About Sam Shepard
Samuel Shepard entry from the Cambridge Guide to Theatre:
New York Magazine called him ‘the most inventive in language and revolutionary in craft’, as well as the ‘writer whose work most accurately maps the interior and exterior landscapes of his society’. Uniquely American and contemporary in his subject-matter - ranging from myths of the American West, American stereotypes, the death or betrayal of the American dream, the travail of the family, to the search for roots - Shepard defies easy classification. Influenced by rock and roll, the pop and countercultures beginning in the 1950s, the graphic arts and dance, the West of Hollywood, hallucinatory experiences and a dozen other eclectic forces, his path as a writer is hard to plot. Richard Gilman suggests that it is best to accept the volatility and interdependence of Shepard's plays - ‘they constitute a series of facets of a single continuing act of imagination’.
Of his more than 40 plays, 11 of which have received Obies (beginning with the Theatre Genesis (New York City) productions of Cowboy and The Rock Garden in 1964), the following are major works: La Turista (1966); The Tooth of Crime (1972), a rock drama written during a four-year period in London; Curse of the Starving Class, written in 1976 and produced first in 1978 at the New York Shakespeare Festival with a successful New York revival in 1985; Buried Child (1978), for which he won the 1979 Pulitzer Prize; True West (1980) and Fool for Love (1979), both originally staged at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco, where he was playwright-in-residence for several years; and A Lie of the Mind (1985). In 1991, The States of Shock, his first drama in six years and his ambiguous look at post-Vietnam America, played a brief season at the American Place Theater, and in late 1994 he directed his play Simpatico at New York's Public Theater. Shepard has also co-authored three pieces with Joseph Chaikin - one, The War in Heaven (1985), was also revived in 1991 at the American Place.
Shepard has appeared in several successful films, including his own Fool for Love, and for his screenplay Paris, Texas won the Golden Palm Award at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival.
Pictures from Sam Shepard Exhibit
Items in collection
A Particle of Dread by Call Number: PS3569.H394 P378 2017ISBN: 9781101974391Publication Date: 2017-03-21In A Particle of Dread, Sam Shepard takes one of the most famous plays in history--Oedipus Rex--and transforms it into a modern American classic. In this telling, Oedipus, King of Thebes, prophesized to kill his father and marry his mother, alternates between his classical identity and that of contemporary "Otto." His wife (and true mother), Jocasta, is also called Jocelyn, and his antagonist (and true father) is split into three characters, Laius, Larry, and Langos. Two present-day policemen from the Southwest stand in for the Greek chorus as they investigate the murder case. Dazzlingly inventive, ringing with the timelessness of myth, A Particle of Dread is an unforgettable work that grapples with questions of storytelling and destiny--the narratives that we pass down, and how they shape our lives. It is a play that lingers in the mind long after we finish the last scene.
Sam Shepard by Call Number: 812 SH472YSH1997ISBN: 030680770XPublication Date: 1997-03-22Sam Shepard's outlandish, nightmarish, yet lyrical plays, The Tooth of Crime, Buried Child, True West, Fool for Love, A Lie of the Mind, and dozens of others,have garnered him a Pulitzer Prize and a lasting reputation as one of America's greatest living playwrights. His charismatic performances in movies like Days of Heaven, The Right Stuff, Country, and Thunderheart ,as well as his screenplay for Paris, Texas ,have made him an indelible presence in American film. Rock'n' roller, rancher, and rodeo prizewinner, he has toured with Bob Dylan, hung out with the Rolling Stones, collaborated with Patti Smith, and raised a family with Jessica Lange. Yet throughout he has remained an enigmatic figure. In this acclaimed biography, now fully updated, Don Shewey explores the life and works of this American visionary, illuminating Shepard's unique success in straddling the divide between serious artist and pop-culture hero.
American Dreams by Call Number: 812 SH472YAISBN: 0933826133Publication Date: 1981-06-01The standard critical work on the author features two dozen essays and miscellaneous pieces by leading theatre critics, directors, and actors on the plays and productions of Shepard, from the beginning of his career. A special section by the author on his own work is also included.
