Sam Shepard and the American Theatre

No dramatist in the recent history of the American theatre has gained more celebrity than Sam Shepard. Exploring a career that includes fifty stage and screen plays, four books of nondramatic writings, and over a dozen appearances in feature films, this work traces Shepard’s rise from an Off-Off-Broadway renegade to a Hollywood leading man, exploring his evolution from counterculture to cultural icon. The study situates Shepard’s career within the shifting production modes and economic contexts of the American entertainment industry, and views his popularity against the identity politics of postwar American culture. Through an analysis of his life, plays and screen roles, this book investigates how Shepard’s dramatic voice and film persona address issues of American consensus and community. The study argues that Shepard’s popularity - in an era of cultural diversification and dissent - owes much to nationalism and nostalgia and begs important questions concerning American myths, media representations and the construction of an American audience.