Groton — A student at Robert E. Fitch High School is directing the play "The Laramie Project," about the murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming who was tortured, tied to a fence and left to die in 1998.

The Fitch student, Noelle Butler, said she hopes the play will bring awareness to the mission of PFLAG, or Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays of Southeastern Connecticut, which offers support to parents, children and friends coming to terms with their sexual identity or questioning loved ones.

The play will be held at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Fitch High School auditorium.

Butler, 17, is taking donations in lieu of admission and giving all proceeds to PFLAG.

The organization meets at Noank Baptist Church and will set up an information booth at the performances both nights.

“I first saw this play when I was in the eighth grade, and it like completely changed my outlook on things,” said Butler, an International Baccalaureate student at Fitch.

The IB program requires diploma students to engage in community service, and Butler wanted to direct a play but choose one with meaning.

“Ever since I’ve been in high school, I’ve had a lot of friends who have come out as gay, and their families don’t accept them and don’t support them and who they want to love,” she said. “That’s the part that really kind of hurts, to know that some of my friends aren’t being accepted (in) their families.”

The play delivers a powerful message.

“I think a lot of people can gain a lot from it, even if they don’t necessarily agree with some of what’s being said,” she said.

Shepard, 21, was beaten after two men coaxed him out of a bar in October 1998. The men drove Shepard to a field, pistol-whipped him, tied him to a livestock fence and left him to die.

After news spread of the murder, members of a New York theater company arrived in Laramie, Wyo., and interviewed Shepard’s friends and family, one of the convicted killers and others in the town about what happened.

Playwright Moises Kaufman and The Tectonic Theater Project created the play from the interviews.

While the play focuses on Shepard’s murder, it also talks about hatred in general and how words sow violence, Butler said.

“It’s also a form of violence when someone uses the words ‘fag’ or ‘queer,’” she said. “Until we realize that everyone plays a part in perpetuating these feelings of hatred, we really can’t make any progress.”

d.straszheim@theday.com

Twitter: @DStraszheim

What: "The Laramie Project"

Where: Fitch High School auditorium

When: 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday

Donations: Will benefit PFLAG