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Sam Shepard

Sam Shepard Biography

Playwright

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“Weston: Look at my outlook. You don't envy it, right? Wesley: No. Weston: That's because it's full of poison. Infected. And you recognize poison, right? You recognize it when you see it? Wesley: Yes. Weston: Yes, you do. I can see that you do. My poison scares you. Wesley: Doesn't scare me. Weston: No? Wesley: No. Weston: Good. You're growing up. I never saw my old man's poison until I was much older than you. Much older. And then you know how I recognized it? Wesley: How? Weston: Because I saw myself infected with it. That's how. I saw me carrying it around. His poison in my body.”

ChildrenDarknessFathers
Book:Curse of the Starving Class
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“The California I knew, old rancho California, is gone. It just doesn't exist, except maybe in little pockets. I lived on the edge of the Mojave Desert, an area that used to be farm country. There were all these fresh-produce stands with avocados and date palms. You could get a dozen artichokes for a buck or something. Totally wiped out now.”

LittlesCountryUsedGoneProduceAreasEdgesUsed To BeDesertCaliforniaPocketsFarmsDozenPalmsBucksAvocadosArtichokesMojave
Author:Sam Shepard
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“My first job was with the Burns Detective Agency. They sent me over to the East River to guard coal barges during these god-awful hours like three to six in the morning. It wasn't a very difficult job -- all I had to do was make a round every fifteen minutes -- but it turned out to be a great environment for writing. I was completely alone in a little outhouse with an electric heater and a little desk.”

WritingFirstsLittlesJobsThreeDifficultHoursMorningEnvironmentMinutesSixRiversRoundsEastAwfulAgencyElectricFifteenDesksCoalDetectivesBarges
Author:Sam Shepard
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“The fantastic thing about the theatre is that it can make something be seen that's invisible, and that's where my interest in theatre is- that you can be watching this thing happening with actors and costumes and light and set and language, and even plot, and something emerges from beyond that, and that's the image part that I'm looking for, that sort of added dimension.”

LightActorsLanguageInterestHappeningsTheatreThings HappenInvisibleFantasticDimensionsPlotCostumes
Book:Fool for Love and Other Plays
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“I hate endings. Just detest them. Beginnings are definitely the most exciting, middles are perplexing and endings are a disaster. … The temptation towards resolution, towards wrapping up the package, seems to me a terrible trap. Why not be more honest with the moment? The most authentic endings are the ones which are already revolving towards another beginning. That’s genius.”

MomentsSeemsHateHonestGeniusTerribleExcitingI HateDisasterTemptationResolutionWhy NotTrapsPackagesDetestWrappingRevolvingWrapping Up
Author:Sam Shepard
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