CANYON—A horrific hate crime is examined in a staged version of a true-crime docuseries in West Texas A&M University Theatre’s upcoming production of The Laramie Project.

The play realistically brings to life conversations with dozens of real-life Laramie residents in the wake of the 1998 death of Matthew Shepard, a young gay man who was savagely beaten and left bound to a fence post in the cou…