GARDINER — The Open Book Players will present “The Laramie Project,” by Moises Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project in New York, on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 23-24.

The play is about Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old victim of a hate crime. A University of Wyoming student, Shepard was kidnapped, severely beaten and left to die, tied to a fence in the middle of a prairie outside of Laramie, Wyo., in October of 1998.

“The Laramie Project” is a moving theatrical experience, the result of more than 200 interviews with the people of the town who were in some way involved or touched by what happened.

After the performances, the audience will be invited to join the 14 cast members and several experts in the field of civil rights and hate crimes for a brief discussion/question and answer period. These experts are Thomas Harnett, assistant attorney general for civil rights education and enforcement in the Maine Office of the Attorney General; Stephen L. Wessler, executive director of the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence in Portland; and Dr. Robert Bernheim, executive director of the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine at the University of Maine in Augusta.

Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 23 and 2 p.m. on Oct. 24 at Johnson Hall. Tickets are $8 for general admission, $6 for students and seniors. Call 582-5717 or 582-7144.