OCTOBER MOURNING A Song for Matthew Shepard

First Congregational Church of Long Beach Proudly Presents A World Premiere Performance OCTOBER MOURNING A Song for Matthew Shepard Poetry by: Lesléa Newman / Music by: Curtis Heard Saturday, May 3 at 8pm Sunday, May 4 at 7pm Featuring: First Congregational Church of Long Beach Sanctuary Choir Soloists: Carver Cossey, Carlos Carlos, Todd Faux, Lisa Bode Heard, Megan O’Toole, Leeav Sofer, and Mark Wheeler With: Wilson High School Women’s Chorus Book signing by the author will follow the performance. $20 Suggested Donation. All proceeds will benefit The Matthew Shepard Foundation and First Congregational Church of Long Beach Board of Cultural Arts October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard is award-winning author Lesléa Newman’s deeply personal literary and theatrical response to the events of October 6, 1998, when 21-year-old Matthew Shepard was brutally beaten and hung on a fence to die in one of the most brutal gay hate crimes of recent memory. This work of poetic imagination, married to the hauntingly beautiful music of Curtis Heard, explores the impact of the vicious crime through fictitious monologues and songs from various points of view, including the fence to which Matthew was tied, the deer that kept watch beside him, his cat, protestors at his funeral, parents that never knew him but were moved by the tragedy and understood that it could happen to any of their children, and even Matthew himself. This stunning theatrical work serves as an illumination to those unfamiliar with the tragedy, and as a powerful, enduring tribute to Matthew Shepard’s life and legacy. Presented in the beautiful 100-year-old National Historic Registered sanctuary of the First Congregational Church of Long Beach, this event will feature the 40-voice Sanctuary choir, the Long Beach Wilson High School Womens’ Chorus, accomplished soloists and narrators, orchestral accompaniment, and the 4,500 pipe “Mighty Mőller” pipe organ—the largest in the Long Beach area. Sixteen years later, the events that transpired on the night of October 6, 1998 in Laramie Wyoming may still be familiar, but they are no less shocking or tragic. On that Tuesday evening, a twenty-one-year-old Matthew Shepard, a gay college student attending the University of Wyoming, was kidnapped from a bar by twenty-one-year-olds Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson. Pretending to be gay, the two men befriended Matthew, drove him to the outskirts of Laramie, robbed him, beat him with a pistol, tied him to a buck-rail fence, and left him to die. The outrage that erupted from Shepard’s murder spurred vigils and protests across the country, and provoked a nationwide debate about hate crimes in general and about hate crimes against gays in particular. In the years since, this incident has served as a catalyst in promoting hate crime legislation on both the state and federal level, culminating with the passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, signed into law by President Obama in 2009. The life and death of Matthew Shepard changed the way we talk about, and deal with, hate in America. Since his death, Matt’s legacy has challenged and inspired millions of individuals to erase hate in all its forms. His legacy lives on in thousands of people who actively fight to replace hate with understanding, compassion, and acceptance. It is only natural that a work of this import and subject matter premieres at First Church. Organized in 1888 by Margaret and Jotham Bixby—the “First Family of Long Beach”—as a place of public service and social justice, First Congregational Church of Long Beach continues its call as the “Church at the corner of Social Justice and the Arts”, dedicated to equality and justice for all, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, or socio-economic status. Free Will Offering—Suggested Donation $20—proceeds will be divided equally between the Matthew Shepard Foundation and the Board of Cultural Arts at First Congregational Church Long Beach.