TH. 261
SPECIAL TOPICS IN THEATRE: SAM SHEPARDDR. GARY GRANT
Spring, 1995Office: Coleman 218
T. Th. 2:30-3:52 PMOffice Phone: 1235
C 261Office Hours: T. Th. 4:00-5:30


COURSE DESCRIPTION

Many critics regard Sam Shepard as the most important American playwright of his generation and perhaps, the most significant American playwright since Eugene O'Neil. Shepard has written over 40 plays and screenplays. He has published two collections of poems and has worked as a newpaper and magazine journalist. An accomplished musician, he is recorded on drums with the Holy Modal Rounders, he has written lyrics for Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Patti Smith and the Red Clay Ramblers. The transformation of his interdisciplinary dramatic style from absurdist abstraction in the 1960's through jazz and rock n' roll plays in the 1970's to realism in the 1980's indicates a number of profound changes which occurred both in Shepard's personal life and in American culture over that period of time.

At the same time, the severe critique of his work, especially from Feminist Theatre critics, reflects the changing methodologies and concerns of dramatic literature and cultural studies. Shepard, indeed, has his finger on the pulse of postmodern American culture in the latter half of the 20th Century.. His work offers a creatively challenging path through the diverse and conflicting directions of our time.


COURSE OBJECTIVE

--a thorough exploration of the diversity of Shepard's artistic achievement not only in dramatic work, but also in film, dance, poetry, and the visual arts
--the development of an intertextual methodology which explores Shepard's references to popular culture, his aesthetics of theatre art, as well as his dialogue with himself as a writer as seen in his autobiographical pieces, his unpublished journal writing and letters and in his life as created by biographers and interviewers
--an evaluation of Shepard's corpus and his status in the canon of American letters as revealed in the value systems of various kinds of critical commentary
--an evaluation of the significance of Shepard's work as seen from the vantage point of both the Modernist tradition and the innovations of Post modernism
--the development of communication skills and techniques and a collaborative sensibility necessary for small group oral presentation
--the development of research and writing skills necessary for the development of essays which correlate theory, dramatic criticism and performance documentation
--an investigation into performance techniques useful in the theatrical presentation of Shepard's writing.


REQUIRED READING (available in bookstore)

A. Textbooks:
Dugdale, John. File on Shepard. London: Methuen/Heinemann, 1989 (on reserve)
Marranca, Bonnie. ed. American Dreams: The Imagination of Sam Shepard.
NY: Performing Arts Journal, 1981.

B. Plays :
Shepard, Sam. Five Plays. NY: Applause
__________. Fool for Love and Other Plays. NY: Bantam.
__________. Four Two Act Plays. NY: Applause
__________. Motel Chronicles. San Francisco: City Lights.
__________. Seven Plays. NY: Bantam.
__________. States of Shock. NY: Dramatist Play Service, 1992.
__________. Unseen Hand and Other Plays. NY: Applause, 1986.
__________. Silent Tongue

C. Sam Shepard Handbook: Journal articles, Essays, Plays, Interviews.
Xerox packet handed out at the first class.

RECOMMENDED READING (On reserve in Bertrand Library)


Auerbach, Doris. Sam Shepard, Arthur Kopit and the Off Broadway Theatre. Boston: Twayne
Publishers, 1982.

Cohn, Ruby. New American Dramatists. Modern Dramatists. New York: St. Martin's Press,
1991.

Crum, Jane Ann. " `I Smash the Tools of my Captivity': The Feminine in Sam Shepard's A Lie of
the Mind" Rereading Shepard: Contemporary Critical Essays on the Plays of Sam Shepard.
ed. Leonard Wilcox. NY: St. Martin's Press, 1993. 196-214.

Daniels, Barry. ed. Joseph Chaikin and San Shepard: Letters and Texts, 1972-1984. .
NY: Penguin, 1989.

DeRose, David. Sam Shepard. NY: Twayne Publishers, 1992.

Hall, Ann C. 'A Kind of Alaska': Women in the Plays of O'Neill, Pinter, and Shepard.
Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1993.

---. "Speaking Without Words: The Myth of Masculine Autonomy in Sam Shepard's Fool for
Love." Rereading Shepard: Contemporary Critical Essays on the Plays of Sam Shepard. ed.
Leonard Wilcox. NY: St. Martin's Press, 1993. 150-167.

Harriott, Esther. ed. American Voices:. Five Contemporary Playwrights in Essays and
Interviews London: McFarland and Co. Inc., 1988. 19-35.

Hart, Lynda Lee. Sam Shepard's Metaphorical Stages. NY: Greenwood Press, 1987.

King, Bruce, ed. Contemporary American Theatre. NY: St. Martin's Press, 1991.

King, Kimball. "Introduction." Sam Shepard: A Casebook. ed. King Kimball. NY: Garland
Publishing Inc., 1988.

Marranca, Bonnie &. Gautam Dasgupta V. I ed. American Playwrights: A Critical Survey. NY:
Drama Book Specialists, 1981. 81-111.

Mottram, Ron. Inner Landscapes: The Theatre of Sam Shepard. Columbia: University of
Missouri Press, 1984.

Oumano, Ellen. Sam Shepard: The Life and Work of an American Dreamer. New York:
St. Martin's Press, 1986.

Shepard, Sam. Angel City and Other Plays. NY: Urizen, 1976.
------------. Five Plays. NY: Faber, 1969.

------------. Fool for Love;The Sad Lament of Pecos Bill on the eve of killing his wife.
San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1983.

------------. Fool for Love and Other Plays. NY: Bantam, 1984.
------------. Hawk Moon. NY: Performing Arts Journal, 1981.
------------. A Lie of the Mind; The war in heaven. NY: New American Library, 1987.
------------. Motel Chronicles. San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1982.
------------. Operation Sidewinder. Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill, 1970.
------------. Rolling Thunder Logbook. NY: Limelight, 1987.
------------. States of shock, Dramatists Play Service, 1992.
------------. The tooth of crime; Geography of a horse dreamer. London Faber, 1974.
------------. The unseen hand and other plays. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1972.

Shewey, Don. Sam Shepard: The Life, The Loves, Behind the Legend Of A True American
Original. New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1985.

____________. "The Many Voices of Mabou Mines," American Theatre,1:3(1984),
pp.5n

Tucker, Martin. Sam Shepard. New York: The Continuum Publishing Co., 1992.

Wilcox, Leonard. ed. Rereading Shepard: Contemporary Critical Essays on the Plays of Sam
Shepard. NY: St. Martin's Press, 1993.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS


1. Reading: Each week, readings will be assigned from the textbooks, plays, reserve reading list and xerox handbook. We begin with a class presentation on the dramatic texts which focuses on the students' reactions to the plays and we end with a lecture/discussion which deals with social and cultural contexts and dramatic critical methodologies. This discussion method of conducting a class is an effective way to develop analytical abilities, but it works only if you prepare for each class session. I expect that you will prepare for the class presentations by following the guidelines listed below.
Reading list and course outline attached.

2. Attendance: It is imperative that you attend every class. Your learning process and final grade will be significantly enhanced by your attention to and participation in these class lecture/discussions. Your attendance, also, helps to develop a supportive community for the class performances. You may accumulate two unexcused absences. After two absences, your final grade will be lowered one letter grade. An unexcused absence means that you have not contacted me prior to the class and informed me of your situation.

3. Class Presentations: Working in a group, students will prepare four 10-15 minute presentations and one 60-75 minute presentation. The following are the topic areas and the dates of presentations:

Short Presentation Dates
Feb.1Values and Evaluation
Feb.8The Improvisational Plays
Feb.15The Transformational Plays
Feb.29The Rewritten and Revised Plays
Longer Presentation Dates
Mar.28The Country and Western Plays
Apr.4The Jazz Plays
Apr.11The Rock n' Roll Plays
Apr.30Shepard and the Movies
For further information, see Appendix A

4. Sam Shepard Archive Research Project
For further information, see Appendix B

5. Dramatic Criticism Papers
A. Film Reviews:
The art of active viewing takes practice and the opportunity to share your observations. Each student will write a double spaced, 12 pt font, typed, two page commentary on three (two films by Shepard and one by another author) of the films shown each week. This commentary could include a comparison between concepts underlying the film and stage productions, a close description of one aspect of the performance or design style, a description of the way in which a major theme in the script is visualized in the film production, a comparison between the historical context of the script and the context as a film. These are short papers. You must identifiy your central idea at the beginning of the paper and provide concise examples to exemplify your idea. Since this course fulfills the W2 requirment, students are expected to revise all of these short essays and to pay close attention to grammatical and stylistic concepts advanced by the instructor.
I also would like you to write a short jazz sketch on the Wynton Marsalis concert, Feb. 17.
DEADLINE: Papers should be handed in at the beginning of the class during which the video will be discussed. See course outline for exact dates.

B. Presentation Topic Essay
As a summary of the experience of the course including reading of scripts, critical works, poetry and prose, films viewed and performance exercises and class lectures and discussion, each student will write a double spaced, 12 pt font, typed, 8-10 page paper on the topic of his/her choice. Since you will conduct extensive research and a discussion with the instructor for your class presentation, you might wish to write about the hypothesis topic of that presentation. Each essay will include a bibliography and footnotes.
DEADLINES:Suggested paper topics:week after Spring Break
Discuss research:May 2.
Papers due on or before:May 16.
For further information, see Appendix C

6. Theatre on Video Series: A number of films that document performances of Shepard's work or the work of his contemporaries will be on reserve in the Bertrand Library. Students are expected to have viewed these videos before the following class dates:

Feb. 6Waiting for Godot with Zero Mostel and Burgess Meredith
Feb. 6Rockabyewith Billie Whitelaw
Feb. 20The Serpentperformed by The Open Theatre
Feb. 27Curse of the Starving Class
Mar. 12Sister Suzie Cinemaa capella performance art
Mar. 26True WestSteppenwolf Theatre Production
April 2Tonguesperformed by Joseph Chaikin
April 30Paris, Texasdirected by Wim Wenders

7. Quizzes
Five short quizzes throughout the term, possible by email so that we can share answers/ideas with one another.

8. Performance Projects: Either as solo performers or as members of an ensemble with other members of the class, students will perform material from Shepard's written work. Rehearsal Dates are as follows:

Mar. 5Performance Ideas due in class
Mar. 31Readthru-7:00 PM Tustin
Apr. 11Workthru-in class On Book
Apr. 25Off Book Run thru during class
May 8Dress Rehearsal-7:00 PM
May 9 or 10Performance-Time and Place TBA
See Appendix D for further details.

GRADING
My "Policy on Deadlines": Written Projects- One project will be automatically extended by three days. All other projects have an absolute deadline. NO EXCEPTIONS.

PROJECT GRADING SCALE

Class Presentation:
1. Short Presentation(each)A = 5B = 3C =1D =0
2. Longer PresentationA =15B =10C =6D =3
Papers
1. Reviews (ave of 3)A.=10B.= 7C.=4D. =2
2. Dramatic CriticismA =15B =10C =6D =3
Quizzes (ave of 5)A.=15B.=10C.=6D.=3
Performance Project
1. PreparationA.=10B.= 7C.=4D.=2
2. PerformanceA.=20B.=14C.=8D.=5
TOTAL POINTS (OPTIMUM)105

A = 100 and above total points, meeting all deadlines, fulfilling the attendance requirement, participation in class, completion of all projects.

B = 71 - 86 total points , meeting all deadlines, participation in class, completion of all projects.

C = 39 - 53 total points, meeting all deadlines, participation in class.

D = 20 and below total points.

TH. : 261
SAM SHEPARD AND THE AMERICAN THEATREDr. Grant

CLASS PRESENTATION

(Appendix A)

As I see it, your presentations have four goals. First of all, to organize your thinking about a particular text and to present your views to the entire group. Second, to present information about the specific cultural moment and theatrical style at various points in Shepard's career. Third, to guide the class in a discussion of texts we have all read or productions we have seen, and finally to inspire the group in their own theatrical explorations. To help in the accomplishment of these goals, I propose the following process:

I. Preparation
a. For the short presentations, it is not necessary to meet with your group outside of class except to organize who will serve as moderator and complete and organize the outline.

b. For the longer minute presentation, you will want to met several times with your group and a 1hr meeting with the instructor to outline aspects of the presentation is required. This meeting should take place at least one week before the presentation and after the group has done initial research and assembled a rough draft outline for the presentation.For this presentation, the group must prepare an annotated bibliography of ten (10) citations relating to the topic area or the period to be presented. Members may read different citations for the presentation and all should contribute to the bibliography.
Bibliography Deadline: day of the presentation.

c. For both the shorter and the longer presentations, the group must present an outline of the presentation available to the class on the day of the presentation.

d. Although one member of the group might serve as a moderator for the discussion, all members of the group are expected to contribute to the oral presentation. For all presentations, the group should also generate a list of, at least, five questions about the topic readings and film viewing available on the day of the class presentation.

II. Presentation
The 10-15 minute class presentation needs to focus on some of the following areas:
a. Individual commentary on the style, subject matter and thematics of the text.

b. A discussion of how the text compares with other Shepard work we have read and with the work of Beckett, Terry, Mabou Mines or Breuer.

c. Commentary on the text in light of the lectures/discussions about the cultural context of the work.

d. Commentary on some of the exciting aspects and problems created for a potential performance of the text.

e. A reading of a short section of the text (approximately 11/2 minutes).

The 60-75 minute group presentation should include the above and, in addition, needs to focus on some of the following areas:
a. A brief history of the text including persons, performances, dates, etc.

b. A brief sketch of the history/cultural context of the topic area.

c. A discussion and playing of musical pieces which Shepard indicates contribute a central aspect to the creation and performance of the text.

d. A discussion of the Shepard's comments on his play writing techniques in relation to the specific style of the text under consideration.

e. A discussion of potential essay topics (see Appendix C) generated by a reading of the text from a particular critical perspective.

After this preparation and presentation, you will be able to serve as an "expert" on your topic. In subsequent presentations, you can use your knowledge and your particular insight into Shepard's theatre to comment on similarities and differences in the work under consideration. You can act as a guide for those students wishing to create a theatre piece that utilizes the principles you have presented.

TH. : 261
SAM SHEPARD AND THE AMERICAN THEATRE

WORK ON THE SAM SHEPARD ARCHIVES

(APPENDIX B)

THIS SITE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION

TH. 265SPECIAL TOPICS IN THEATRE: SAM SHEPARD

DRAMATIC CRITICISM PAPERS

(APPENDIX C)

With the review assignment, I wish to familiarize you with my pedagogical interest in writing. Before you write your first draft, I will conduct a short writing workshop which focuses on my set of writing principles. If you who have taken other courses with me, you have already mastered this material. If not, I will gladly meet with you to discuss your ideas and your writing method. I have outlined the content of the reviews in a previous section of this syllabus.

With the dramatic criticism paper, I encourage you to explore connections between your topic area and other directions explored in the class presentations. These essays should be 8-10 pages, double spaced, 12 point font. Your work may consider any aspect of Shepard criticism, however, I suggest that you concentrate in some way on one of the following four questions:

I. Relate Shepard's drama to the literary and artistic post modernism that has been fashioned since the mid 60's. Do Shepard's plays represent an expression of this postmodern impulse or are they indebted primarily to the modernist tradition? Do they represent an essential modernist quest for origins and authenticity or are they products of a postmodern world where origins are foreclosed and the authentic irretrievable? Or do they pose another aspect of Post modernims based on transformation of consciousness and a sense of wholeness different from the earlier questions of origins and authenticity.

II. Feminist readings of Shepard's drama return to the question: do Shepard's plays reinforce a masculinist world or do they provide some opposition stance towards patriarchal 'master narratives'?

III. By reading Shepard in the ancient role of the playwright as didaskolos or shaman, what do we learn about concepts of the self in relation to role playing, the quest for identity, American popular culture, families, the relationship between men and women, etc. in the life of the spirit of a time and place in the 1960's, 70's, 80's and 90's. Relate your ideas to Shepard's vision for theatre as a source of healing both personal and cultural.

IV. Develop any of the above questions in relation to the changing dimensions of Shepard's approach to play writing and dramaturgy from his earliest work Off Off Broadway to his most recent work, States of shock.

1. Preparation:
a. Although no formal meeting with the instructor is required, please consult with me on your paper topic, your thesis, your choice of texts and criticism. I will comment upon a rough draft of your essay should you have one prepared before the deadline.

b. Please use the instructor's critique of your reviews as the foundation of your writing style. Writing techniques such as active voice, avoidance of relative pronouns, etc. remain essential to communicative writing.

c. Please footnote your work and include your bibliography.

2. Papers-Technical Requirements:
a. Format -MLA Style sheet (on reserve)

b. This writing assignment calls upon your ability to concisely present your ideas in an extended argument that builds upon a single thesis with detailed examples. Most of your writing can be organized around a thesis statement and should present unified paragraphs, complete sentences, correct grammar, punctuation and spelling, and, where appropriate, footnotes indicating your source material Papers must be typed, double spaced. Please note that I have not scheduled a revision for this essay.

DEADLINES:Suggested paper topics:week after Spring Break
Discuss research:May 2.
Papers due on or before:May 16.

TH. 261
SAM SHEPARD AND AMERICAN THEATRE

PERFORMANCE PROJECT

(Appendix D)

My idea here is to create an environment where you can explore your understanding of Shepard's work in a personal, creative process incorporating and developing concepts and techniques discussed in the course. I propose two parts to this project:

1. Preparation: a. As we go through the material, note monologues, scenes, poems or scenarios that interest you. As early as possible, let the class know your interests so that potential scene partners may contact you.

b. I will serve as the director for each project. In addition to the following assigned rehearsal periods, we will want to meet for, at least one additional coaching session:

Mar.5Performance Ideas due in class
Mar.31Readthru-Tustin, 7:00PM
Apr.18Workthru-in class (On Book)
Apr.25Run thru during class (Off Book)
May8Dress Rehearsal-Time and Place TBA
May9 or 10Performance-Time and Place TBA

c. I expect that you will be off book by the Apr. 25 rehearsal. Please create a performance notebook where you can jot down blocking, directing notes and keep a commentary on your rehearsal process.

2. Performance
There are a few suggestions here:

a. We will create An Evening with Sam Shepard during on May 9 or 10.

b. You will be responsible for your own costume and makeup. As a class, using simple, modular set material, we will design and tech our set. The department will provide a basic lighting plot and seating arrangement; however, we will run the light and sound boards and serve as house management and ushers. We will also be responsible for publicity for our event and we must strike set and lights after the performance.

c. We need to talk about this performance process throughout the term.

ENJOY! TH. 261 Sam Shepard and American Theatre

COURSE OUTLINE AND READING LIST

JANUARY:
25WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE MATERIAL

30

WORKSHOP IN PLAY WRITING TECHNIQUE: IMPROVISATION AND REWRITING
Shepard, Sam. "Language, Visualization and the Inner Library."American
Dreams: The Imagination of Sam Shepard. ed. Bonnie Marranca. NY:
Performing Arts Journal, 1981. 214-220.
Wren, Scott Christopher. "Camp Shepard: Exploring the Geography of
Character." West Coast Plays 7 (Sept. 1980): 73-106. (xerox)

FEBRUARY:


1CLASS PRESENTATION#1: VALUES AND EVALUATIONS-WHO IS THAT MAN?
Each student will read a different article and report their findings to the class in a short 5 minute presentation.

Allen, Jennifer. "The Man on the High Horse." Esquire 10.5
(Nov. 1988): 141-151. (xerox)

Ansen, David. "The Reluctant Star." Newsweek (17 Nov. 1980): 117-118.

Boyd, Blanche McCrary. "The Natural." American Film 10.1 (Oct. 1984): 22-26,
91-92.

Coe, Robert. "Saga of Sam Shepard." New York Times 23 Nov. 1980, 6:56.

Cott, Jonathan. "The Rolling Stone Interview-Sam Shepard." Rolling Stone.
(18 Dec. 1986): 166-172, 198, 200.

Dark, John. "The 'True West" Interviews." West Coast Plays 9 (June 1981):
51-71.

Gelber, Jack. "The Playwright as Shaman." American Dreams: The
Imagination of Sam Shepard. ed. Bonnie Marranca. NY: Performing Arts
Journal, 1981. 45-48.

Kramer, Mimi. "In search of the good Shepard." The New Criterion 2.2.
(Oct. 1983) 52-57. (xerox)

Lippman, Amy. Rhythms & Truths: An Interview with Sam Shepard."
American Theatre 1.1 (1 April 1984): 9-13,40-41.

Oumano, Ellen. Sam Shepard: The Life and Work of an American Dreamer.
New York: St. Martin's Press, 1986.

Rosen, Carol. "Emotional Territory: An Interview with Sam Shepard."
Modern Drama 26.1 (Mar. 1993): 1-11.

"Sam Shepard." Current Biography Yearbook, 1979. ed. Charles MOritz. New York:
H,W. Wilson, 1980. 351-355.

Shewey, Don. Sam Shepard: The Life, The Loves, Behind the Legnd Of a True
American Original." New York: Dell, 1985.

6

THE LITERARY AND INTELLECTUAL BACKGROUND: EUROPEAN ABSURDISM-Samuel Beckett
Beckett, Samuel. "Breath," "Come and Go" , "Ohio Impromtu" in The Collected Plays.
NY: Grove, 1984. (xerox)
Esslin, Martin. "Beckett and his Interpreters." in Mediations. NY: Grove, 1982. 75-80,
84-92. (xerox)
Film Viewing:Waiting for Godot (Act Two)-Beckett
Films for the Humanities (on reserve)
Rockabye-Beckett (on reserve)

8

CLASS PRESENTATION #2: THE IMPROVISATIONAL PLAYS
See Appendix A for further details on this project.
Shepard, Sam. "Chicago" in Five Plays ---------. Any other play from Five Plays.

13

POETIC THEATRE OF IMPROVISATION: THE BEAT POETS AND OFF OFF BROADWAY
Ginsberg, Allen. Selections from Howl, and other poems.
San Francisco: City Lights Bookshop, 1956. (xerox)
Kerouac, Jack. Selections from Good Blonde & Others. ed. Donald Allen. San Francisco:
Grey Fox Press, 1993. (xerox)
Bloom, Michael. "Visions of the End: The Early Plays." American Dreams: The
Imagination of Sam Shepard. ed. Bonnie Marranca. NY: Performing Arts
Journal, 1981. 72-78.

Listening: Selection read by Ginsberg and Kerouac (on reserve)

15

CLASS PRESENTATION #3: THE TRANSFORMATIONAL PLAYS
Shepard, Sam. "Unseen Hand" in Unseen Hand and Other Plays.
---------. either" Holy Ghostly"
---------. or "Back Bog Beast Bait" from Unseen Hand and Other Plays.

17

PERFORMANCE: Wynton Marsalis and

the Lincoln Center Jazz All-Stars

Weis Center, 8 PM

20

TRANSFORMATIONAL THEATRE : MEGAN TERRY AND THE OPEN THEATRE
Terry, Megan. Calm Down Mother. NY: Samuel French, 1970. (on reserve)
_________. Comings and Goings. NY: Samuel French, 1980 (xerox)
_________. Viet Rock. NY: Simon and Schuester, 1967. (on reserve)
Article from Making a Spectacle. TBA
Film Viewing:The Serpent, Performed by the Open Theatre
Written by Jean Claude van Italie (on reserve)

22

TRANSFORMATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE ETHOS OF IMPROVISATION
Shepard, Sam. Inacoma Selections from the Sam Shepard Archives (xerox)
Grant, Gary. "Shifting the Paradigm: Shepard, Myth and the Transformation
of Consciousness." Modern Drama 26.1 (Mar. 1993),120-130. (xerox)

27

CLASS PRESENTATION #4 : THE REWRITTEN PLAYS
Shepard, Sam. "Fool for Love" in Fool for Love and Other Plays.
---------. either "Curse of the Starving Class" in Seven Plays
---------. or "A Lie of the Mind" (reserve)
Film Viewing: Curse of the Starving Class-Shepard

29

THE MAGIC THEATRE: ENSEMBLES AND REWORKING THE TEXT
Shepard, Sam. Motel Chronicles. Selections (xerox)
Grant, Gary. "Writing As a Process of Performing the Self: Sam Shepard's
Notebooks." Modern Drama 34.N4. Dec. (1991): 549-565. (xerox)

MARCH

5

ACTING SHEPARD
DEADLINE: Shepard Performance Ideas
Dasgupta, Gautam. "Interview with Spalding Gray." in Marranca. pp. 175-186.
Aaron, Joyce. "Clues in a Memory." in Marranca. pp. 171-174.

7

LIBRARY RESEARCH ON SAM SHEPARD ARCHIVES
See Appendix B

12

THE LITERARY AND INTELLECTUAL BACKGROUND: THE THEATRE OF IMAGES-LEE BREUER
Breuer, Lee. "Red Hourse Animation" in The Theatre of Images. NY PAJ, 1976. (xerox)
__________" B Beaver Animation". In Animations. NY: Performing Arts Journal (xerox)
Marranca, Bonnie: "Self As Text: Uses of Autobiography in the Theatre". Performing Arts Journal. 85-103.
Film Viewing: Sister Suzie Cinema-Breuer and Telson

14

THE THEATRE OF ACTION IMAGES: SYNCRONICITY AND SIMULTANEITY
Shepard, Sam. "Angel City" in Fool for Love and Other Plays
Wetzsteon, Ross. "Introduction" Fool for Love and Other Plays
"Director-Grant defends Angel City" Puget Sound Trail, 1 Dec. 1983.

***SPRING BREAK****

26

AMERICAN REALISM AND THE DOMESTIC DRAMA
Lyons, Charles R. "Shepard's Family Trilogy and the Conventions of Modern Realism."
Rereading Shepard: Contemporary Critical Essays on the Plays of Sam Shepard. ed.
Leonard Wilcox. NY: St. Martin's Press, 1993. 115-130. (xerox)
Film Viewing: True West

28

GROUP PRESENTATION #5 : Family Crises and the Country Western Plays
Shepard, Sam. "Buried Child" in Seven Plays.
---------. either "Curse of the Starving Class" in Seven Plays
---------. or "A Lie of the Mind" (reserve)

31

SHEPARD PERFORMANCE READTHRU
TUSTIN THEATRE
7:00PM

APRIL

2

THE POSTMODERN PERSONALITY: IMPROVISATION ON THE SELF
Blumenthal, Eileen. "Sam Shepard and Joseph Chaikin: Speaking in Tongues." in
Marranca. pp. 136-152.
Gilman, Richard. "Introduction" Seven Plays.
Shepard, Sam. "Tongues" in Seven Plays
Film viewing: Tongues

4

GROUP PRESENTATION #6: Hollywood, Gangsters and the Jazz Plays
Shepard, Sam. "Suicide in Bb" in Fool for Love and Other Plays
_________. " Savage Love" in Seven Plays. Film in class: Angel City directed by Gary Grant, University of Puget Sound, 1983

9

SHARING IDENTITIES: ROCK STARS AND VISIONARY ARTISTS
Chubb, Kenneth and the Editors of Theatre Quarterly. "Metaphors, Mad Dogs and Old Time Cowboys: Interview with Sam Shepard." in Marranca. pp. 187-209.

Coe, Robert, "Image Shots Are Blown: The Rock Plays." in Marranca. pp. 57-66.

11

GROUP PRESENTATION #7: A Hoss, A Crow and the Lobsterman-The Rock n'Roll Plays
Shepard, Sam. "Cowboy Mouth" in Fool for Love and Other Plays
__________. "Melodrama Play" in Fool for Love and Other Plays
__________ Selections from Rolling Thunder Logbook, NY, 1976. (xerox)
Film in Class- Tooth of Crime directed by Gary Grant, Bucknell, 1988

16

THE THEATRE OF ACTION IMAGES: POP LANGUAGE AND SEEING SPEECHES
Shepard, Sam. " Action" in Fool for Love and Other Plays.
Marranca, Bonnie. "Alphabetical Shepard: The Play of Words." in Marranca.

18

SHEPARD PERFORMANCE WORKTHRU (ON BOOK)
TUSTIN THEATRE
2:00 P.M.

23

TBA

25

SHEPARD PERFORMANCE WORKTHRU (OFF BOOK)
TUSTIN THEATRE
2:00 P.M.

30

GROUP PRESENTATION #8: Shepard and the Movies
Shepard, Sam-" Silent Tongue" in a Play and Two Screenplays,NY: Vintage Books, 1993.
Shepard unpublished film script ideas from the Sam Shepard Archive (xerox)
Film viewing: Paris, Texas

May

2

DISCUSSION OF DRAMATIC CRITICISM PAPERS: ISSUES AND METHODOLOGY

7

VALUES AND EVALUATION: SHEPARD'S FUTURE STATUS IN AMERICAN THEATRE
Shepard, Sam. States of Shock in a Play and Two Screenplays,NY: Vintage Books, 1993
Hart, Linda. "Shepard's Pornographic Visions." Studies in Literary Imagination 21:2 (1988): 69-82. (xerox)

8

SHEPARD PERFORMANCE DRESS REHEARSAL
TUSTIN THEATRE
8:00 P.M.

9 or 10

AN EVENING WITH SAM SHEPARD
FINAL CLASS PERFORMANCE
TUSTIN THEATRE
8:00 P.M.

16

Dramatic Criticism Essays due

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