Sam Shepard

Playwright, director and actor, poet, short story writer, and memoirist. There isn't much that Sam Shepard couldn't turn his hand to. While noted for his works such as Buried Child, Shepard's other works exemplify a bleak realism and surrealism that questions American society and the American Dream, makes him an exemplary master of American drama. This article will look at the biography, plays, and books of Sam Shepard.

Sam Shepard: biography

Sam Shepard's biography begins when he was born on 5 November 1943 in Fort Sheridan, Illinois. He was an American actor, playwright and theatre director. Shepard is most acclaimed for his playwriting and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for the play Buried Child (1978). Shepard's plays often take a dark and modern look at the American West, distorting the familiar images of cowboys and homesteads. Sam Shepard had written over 50 plays and several books, both fiction and non-fiction.

Sam Shepard was born into a military family which meant that he moved across the United States while young. The family moved to an avocado farm in Duarte, California. In California Shepard took on various ranch jobs including sheep shearing and orange picking. He briefly attended Saint Antonio college studying agriculture before dropping out and moving to New York in 1962.

In 1963 Shepard started writing a series of one-act plays in off-off-Broadway productions. The plays brought Shepard attention and, in 1966, he won the OBIE Awards for the plays Icarus's Mother (1965), Red Cross (1966) and Chicago(1965). In 1971 Shepard moved to England and lived there for the next three years while continuing to write and produce plays in London. He returned to the United States to become Playwright in Residence at the Magic Theatre in 1974.

Towards the late 1970s, Sam Shepard's plays broached more conventional subjects, particularly family drama. Three such plays were Curse of the Starving Class (1977), Buried Child (1978) and True West (1980), Buried Child won Sam Shepard the Pulitzer Prize. Shepard also began acting again during this productive period, notably in the films Days of Heaven (1978) and The Right Stuff (1983).

Sam Shepard continued to write plays and act to great acclaim up until the twenty-first century. From the 1980s onwards Shepard also turned his hand to writing prose fiction with books such as The Motel Chronicle (1983) and Hawk Moon (1985). Sam Shepard died on the 27th July 2017 from ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis).

Fig 1. Many of Sam Shepard's plays take a stark and modern look at the American West.

The plays of Sam Shepard

Sam Shepard wrote over fifty-five plays in a career spanning fifty-three years. This section will look at some of Shepard's most successful plays.

Buried Child

Sam Shepard's 1978 play is perhaps his most successful, first opening at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco and winning the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play also garnered Shepard national attention. The play takes place during an economic slump in rural America and deals with a family's struggle to deal with the mythic American Dream. The family are headed by the alcoholic Dodge and his wife Halie. Their farm is struggling when their grandson Vince returns only to not be recognised by his family. Vince's return causes the family to unearth a grievous secret.

True West

Produced during Shepard's run as playwright in residence at the Magic Theatre in 1980, True West is considered the final part of his 'family trilogy'. the story concerns two brothers who have been long parted and consider each other rivals. Austin is a clean-cut screenwriter and successful, While his older brother Lee is a vagrant and a thief. While Austin is housesitting for their mother he attempts to write a screenplay but is constantly distracted by Lee. The play focuses on the power struggle between the two brothers as they collaborate on the screenplay.

Fool For Love (1983)

Like many of Shepard's most successful plays, Fool For Love premiered in San Francisco's Magic Theatre. The play focuses on the intense but highly troubled relationship between May and Eddie. The story begins when cowboy drifter Eddie turns up at a motel that May is staying in. The play was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and won the OBIE award for Best New American Play. The play was later adapted to film with Shepard himself playing the role of Eddie.

Sam Shepard: books

Sam Shepard was not only a prolific playwright but also often wrote prose and several memoirs. This section will look at some of the books written by Sam Shepard.

Motel Chronicles and Hawk Moon (1985)

Two books that were republished together in 1985, Motel Chronicles and Hawk Moon is a mixture of autobiography, poetry and fiction. It details events in Sam Shepard's early life and his time as a playwright. It includes childhood memories of his time in Illinois and his life as a teenager in rural California where Shepard took on an assortment of menial jobs. These memoirs are interspersed with poetry and dialogues. Parts of the book feature in the Wim Wender's film Paris, Texas (1984), which Shepard wrote the screenplay for.

Fig 2. Shepard's book covers his time as a teenager in rural California.

Days Out of Days (2010)

Days Out of Days is a collection of short fiction written in Sam Shepard's later years. The stories are largely set in the American West, like many of his plays. The book also includes song lyrics and dialogues unused previously by Shepard. The book had been lauded for its lyricism and its attention to detail, which are considered trademarks of Sam Shepard.

Rolling Thunder Logbook (1977)

This book chronicles Shepard's tie on Bob Dylan's 'Rolling Thunder Revue' tour in 1975. The variety show visited twenty-two cities in the United States and included a revolving cast of musicians and poets, including Joni Mitchell and Allen Ginsberg. Shepard was invited to the tour to write a screenplay for an improvised movie made by Dylan. Although the screenplay never materialised Shepard's diaries did document Dylan's ambitious tour.

Sam Shepard: director

Sam Shepard had not begun his career with the ambition to direct, however that changed towards the late 1970s. Shepard thought it necessary that his own direction was needed to carry out his visions for the plays he wrote. Sam Shepard only directed plays that he himself had written and never adapted the plays of other writers.

From the 1970s onwards directed the majority of the plays he wrote, with some notable exceptions. His more conventional family trilogy, also his most successful plays, was directed by more accomplished directors that Shepard trusted. One such director was Robert Woodruff, who directed the highly successful Buried Child.

Sam Shepard also turned his hand to directing for film. Twice Shepard went behind the camera for the films Far North (1988) and Silent Tongue(1993). Silent Tongue is a drama set in the west starring Shepard's then-wife, actress Jessica Lange. Far North has been described as an American western horror. Neither film found Shepard the success he had writing plays or acting himself.

Sam Shepard: actor

Sam Shepard was an actor in over fifty films and also had substantial roles on television. On top of his success writing and directing plays, Shepard was also an accomplished actor. Shepard was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was nominated for his role as the test pilot Chuck Yeager in the Philip Kauffman film The Right Stuff (1983).

Shepard's first film role of note was in the Terence Malik drama Days of Heaven (1978). Shepard played a dying farmer caught in a love triangle between himself Richard Gere and Brooke Adams. Shepard also starred in a leading man in Robert Altman's adaptation of his own play Fool For Love (1986). As he got older Shepard turned his hand towards more grizzled characters in films such as Mud (2012) and August: Osage County (2013).