Sam Shepard on the German Stage

Sam Shepard on the German Stage

Author: Carol Benet

Publisher: Peter Lang Incorporated, International Academic Publishers

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Sam Shepard, the noted contemporary playwright and movie star, creates his own version of the American myth in a super-realistic, avant-garde world of cowboys, gangsters, artists and rock stars. Thirteen of Shepard's plays have appeared in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. To understand Shepard's reception, Carol Benet probes many neglected areas concerning the German language productions. She examines the roles of the translator, talent scout, agent, publisher, theater staff, critic, local government and even the program book in the reception of a foreign playwright. The answers elucidate a more fundamental question: How is the canon of dramatic literature established?


The Cambridge Companion to Sam Shepard

The Cambridge Companion to Sam Shepard

Author: Matthew Roudané

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2002-05-27

Total Pages: 568

ISBN-13: 113982628X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Few American playwrights have exerted as much influence on the contemporary stage as Sam Shepard. His plays are performed on and off Broadway and in all the major regional American theatres. They are also widely performed and studied in Europe, particularly in Britain, Germany and France, finding both a popular and scholarly audience. In this collection of seventeen original essays, American and European authors from different professional and academic backgrounds explore the various aspects of Shepard's career - his plays, poetry, music, fiction, acting, directing and film work. The volume covers the major plays, including Curse of the Starving Class, Buried Child, and True West, as well as other lesser known but vitally important works. A thorough chronology of Shepard's life and career, together with biographical chapters, a note from the legendary Joseph Chaikin, and an interview with the playwright, give a fascinating first-hand account of an exuberant and experimental personality.


Dis/figuring Sam Shepard

Dis/figuring Sam Shepard

Author: Johan Callens

Publisher: Peter Lang

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 9789052013527

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This illustrated volume covers the career of Sam Shepard, the provocative American playwright, scriptwriter, actor, and director, through an introductory survey followed by in-depth analyses of representative selections from the one-acts (Action, States of Shock), experimental collaborations with Joseph Chaikin (Savage/Love), and by now classic family plays (Buried Child, A Lie of the Mind). It ranges from Shepard's unpublished adaptation of Marlowe's Doctor Faustus through the textual variants and political context of Operation Sidewinder to Robert Altman's movie version of Fool for Love, besides offering brief comparisons with fellow dramatists (Albee and Beckett) and visual artists (Edward Weston, Marsden Hartley). Several performance analyses supplement the textual criticism and provide a sample of European directorial approaches. Together, these takes offer a composite picture of an artist whose output over the past forty years has turned him into a figurehead of twentieth century drama, studied and produced all over the world with a keen eye for his idiosyncratic and critical view of what it means to be American.


Essays on Twentieth-century German Drama and Theater

Essays on Twentieth-century German Drama and Theater

Author: Hellmut H. Rennert

Publisher: Peter Lang

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 340

ISBN-13: 9780820444031

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This collection of articles by both German literature specialists and German theater experts grew out of the Comparative Drama Conference held annually between February and March from 1977 to 1999 in Gainesville, Florida. At the center of the contributors' work is the productive tension between the literary and the performance aspects of German drama and theater. At the same time, the reception is truly American, since the German playwrights, directors, theorists, and dramatists discussed have gone through creative filters in the researching, performing, and teaching of German drama and theater on various campuses across the United States during the last third of the twentieth century.