be — and we hope it will be — one of the most uplifting musical experiences that a person can have,” Brammer said. “You will leave feeling this immense amount of joy and a positive outlook on things. That, I think, is one of the best things that Craig Hella Johnson was able to do, to take this emotional subject and walk you through it to the point where you’re done and you feel like you can take on the world.”
“It shows us that we are all woven from the same fabric,” Huff said. “The world is a greater place when we share love, not hate.”
Want to go?
What: “Considering Matthew Shepard” by Springfield Contemporary Theatre and the Springfield Chamber Chorus
When: Oct. 12-13, 7:30 p.m. both nights
Where: Historic Fox Theatre, 157 Park Central Square
Tickets: $22-$25, available online
For more information: Call (417) 831-8001, visit the Springfield Contemporary Theatre website, or find them on Facebook.
