Chance Willey, a freshman at Desert Academy who will be portraying eight characters in the school's production of The Laramie Project, has learned a lot about human nature while rehearsing.

Willey, who knew nothing of the brutal killing of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyo., in 1998, before being involved in this production, said the case is a "study of the aspects of human nature."

"These kids commit this horrible, horrible crime — what they did to Matt Shepard is horrible beyond belief," said Randy Bennett, the theater director.

"It shocks you on so many levels," Willey added, yet, "as inhumane as their crime was, they are still humans. It's a great study of all these aspects of human beings that we may not want to see — that no one wants to see ... There's this line in the play: 'We don't grow children like that in Laramie,' but it's clear we do grow children like that. The world grows people like that."

"This whole issue of hate was a huge reason why I chose the play," said Bennett, who prides himself on not picking "typical high-school" plays for his cast.

Bennett chose The Laramie Project long before the 2008-2009 school year was over. Connie Schaekel, the community-relations manager for the Lensic, where the well-received production The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, an Epilogue showed last fall, put Bennett in contact with Andy Paris of the New York-based Tectonic Theater Project (which conducted the interviews with people of Laramie and wrote the play). Paris visited Bennett's classes and gave them an inside look of how the play and the epilogue were created.

Paris discussed "what it felt like to him as a person, to be in Laramie that soon after Matthew died," Bennett said. "After the kids dispersed, he came up to me and said, 'These kids really know their stuff. I want to come back here, and I want to help with the play. If you need help with the play, you call me.' "

So Bennett has done just that. Once a week he calls Paris to get advice. "I'm doing my own take on it, including asking the kids for input" he said. "I like to hear what they want to do. It's been very exciting to work with one of the creators of this theater piece in a high-school setting and have that kind of input."

Desert Academy's production of The Laramie Project will probably be unlike any other you've seen. The play will show in the school's "Big Room." Bennett has used his theater rental fund for the year to purchase collapsible stages and lighting for the room, rather than rent the Lensic or the Scottish Rite Temple as he's done in the past, because he has a special staging scheme in mind.

"I'm going to have a stage here," he said as he pointed to the west side of the room. "Then audience here, and another stage here," he added with excitement. Altogether there will be three stages and the audience — about 85 seats — will be dispersed between the stages. Two big televisions will be on the west and east sides of the room. The TVs will show interviews with some of the characters and clips from actual media coverage after the killing.

It's not a huge room so it will be a more intimate experience.

"I'm very interested in the effect that (the arrangement) is going to have on the audience," Bennett said. He's hoping the audience will feel how the people of Laramie felt when the media descended on their town and overwhelmed them. "It's close and uncomfortable and that helps get the message across. You can't get out of here so we're all in this together."

"It intensifies it," Willey added. "It's powerful down to everything — the play is powerful, the writing on the page is powerful, the acting is powerful and when you bring in the stages and the lights, it's more powerful."

Bennett and his cast of eight actors (who each have six to eight parts) have had to overcome obstacles in order to get the play going. Initially the play was to be done in February but one of the actors dropped out just 10 days before opening night.

"I knew I couldn't recast and do it," Bennett said. But it turned out the troupe was happy for the "luxury" to have more time. Then one of the main actors, Anton Gress, had serious knee surgery; another, senior soccer and basketball star, Meredith Davis, had to juggle playing in the state basketball tournament with rehearsal; and several have been out the last few weeks visiting colleges.

But they are getting it done, because Bennett has high expectations for them.

"The pressure is on," Willey said. Bennett expects as much from his actors at Desert that he expected from his actors in New York and Hollywood, where he had his own acting and theater groups, respectively.

"When I took this job (six years ago), I was interested in creating a performing arts department and having an influence on young artists and teaching them about the professional side of the arts stage craft," Bennett said. "That's what was missing from my education. I learned Shakespeare and Moliére ... but no one ever taught me how to take that and apply it to get a job. That's what I try to do here. We have fun, but I am demanding in my rehearsals, and I have high expectations with the people I work with."

As part of that, for the last five years, Bennett has taken his students to either Hollywood and New York to expose them to Broadway stars and sets for television shows.

"It helps give them faith," Bennett said. "It helps give them hope."

Contact Ana Maria Trujillo at 986-3084 or atrujillo@sfnewmexican.com.

IF YOU GO

What: Desert Academy Performing presents The Laramie Project

When: 7:30 p.m., April 29, April 30, and May 1

Where: Desert Academy, 313 Camino Alire

Cost: $5 for students; $10 for adults; tickets can be purchased by calling 992-8284. Cash or checks only.

Disclaimer: The play contains mature language and themes that may not be appropriate for young children. For more information, call Randy Bennett at 992-8284, ext. 26.