Sam Shepard and the American Theatre

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No dramatist in the recent history of the American theatre has gained more celebrity than Sam Shepard. Exploring a career that includes fifty stage and screen plays, four books of nondramatic writings, and over a dozen appearances in feature films, this work traces Shepard's rise from an Off-Off-Broadway renegade to a Hollywood leading man, exploring his evolution from counterculture to cultural icon. The study situates Shepard's career within the shifting production modes and economic contexts of the American entertainment industry, and views his popularity against the identity politics of postwar American culture. Through an analysis of his life, plays and screen roles, this book investigates how Shepard's dramatic voice and film persona address issues of American consensus and community. The study argues that Shepard's popularity - in an era of cultural diversification and dissent - owes much to nationalism and nostalgia and begs important questions concerning American myths, media representations and the construction of an American audience.

Reviews

Undergraduates with no knowledge of Shepard, his plays, or the culture of the Unted States from the sixties through much of the nineties will find the narrative extremely easy to follow. The notes listed at the end of each chapter are quite thorough and will lead students to most of the major studies of Shepard's work to date. The Chronology, Further Reading list, and the Index all provide easy access to discussions of individual plays, significant moments in Shepard's life and the major historical events and trends that inform the plays....Wade's book will be useful in introductory college courses.-Modern Drama
Wade presents Shephard's career carefully and considers it in connection with the political, artistic, and social events of the period from the sixties to the 1990s. The author thus provides a good pictures of the development of Off- and Off-Off-broadway theater, the work of such artists as Schechner and Chaikin, the development of new forms of funding for the arts, and the decline of Broadway theater.... Like the other titles in the series, this volume contributes to the fuller understanding of the theater of past and present. All academic collections-Choice
"Wade presents Shephard's career carefully and considers it in connection with the political, artistic, and social events of the period from the sixties to the 1990s. The author thus provides a good pictures of the development of Off- and Off-Off-broadway theater, the work of such artists as Schechner and Chaikin, the development of new forms of funding for the arts, and the decline of Broadway theater.... Like the other titles in the series, this volume contributes to the fuller understanding of the theater of past and present. All academic collections"-Choice
"Undergraduates with no knowledge of Shepard, his plays, or the culture of the Unted States from the sixties through much of the nineties will find the narrative extremely easy to follow. The notes listed at the end of each chapter are quite thorough and will lead students to most of the major studies of Shepard's work to date. The Chronology, Further Reading list, and the Index all provide easy access to discussions of individual plays, significant moments in Shepard's life and the major historical events and trends that inform the plays....Wade's book will be useful in introductory college courses."-Modern Drama

Author Bio

LESLIE A. WADE is Associate Professor of Theatre at Louisiana State University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Santa Barbara. Wade has presented his work at national and international conferences and has published essays on American theatre and popular culture. Also a playwright, Wade has had several of his plays produced and has won awards from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, the Los Angeles Arts Council, and the American College Theatre Festival.