men who came back from the war, had to settle down, raise a family and send the kids to schooland they just couldnt handle it. That was what Shepard knew as a boy. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. New York, NY, Accessibility Statement Terms Privacy |StageAgent 2020. Barnes, Clive, Shepards Starving Class Offers Much Food for Thought, in New York Post, March 3, 1978. Emerson, a small well dressed thug, enters, giggling about the explosion. Wesley sets up a folding enclosure and puts a sick lamb inside. *Our system only provides suggested monologues or songs for select characters if we have matching monologues and song information in our database. Gale Cengage Wesley appears, bloodied, and tells Weston that he has tried to get the money back. Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. "Curse of the Starving Class - Dramatic Devices" Survey of Dramatic Literature He asks what happened to Wesley, who had clearly been beaten up. Finally, highway patrolman Malcolm appears with the news that Emma, having shot up the Alibi Club, is in jail. 14. New York, NY, Linda Ray Vol. He tells Weston that he has butchered the lamb for food. The Tates live on a farm where they formerly raised sheep and grew avocados. The play alludes to the golden age of motoring when Ella's prized Packard is mentioned, and also blown up, which signifies the . The second date is today's Results may vary. While he is fulminating, Sgt. Ella, his mother, enters and they begin to discuss the events of the night before that lead to Wesley's father, Weston, breaking down the door. He is also the same man who swindled Weston into buying the useless desert property. Word Count: 57. Weston then tells them that he has already found someone who will buy the land and pay in cash. The man tells her that he was going to knock but that there was no door. Copyright [2023] Mighty Actor, The Curse Of The Starving Class Monologue (Wesley), DRAMATIC MONOLOGUES FOR TEENS/KIDS (BOYS), DRAMATIC MONOLOGUES FOR TEENS/KIDS (GIRLS). Ella sits up and screams, and Emma departs. Hello, this is Emma's monologue from Curse of the Starving Class by Sam Shepard. Weston and Wesley discuss the poison that Weston feels has infected him all of his life. Foot kicking door. The cast was as follows: The play was revived Off-Broadway at the Promenade Theatre, running from July 30, 1985 to February 16, 1986. Wesley protests feebly. Ella believes that Emma has left on the horse, and is not overly concerned about her. Wesley tells him to take the Packard and escape to Mexico. Curse of the Starving Class is a 1994 American drama film directed by J. Michael McClary and starring James Woods, Kathy Bates, Randy Quaid, Henry Thomas and Louis Gossett Jr. [1] It is based on Sam Shepard 's 1977 play of the same name. Ella talks about menstruation as Emma, who is having her first period, enters. Head smashing. Teeth covered with peanuts. publication in traditional print. American Gothic: Sam Shepard's Family Trilogy.. He then suggests that they move away to some place safe, like Alaska. online is the same, and will be the first date in the citation. Mom calling cops. Sorry! Like any second something could invade me. Cutting through the orchard. The second date is today's Hes slept there before. He tells her it was the night's sleep on the table that fixed everything. Word Count: 302. The film was written by Bruce Beresford and directed by J. Michael McClary. Maggie Siff, as the wife of an abusive man, in Shepards story of a broken family. As the play opens, she and Wesley are both surveying the chunks of the door broken down by her husband . Wesley embarks upon a long monologue narrating the events of the previous night before leaving, at which point Ella begins talking to nobody in particular about the start of menstruation. Vol. Word Count: 958. The laundry is still on the table; a pot of artichokes boils on the stove. Taylor appears and tells Ella that he has the final draft of the deed of sale. Oumano, Ellen. Emerson and Slater enter, laughing and holding the bloody carcass of the lamb. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. Man yelling. . all the upkeep! Man cursing. First gear grinding. "Curse of the Starving Class - Media Adaptations" Drama for Students 1970s: In Los Angeles, suburbanization continues unabated. Upgrade to PRO As she cooks, Wesley recounts the nights events, making car sounds as he pushes the wheelbarrow off. The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child. Or are some families, Shepherd asks, just cursed before they begin? Perhaps that's the reason they're stuck where they are: broke, hungry, and fighting. If there are two dates, the date of publication and appearance At the end of the play, the skinned lamb carcass symbolically suggests the sacrifice of Wesley, or perhaps Emma, to a malevolent force. Weston leaves. Act two opens on Wesley and Emma in the kitchen, where Wesley is building a new front door for the house. Just from my dad coming back. Mom screaming. Emma, angry, leaves. They are realistic as stage properties, but the sheer quantity Weston brings home is obsessive, imparting a meaning beyond their food value. to read our character analysis for Ella Tate and unlock other amazing theatre resources! Incapable of driving or holding a job, he is a profoundly unstable man controlled by the alcohol that runs in his system. He tells Weston that he butchered the lamb for food, but Weston yells at him and shows him the newly stocked refrigerator. Caught up in this are families such as the one in Curse of the Starving Class, whose land is coveted by subdivision developers like Taylor. With Curse of the Starving Class, Shepard moved more toward realism, to the social dramas of such classic realists as Ibsen. Like several of Shepard's plays, Cures of the Starving Class explores family dysfunction in Western America. Emerson and Slater warn him to pay up. Then I hear the door of the Packard open. At times, Wesley loses patience with his family members, as evidenced by his lack of sympathy for his sister's ruined 4-H project, to which he responds by urinating on her charts and suggesting that his sister do something truly useful with her time. Weston tells Ella to let Emma go and then there is a bright flash and a loud explosion from outside. Weston enters, drunk, with a large bag of groceries. Bulls. When Emma enters, she joins in that conversation, and Shepard creates the sense that this conversation has been going on for some time. What he didnt know then, but worked out in glorious play after play, once hed found his vocation, was why, amid all the waste and destruction, a boys heart would still beat faster whenever his father drove up the road, a father confused about his family and his effect on them, lost to any idea of love, trying to catch dreams at the bottom of a bottle. Urban sprawl came to Los Angeles. If there are three dates, the first date is the date of the original Then I heard him pull the brake. I could feel the headlights closing in. 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. Mother and son find out Weston is in debt to some dangerous men. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. Note: When citing an online source, it is important to include all necessary dates. date the date you are citing the material. By the time she enters the action, theres nothing left for her in the fridge, not even the chicken she raised so that she could kill it and cut it up as a demonstration for the 4-H Club. Breakdown; Suggested Audition Pieces; Videos; Related Products; Useful Articles; Breakdown. Wesley takes the money, offering to deliver it to the people his father owes money to. We're what the school psychologist calls -- products of a broken home. We dont see Weston for a while, but hes everywhere in this run-down home, or everywhere that violence and destruction have taken place, including in his sons and his wifes consciousness. 1. New York, NY, Accessibility Statement Terms Privacy |StageAgent 2020. The family of four featured in this play live together in misery on a ranch. Foot kicking hard through door. Wesley then begins to gorge himself on all of the food in the refrigerator. She is a small woman wearing a bathrobe and pink fuzzy slippers, and her hair is in rollers. The second is the date of Create and promote branded videos, host live events and webinars, and more. The central city suffers while middle-class people flee to suburbs that sprawl ever farther into what was once farmland. I could feel the presence of all the people outside, at night, in the dark. Where Wesley seems angry with her for provoking Weston to anger, Ella holds that the incident was entirely Weston's fault. "Curse of the Starving Class - The Play" Survey of Dramatic Literature Weston becomes grumpy and refuses to tell the rest of the story. He and Emerson represent the men that Weston owes money to, and have come to serve as a warning. By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. Soft crying. Whatever the cause, the Tates will do just about anything to raise themselves out of the downward spiral into which they've fallen. Weston begins to tell Wesley about how he began to see the poison in his own father, and how Wesley can see it in him. Who or what can fill these people up? She then becomes angry with the refrigerator and slams it shut. Wesley then tells Weston that Ella has also found a buyer for the house and Weston goes into a rage, and then collapses on a table and falls asleep. Vol. Join the StageAgent community [3] The play was commissioned by Joseph Papp.[4]. The lights come up on Wesley, building a new door, and Emma, in a Western shirt, jodhpurs, and riding boots, making new charts for her demonstration. Feeling strong ties to his family and to the land, Wesley maintains the farm after the others have given up. Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. Some critics consider it part of a Family Trilogy that includes Buried Child (1979) and True West (1980). Later, she becomes so angry about Ellis buying their house, she rides the family horse into his bar and shoots the place full of holes. Researchers have studied how much of our personality is set from childhood, but what youre like isnt who you are. He tells Wesley to go clean up, and he'll make him a big breakfast. He then came inside and took a bath, made a big breakfast, drank some coffee, and did everyone's laundry. How old is Wesley in "Curse ofthe Starving Class"? My P-39. Some population geographers see the U.S. cities of Los Angeles and San Diego and the Mexican city of Tijuana as one immense megalopolis, a mega-city with tens of millions of inhabitants. Last Updated on May 5, 2015, by eNotes Editorial. The citation above will include either 2 or 3 dates. Randall, Phyllis R., Adapting to Reality: Language in Shepards Curse of the Starving Class, in Sam Shepard: A Casebook, edited by Kimball King, Garland, 1988. Swaying very quietly like they were being blown by someones breath. Hart, Lynda, Sam Shepards Metaphorical Stages, Greenwood Press, 1987. [10], Simard, Rodney. He tells her to take a nap on the table because itll do wonders for her. Yes I am aware =)#Respecttheplaywright #ZakiyyahBG #Monologues#Bestmonologues #SamShepard #Curseofthestarvingclassmonologue #Ella Wesley wanders in, dazed and naked, wet from his bath. In a way, Weston plays his role as a father perfectly: what would the patriarchy be without chest thumping? ELLA ( after a while) You shouldn't be doing that. The conventions of dialogue in the play again present this mixture. In the night. His teen-age sister, Emma (Lizzy DeClement), on the other hand, can only howl about being emotionally ripped off. 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