Toronto’s Echo Chamber offers glimmer of hope against hate in ‘A World Transformed’

Toronto’s Echo Chamber, helmed by violinist Aaron Schwebel with the goal of integrating music and dance in innovative ways, is revisiting a dark moment in American history as a reminder that the fight against bigotry and hate is far from over.

“A World Transformed” tells the story of Matthew Shepard through music, contemporary dance and spoken text from both his perspective and that of his mother, Judy Shepard, whose life was upended at the moment her son’s was cut short.

On a cold night in October 1998, University of Wyoming undergraduate Matthew Shepard, 21, was brutally beaten by a couple of local punks, set on fire and left to die, tied to a fence post beside a lonely dirt road just outside Laramie. Shepard was discovered 15 hours later still clinging to life but survived only a few more days.

Matthew Shepard was gay. While the exact circumstances leading to his murder are still disputed, it was quickly portrayed in the media and taken up by gay-rights advocates as an unequivocal case of violent homophobia. As a result, it ignited a push to bolster gay rights and have homophobia included in state and federal anti-hate crime legislation.

It was a long political battle, but the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, (Byrd was horrifically murdered in 1998 in Jasper, Texas, by three white supremacists), was signed into law by President Barack Obama on Oct. 28, 2009.

Long before that, as celebrities lined up to support the cause, Matthew Shepard’s parents, Judy and Dennis, established a foundation in his name that continues through a range of activities to uphold the mission “to inspire individuals, organizations and communities to embrace the dignity and equality of all people.”

Moisés Kaufman’s 2000 verbatim theatre work, “The Laramie Project,” made into a film two years later, soon became a widely-performed vehicle for combating bigotry and homophobia. It is the most prominent of a number of documentaries, dramas, musical works and books dealing with the murder.

Tenor Marcel d’Entremont, Schwebel’s partner and the instigator of “A World Transformed,” sees it as a poetic way to pay tribute to Shepard and his legacy.

“It is unique in the sense that it tells Matthew’s story but for the second half goes into Judy Shepard’s story. She’s almost a bigger part of the story because Judy is the one who’s actually been fighting for change since Matthew’s death. Instead of just living her life in grief, she decided to make something happen.”

“A World Transformed” makes specific references to historical facts but those involved in the production — Schwebel and d’Entremont, mezzo-soprano Andrea Ludwig, pianists Dakota Scott-Digout and Jeanie Chung and dancers Zachary Cardwell, Brayden Cairns, Evan Webb and Johanna Bergfelt — do not portray specific characters.

“We’re framing it in the context of art,” Schwebel said, “because that sometimes can be more powerful than just simply telling the story itself.”

Schwebel and d’Entremont also want “A World Transformed” to transcend the particularity of Matthew Shepard’s victimization to make it symbolic of all kinds of oppression.

“It’s for anyone who has ever felt some sort of persecution or bigotry, for whatever reason,” said d’Entremont.

D’Entremont’s musical selections, songs and instrumental, which cover a broad range of genres, are chosen to evoke emotional elements reflected in the text but, like the choreographed sections, are not intended to be literal or illustrative.

In choreographing the first section for a cast of three young men, William Yong says his aim has been to embody the emotion and the sentiments of the songs without attempting to tell a literal story.

Similarly, in choreographing the second part, Laurence Lemieux is aiming for a generalized portrait.

“Physically, I wanted to focus on a mother’s grief at the loss of a son in a universal sense without going too much into the details,” said Lemieux.

In revisiting the tragic history of Matthew Shepard, Schwebel and d’Entremont hope it will serve as a reminder that although progress has been made, the fight to protect those targeted for attack because of their perceived differences is far from over.

“Retelling this story,” said Schwebel, “serves to strengthen people’s awareness that we’re not done yet, that versions of this keep happening every day, whether it’s homophobia or racism or some other form of persecution.”

The existence of anti-hate crime legislation in a number of jurisdictions has not put an end to hate crimes. It merely makes them prosecutable. Right-wing extremism on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border poses an immediate threat to LGBTQ2S+ communities with hard-won legal rights now being openly challenged. In the run-up to the recent municipal elections here, the Canadian Anti-Hate Network warned of a concerted effort by far-right-fundamentalist groups to stack school boards with anti-diversity trustees.

Even so, Schwebel and d’Entremont planned “A World Transformed” to end on a note of hope.

Said d’Entremont: “Although we live in a world that is still fraught with hatred, fear and bullying, we have the capacity both individually and collectively to create change and to embody values that make the world a safer place for everyone, regardless of how we look or who we love.”

“World Transformed,” Oct. 29 to 30; Theatre Passe Muraille, 16 Ryerson Ave.; echochambertoronto.com

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