Log in here. Wilmeth, Don B. and Miller, Tice L. "The Cambridge Guide to American Theatre", Cambridge University Press, 1996, Yale Rep Starts Shepard's 'Curse Of The Starving Class' Feb. 3 in New Haven", "Long Wharf Theatre stages 'Curse of the Starving Class' February 13 through March 10", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Curse_of_the_Starving_Class&oldid=1020900821, This page was last edited on 1 May 2021, at 18:23. Realism, a style of drama that seeks to represent the world on the stage just as it is in real life, was out of favor in the 1960s, the decade in which Shepard began writing. The Curse Of The Starving Class - Monologue (Wesley) A monologue from the play by Sam Shepard Wesley is cleaning up shards of wood from the door his father broke down the night before during a drunken outburst. The refrigerator is the focal point of the action; each member of the family is obsessed with its emptiness. The citation above will include either 2 or 3 dates. The laundry is still on the table; a pot of artichokes boils on the stove. From a mile off I could tell it was the Packard by the sound of the valves. The property requirements suggest a realistic, if not a naturalistic play. Then no sound. As Ella calls her name out in a dream, Emma quickly leaves. As a country whose greatest natural resource has always been its seemingly endless supply of land and space, the United States settlement and development has generally followed the same pattern. The curtain falls as Wesley and Weston discuss how to rid the lamb of the maggots that are infesting its digestive tract. When the bodys defenses fail and intruders are allowed to breed inside the body, the play tells us, the body will soon fall to those forces that threaten it. If there are two dates, the date of publication and appearance [1] Others consider it part of a quintet that includes Fool for Love (1983) and A Lie of the Mind (1985). The set similarly incorporates both realistic and mythic elements. Wesley, who has been listening to this story, then asks what happens next. The play closed on April 9, 1978. Gale Cengage Ella falls asleep on the table and Wesley, dressed in Westons old clothes, enters. Emerson, a hit man, enters giggling, followed by his partner Slater, carrying the skinned lamb carcass. Wesley then enters and sets up a small enclosure in the kitchen. Then I hear the door of the Packard open. Feet and hands tearing. The "curse," as Ella puts it, of the Tate family is that they have nitroglycerine liquid dynamite running in their blood. Weston asks where Ella is, and then goes into a rage when Wesley and Emma tell him where she went. Planes still hanging. They finish the story, saying that a tom cat had come to sniff around in the testes and the eagle picked it up. When Weston comes to, he starts up again where he left off, rejecting Wesleys suggestions that they plant avocados on their land. Emma goes to the refrigerator and begins to look for her chicken. However, many people move back into the central city to work in the burgeoning entertainment industry. Hes plastered and cant move. The play closed on April 9, 1978. Ella returns with groceries that Taylor has bought for the family and throws out the artichokes. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. Jump-start your essay with our outlining tool to make sure you have all the main points of your essay covered. Ella decides to take matters into her own hands and puts the house up for sale without consulting her husband. Then a long silence. In a way, Weston plays his role as a father perfectly: what would the patriarchy be without chest thumping? Taylor arrives for his luncheon date with Ella; the children treat him rudely. The prospect of selling the land to real estate developers has a significance far greater than the loss of a mere house, but his family. It is the next day. Gain full access to show guides, character breakdowns, auditions, monologues and more! When Ella asks what Emma is carrying, Emma tells her that they are the materials for her 4-H demonstration on how to cut up a frying chicken, and then she immediately starts looking for her chicken in the refrigerator. Already a member? Wesley describes the suburbanization going on around them as a zombie invasion and tells her he dreams of going to Alaska. The play opens with Wesley putting pieces of a broken down door into a wheelbarrow. Packard disappearing. Today: After riots, fires, a major earthquake, landslides, and flooding, Los Angeles continues to grow. The curse, as Ella puts it, of the Tate family is that they have nitroglycerine liquid dynamite running in their blood. Ella enters and she and Weston discuss Emma's shooting up of the club. Mother and son find out Weston is in debt to some dangerous men. Malcolm agrees to wait for Ella at the station. Ella is a highly dysfunctional individual with no capacity to cope with her husband's alcoholism. Word Count: 269. The film was written by Bruce Beresford and directed by J. Michael McClary. When Wesley tells her that there will not be enough money from the house to move to Europe Ella gets angry that Wesley is ruining her dream. 28 Feb. 2023
. Its themes include the struggle for dignity, moral obligations to family members, and the effect of money in America. The lifters have a sound like nothing else. I could hear stock cars squealing down the street. Ellis represents the greed and controlling nature of business owners and the tendency of these people to take unfair advantage of each other and people below them. Join the StageAgent community
He and Slater, another minor character, only appear at the end of the production when they blow up Weston's car for compensation. Dad calling Mom. Marranca, Bonnie, ed. Sam Shepard: Yes, Yes, Yes. Esquire 93 (February, 1980): 79-86. [9] The play focuses on the disturbed Tate familythe drunken father, burned-out mother, rebellious teenage daughter, and idealistic sonas they struggle for control of the rundown family farm in a futile search for freedom, security, and ultimately meaning in their lives. Emma explains that her father broke the door down the night before in a drunken rage. Like several of Shepard's plays, Cures of the Starving Class explores family dysfunction in Western America. eNotes.com If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. Addressing the lamb, he sets a duffel and a grocery bag on the table. Still, Ella and Wesley both convey their hurt and their ambivalence toward Westons power over them. In the play, as in the real world, these families were often taken advantage of, selling their land for well below market rates and finding themselves with nowhere to go and little money to sustain them. Note: When citing an online source, it is important to include all necessary dates. The Castmates Who Make You Care in Beetlejuice and Tootsie. See more characters from Sam Shepard. Later, when Weston enters and finds only the lamb at home, he naturally begins a conversation. eNotes.com
Cobwebs moving with them. Ed. Wesley finishes the story, how a big cat climbed onto the roof and began fighting with the eagle. He tells the lamb a story about an eagle who was diving very close down to the ground trying to steal the testes of the lambs he was castrating. Ellis enters, laughing at the passed-out Weston who is slumped on the kitchen table. 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Taylor departs surreptitiously; Ellis grabs his money from Wesley and rushes off, with Wesley in pursuit. Then I heard the Packard coming up the hill. Ella looks at the carcass, remembering Westons story of the eagle. He is easily taken advantage of and when his debts are not paid, it takes an even more terrifying toll on the people close to him. "Curse of the Starving Class - Historical Context" Drama for Students I could hear the coyotes. Vol. Heart still pounding. Beaufort, John, Off-Broadway: Tale of a Blighted Family, in Christian Science Monitor, March 3, 1978. I could hear stock cars squealing down the street. Its humiliating to have the cops come, he says, whining a little. Monologues for Females: THAT DAY (adapted from Inside/Out by Michael Scanlon). Wheels screaming. So many artichokes seem bizarre in a household where there is never enough to eat. 14. Wesley assures his father that the gang will get him, and Weston takes off for Mexico. A 1994 film adaptation of the same name stars James Woods (Weston), Kathy Bates (Ella), Henry Thomas (Wesley), Randy Quaid (Taylor), and Jim Fitzpatrick (Emerson). Slater is Emerson's accomplice. Gale Cengage Then I could picture my dad driving it. As she is falling asleep, and Weston is talking to her about the benefits of sleeping on the hard table, Wesley walks into the kitchen, naked, and takes the lamb outside. As the play opens, she and Wesley are both surveying the chunks of the door broken down by her husband Weston. Ella pushes all the laundry to the floor and lies on the table. Sergeant Malcom is the police officer who arrives at the house to inform Ella that Emma has been arrested for riding a horse into the Alibi Club and shooting it up. Wesley refuses to stop Emma, and Ella begins to tell him about her plans to sell the house. Or are some families, Shepherd asks, just cursed before they begin? With James Woods, Kathy Bates, Randy Quaid, Henry Thomas. Downshifting into second for the last pull up the hill. Where Wesley seems angry with her for provoking Weston to anger, Ella holds that the incident was entirely Weston's fault. They menace the family a little and leave. Ella has called the police because Weston threatened to kill her, but she doesnt leave right away; Wesley is upset that his mother has summoned outside forces to their home. We don't currently have any monologues from Curse of the Starving Class . How old is Wesley in "Curse ofthe Starving Class"? Sam Shepard: A Casebook. Ed. At the same time, land speculators were buying the land of Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, and Riverside counties and preparing it for residential development. Swaying very quietly like they were being blown by someones breath. . "Curse of the Starving Class - Literary Style" Drama for Students Ella and Ellis argue, Ellis shows her the deed Weston gave him, and Taylor arrives to settle his deal with Ella. The three of them converse tensely until Ella enters. My heart was pounding. Throwing the artichokes out, she fills the refrigerator. View All Characters in Curse of the Starving Class, THIS FEATURE IS ONLY AVAILABLE FOR PRO MEMBERS. Emma is enraged that her mother is selling the house and Taylor tries to convince her that selling the property is in their best interest. Emma decides that Ella boiled her chicken and storms out. Westons only way of being a father is to exercise his paternal privileges, which, in Shepard-land, include wreaking havoc, fucking up your kids and your wife, and squandering the future; we learn by the second act that, in order to pay off loan sharks, Weston has already sold the property, to a bar owner named Ellis (Esau Pritchett, who has a lot of strength and appeal, though Kinney doesnt temper his performance, either). Hes plastered and doesnt want to move. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights.
Swearing he will kill Taylor and Ella, Weston staggers against the table and falls asleep on top of it. Solutions . Feet walking toward the door. Reading his plays is like taking a trip to the other side of town. She then becomes angry with the refrigerator and slams it shut. Weston enters, even drunker than he was before. 1998 eNotes.com Back down driveway. Conservatives, however, decry feminism, blaming it for rising divorce rates and what they see as a breakdown of the nuclear family. While Ella takes steps to get away by trying to sell the old homestead, through a lawyer named Taylor (Andrew Rothenberg), Wesley can't imagine his life as anything other than what it is: he. These objects are indeed symbolic, but they are meant to hit the audience with their power. Dogs. online is the same, and will be the first date in the citation. Curse of the Starving Class "balances dark comedy and biting satire in its look at a family fighting to stay alive," according to the Long Wharf Theatre. Both musicals, based on immensely popular eighties movies, feature performers who help you see the narrative behind all the flash. Wesley enters and they discuss Weston's laundry and the best way to help the lamb with the maggots. Hello, this is Emma's monologue from Curse of the Starving Class by Sam Shepard. His mother, Ella (Maggie Siff), enters, wondering why her son is doing what hes doingcleaning up after the guy who broke the door down, otherwise known as Weston (David Warshofsky), Wesleys father and Ellas spouse. Man throwing wood. He declares to them that he is a whole new person, and Wesley, finally stopped eating, tells Weston that the men who are after him are going to kill him. Acts 1 and 2 both begin with characters engaged in simple question-and-answer conversations which serve to provide expository information necessary to an understanding of what has occurred before the start of the play or between the acts. Man going insane. Instead, it chooses to bring the eagle down, even if it means certain doom for the cat as well. Waiting to get out. Michael Venzor was featured in a 2011 Equity Showcase of "Curse of the Starving Class" by Sam Shepard. Wesley protests feebly. Then, looking in that bloody fridge, he, like his children, finds nothing: zero! I could feel myself lying far below them on my bed like I was on the ocean and overhead they were on reconnaissance. Monologues are presented on StageAgent for educational purposes only. Closely connected to the symbolic structure of the play is its use of motif, or a recurring image. Something indescribable. [7], Curse of the Starving Class won the 197677 Obie Award for Best New American Play.[8]. Ed. 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