Buried ChildBuried Child by Sam Shepard an NAC English Theatre Company / The Leanor and Alvin Segal Theatre (Montreal) coproduction Study Guide THE NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE ENGLISH THEATRE PROGRAMMES FOR STUDENT AUDIENCES 2008-2009 SEASON Peter Hinton Artistic Director, English Theatre This Study Guide was written and researched by Jane Moore for the National Arts Centre, English Theatre, November 2008. It may be used solely for educational purposes. Special thanks to Paul Griffin for his contribution to the Activities section. The National Arts Centre English Theatre values the feedback of teachers on the content and format of its Study Guides. We would appreciate your comments on past Study Guides, on this current one, or suggestions on ways to improve future Study Guides. Comments may be directed to Martina Kuska either by email at [email protected] or by fax at (613) 943-1401. Theatre5 Media Partner About This Study Guide This Study Guide is formatted in easy-to-copy single pages, which may be used separately or in any combination that works for your classes. The costume design drawings on pages 25-27 are intended for classroom display but may also be photocopied for distribution to students. Table of Contents page(s) roduction credits .............................................................................................................. 1 Sam Shepard................................................................................................................2 œ 8 Introduction to Sam Shepard and his work..................................................................... 2 Biography ...............................................................................................................3 œ 4 Selected lays .............................................................................................................. 5 Films......................................................................................................................5 œ 6 Shepard on Shepard: Quotations ..............................................................................7 œ 8 ,iterary Definitions............................................................................................................. 9 Acti0ities: pre-production background .................................................................................10 The lay................................................................................................................... 11 œ 19 lot Summary...................................................................................................... 11 œ 13 2haracters .......................................................................................................... 14 œ 15 Setting........................................................................................................................16 Style................................................................................................................... 16 œ 18 3isual Images ........................................................................................................16 2haracters.............................................................................................................17 Structure ...............................................................................................................17 Dialogue and ,anguage..........................................................................................17 Symbols and 4etaphors..........................................................................................17 Rituals........................................................................................................... 17 œ 18 Themes ......................................................................................................................19 Acti0ities .................................................................................................................. 20 œ 22 based on the script, pre- or post-production ..................................................................20 post-production ...........................................................................................................21 Sam Shepard and Buried 2hild crossword pu66le............................................................22 Study Resources ...............................................................................................................23 Theatre Eti8uette..............................................................................................................24 2ostume Design Drawings......................................................................................... 25 œ 27 Acknowledgements ...........................................................................................................28 Buried Child Study Guide – page 1 Production Credits Creative Team Director................................................Peter 9INTON Set and 2ostume Design.......................Eo S9ARP ,ighting Design.....................................Robert T9O4SON Sound Design.......................................Troy S,O2U4 Assistant ,ighting Designer....................4ichelle RA4SAY Assistant to the Director ........................Elif ISIKOZ,U (Uni0ersity of Ottawa 4asters Degree program in DirectingA Cast 9alie ....................................................2lare 2OU,TER Dodge..................................................Da0id FOB Shelly...................................................Adrienne GOU,D Tilden...................................................Randy 9UG9SON Bradley.................................................AleC I3ANO3I2I Father Dewis ........................................Dohn KOENSGEN 3ince....................................................2hristie EATSON Stage Management Team Stage 4anager .....................................,aurie 29A4 /GNE Assistant Stage 4anager .......................Todd BRI2KER Buried Child Study Guide – page 2 Sam Shepard (page 1 of 7) Introduction to Sam Shepard and his ork FI don't want to be a playwright, I want to be a rock and roll star… G Sam Shepard, 1971. Sam Shepard, who once toured with Bob Dylan, has the glamour and rebellion of a rock Hn roll star, the respect of mainstream American audiences and the academic world, and the admiration of mo0ie fans. 9e Iust keeps on growing, eCperimenting and changing. 9is latest work is on a documentary in collaboration with atti Smith. Sam Shepard, playwright and actor, has been a leader of the a0ant-garde in contemporary American theatre since his earliest work. ShepardJs plays are difficult to categori6e, but in general they blend images of the Old Eest, fascination with pop culture - rock and roll, drugs and tele0ision - and bi6arre family problems. Before he was 30, Shepard had had more than 30 plays produced in New York. (http://www.litweb.net/biography) Shepard repeatedly eCamines moral and spiritual star0ation in his dramas. For decades, his work has shocked, alienated and mesmeri6ed audiences. 9e has won 11 Obies and the ulit6er ri6e for Buried 2hild, and has been nominated for an Academy Award. Sam ShepardKs style is lusty, loud, splashy, populist, IaggedL he is the playwright of the 2owboy, of America, of wide-open spaces, of the rock Kn roll hero, of popular cultureL his language is eCplosi0e, his plays full of arresting images and monologuesL his characters are disconnected and lostL we must always ask what is the truth behind them. 9is themes are familiar, themes of the family and its decay, the American Dream gone wrong, the 8uest for identity, themes of alienation and dissociation, and they are rooted in mythology. All of ShepardJs plays are characteri6ed by a lo0e of language and a flair for 0isual imagery, constructed carefully for maCimum impact. Often the imagery that he creates is of the American Eest. 9is characters are dominant, FmachoG, lost males in search of home, and submissi0e, often abused women. The characters are dark, obsessed with the myths and metaphors of Fcowboys and Indians“, ranches, deserts, and other wide-open spaces. Often the plots of his plays parallel familiar folk tales or religious parables. Shepard uses metaphor and symbol, mythology and ritual liberally. 4any literary words are used to describe his works, as critics and scholars attempt to categori6e it. (See page 9 for definitions): 9e uses FRealismG and mo0es to FSurrealismGL he is a FPost ModernistGL he uses FNaturalismG and the FAbsurdG, FExpressionismG and the FNeo-GothicGL he is FgrotesqueG, Favant garde.G It is suggested that o0erall he uses FMagic RealismG, as his realistic situations and settings are so often suffused by the fantastic. In spite of, or because of, the horrors he unearths his work speaks elo8uently to a modern audience. To those analy6ing America today, his work has a renewed rele0ancy, as he records the American heartbeat. Buried Child Study Guide – page 3 Sam Shepard (page 2 of 7) (iography Samuel Shepard Rogers was born in Fort Sheridan, Illinois, on No0ember 5, 1943. 9is father was a bomber pilot in Eorld Ear II, and after the war the family mo0ed from base to base before settling on a ranch in Duarte, 2alifornia to raise sheep and a0ocados. This is where Shepard de0eloped his lo0e for horses and the outdoors, and also learned to play the drums. Influenced by his dad, he disco0ered a lo0e for music that found its way into many of his plays. ShepardJs father gradually became an abusi0e alcoholic. After a series of 0iolent confrontations with him, Sam