Stanford Summer Theater explores the range of one man's prolific career—as actor, director, screenwriter and playwright—in this season's Sam Shepard Festival, from July 9 through August 12. While drama professor Rush Rehm directs Shepard's Curse of the Starving Class as the festival's centerpiece, the program will feature films, discussion, a symposium and a Continuing Studies course.
Curse was written in 1978, and Shepard's darkly comic portrayal of an American family's financial and psychological meltdown reverberates in the current economic climate and its victims. Evening and matinee performances will take place at Pigott Theater, Memorial Auditorium, July 19 through August 12.
Shepard has more than 40 films to his credit, and Shepard on Screen will present free Monday night showings at the Annenberg Auditorium of the Cummings Art Building July 9 through August 6, with post-screening discussions led by faculty and actors. The schedule includes Days of Heaven, Thunderheart, Voyager, Don't Come Knocking and Fool for Love.
The July 28 symposium, Shepard and the Eclectic American West, will feature lectures by Stanford and guest professors, performances of short Shepard plays, a panel discussion with theater artists and a Western barbecue.
