‘The Laramie Project‘ is back in Monmouth County — minus, so far, any hint of the outrage that made it a hot topic last year in Ocean Township.

That’s when the high school principal and the district superintendent tried putting the kibbosh on a planned production as potentially offensive to playgoers.

But the play about the 1998 murder of Wyoming college student Matthew Shepard because of his homosexuality went on, minus some expletives. It also nabbed the ‘Basie’ award for Outstanding Dramatic Production among high school plays last May from the Count Basie Theatre Foundation.

Starting tomorrow night, the Visual and Performing Arts Academy at Red Bank Regional High School will stage a production of the play to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the events that inspired it.

Performances are scheduled for Friday and Saturday at 7:30p, with a matinee performance at 2p on Sunday, the anniversary of Shepard’s death. Tickets are priced at $10 for adults and $8 for senior citizens and students. Proceeds will be donated to the Matthew Shepard Foundation and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

A candlelight vigil for Shepard is scheduled for 7p Sunday at the Paramount on the Boardwalk in Asbury Park.

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