It was a last minute invitation, but well worth juggling lunch dates to watch a Vintage High School production of “The Laramie Project,” last week. Amanda Bennett directed the performance as part of her senior thesis, which, she explained, was a study of attitudes toward homosexuality.

Moisés Kaufman’s deeply felt play, “The Laramie Project,” grew out of the death of a young, gay man who, in October 1998, was kidnapped, beaten and left to die, tied to a fence on the outskirts of Laramie, Wyo. Five weeks after Matthew Shepard’s death, and Kaufman and other members of the Tectonic Theater Project went to Laramie, and spent the following year conducting more than 200 interviews with townspeople. “The Laramie Project,” based on these interviews, chronicles the life of the town that was catapulted into an international spotlight because of the hate crime committed against one man.

Bennett tapped five Vintage actors for a sensitive and gripping half-hour performance, condensed from the full play. Laura Brady, Sam Burch, Stephanie Saslofs, Preston Washington and Chris Michaels slipped in and out of voices, among them the cyclist who discovered the dying Shepard, and the police officer who was the first to arrive at site and the spokesman of the hospital where Shepard died. Standing with their backs to the audience, one by one the actors turned to tell their stories with grace and restrained emotion, letting each vignette build the tension, horror and sorrow of story. It was an powerful and outstanding performance by five actors — and a courageous choice by a student director to stage a play like this for her peers. That Bennett, Brophy and Brady were also just finishing a run of “Midsummer Night’s Dream”on the Vintage stage only adds to the accomplishment.

The Vintage High School dance department students present “Dance Upon a Dream,” Thursday and Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 1 and 7 p.m. in the Vintage High School Little Theater, 1375 Trower Ave. Tickets, are sold at the door, are $10 for adults and $5 for children and students with ASB cards. Doors open at 6:40 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and at 12:40 p.m. and 6:40 p.m. on Saturday. For advanced tickets, contact dance teacher Lisa Sullivan at 253-3601 ext. 209.

Napa High School’s instrumental music department presents its final show of the year tonight at 7:30 at the District Auditorium. Under the direction of Harry Cadelago, the Napa jazz band, orchestra, concert band and a selected senior soloist will perform. Tickets, at $10, will be sold at the door. Info, 253-3705.