Matthew Shepard, the Wyoming teenager who became a national figure after he was beaten and left for dead for being gay in 1998, has inspired plays, documentaries and books. He is the subject of this newly written 95-minute extended work entitled “Considering Matthew Shepard” that explores his life, death and legacy. Composer Craig Hella Johnson, Director of Austin choir Conspirare and former Director of San Francisco’s own Chanticleer, features lyrics taken from Shepard’s writing well as dark passages about the group that picketed his funeral. “The piece actually became a whole lot more than just the story of the suffering,” Johnson said. “It needed to become this larger invitation to return to love. And to return to remember who we are as human beings, in the deepest sense of our essence."