Ella has called the police because Weston threatened to kill her, but she doesnt leave right away; Wesley is upset that his mother has summoned outside forces to their home. Curse of the Starving Class is a play by Sam Shepard, considered the first of a series on family tragedies. 28 Feb. 2023 , Last Updated on May 5, 2015, by eNotes Editorial. Ed. Weston, sober, neatly dressed, folds laundry while talking to the lamb. The citation above will include either 2 or 3 dates. The Curse of the Starving Class Community Note includes chapter-by-chapter summary and analysis, character list, theme list, historical context, author biography and quizzes written by community members like you. Ellis represents the greed and controlling nature of business owners and the tendency of these people to take unfair advantage of each other and people below them. . He pulls out the $1,500, telling them that is the amount that Weston owes to some pretty hard fellas. Then stopping. Weston becomes grumpy and refuses to tell the rest of the story. She wants to know what he wants her mother for and he tells her that he is in the real-estate business and is helping her mother sell the house. Weston is a destructive and angry man . My P-39. eNotes.com In a 1997 Paris Review interview, Shepard, whose own father was an alcoholic, made a powerful point about the men he grew up around. Reading his plays is like taking a trip to the other side of town. [10], Simard, Rodney. Man throwing up. Whats he doing? . Then, looking in that bloody fridge, he, like his children, finds nothing: zero! Hello, this is Emma's monologue from Curse of the Starving Class by Sam Shepard. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. "Curse of the Starving Class - Compare and Contrast" Drama for Students Ella returns from jail, exhausted, to find Weston cooking breakfast for Wesley. "Curse of the Starving . Vol. Ella sits up and screams, and Emma departs. This is Michael's monologue as Wesley Tate, the son of. Waiting to get out. Wesley realizes that it was Taylor who sold Weston the desert property just as Ellis arrives with fifteen hundred dollars for the house, the exact amount Weston owes to gangsters. The second date is today's The cast was as follows: The play was revived Off-Broadway at the Promenade Theatre, running from July 30, 1985 to February 16, 1986. 2023 . Malcolm enters and informs the family that Emma has been arrested for riding her horse through the Alibi Club and shooting up the bar. Man cursing. Then I could picture my Dad driving it. Then WESLEY'S mother, ELLA, enters slowly from down left. King, Kimball. Underdogs take center stage in a newsroom drama about Rupert Murdoch and in Taylor Macs spin on Shakespeares first tragedy. Freezing headache. Ella is the mother of the family in Curse of the Starving Class. Ella has not returned from her meeting with Taylor. . Wesley takes the money, offering to deliver it to the people his father owes money to. However, the tom cat won't let go because if it does it will fall and die. Emma walks out. Maggie Siff, as the wife of an abusive man, in Shepards story of a broken family. 14. The Tates live on a farm where they formerly raised sheep and grew avocados. Dad's a foul talking drunk, and Mom is desperately trying to save what's left of their family life. Feet. Ella is a stressed out woman trying to cope with intense emotional damage and frustration. 28 Feb. 2023 , Last Updated on May 5, 2015, by eNotes Editorial. Emma tells Ella of her dream of going to Mexico and becoming a mechanic. Weston is proud of Emma, saying that it takes guts to do something like that at her age. The tom cat and the eagle start fighting in midair, with the cat clawing out the eagle's chest, and the eagle trying to drop it. Word Count: 713. Wesley re-enters, wearing his father's old clothes. Emma begins a rant about how she raised the chicken and hand fed it every day, then killed and cleaned it and her mother has gone and boiled it. Urban Sprawl If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page.. (The set design is by Julian Crouch.) The first motif almost overwhelms the play with its omnipresence. Wesley wanders in, dazed and naked, wet from his bath. Swearing he will kill Taylor and Ella, Weston staggers against the table and falls asleep on top of it. There are three acts. Property he had there has proved worthless, so he decides to sell the familys home. Gale Cengage [5] As a dad, Weston is an amalgam of brute force and regret, and thats the only legacy that his son will ever have. The second date is today's Wesley tells Weston that his creditors are going to kill him. date the date you are citing the material. This act opens with Weston, who is now clean, and sober. 2003 eNotes.com Feet and hands tearing. I guess we had to be. Tate Family patriarch Weston, is an alcoholic, who leaves his family for days at a time, buys into scam business deals, and owes money to all the wrong people in town. No sound. 28 Feb. 2023 , Last Updated on May 5, 2015, by eNotes Editorial. Emma runs away, only to return covered with mud, thrown by her horse. SymbolismCurse of the Starving Class uses symbolism a great deal, but Shepard uses it in a jarring way. His wife, Ella, is utterly burned-out and will do just about anything to leave her husband behind. If there are two dates, the date of publication and appearance Weston explains his new outlook: He took a bath, walked around the place naked, cleaned everything, ate a good breakfast, and decided to fix things up. [3] The play was commissioned by Joseph Papp.[4]. Whole body crashing. It is the next day. At first, Weston can't remember who all he has loaned money to, and begins to rant about how this is his home and nobody ought to be able to take it from him because he has nowhere else to go. Ella warns Emma that swimming during her period could kill her. Watt, Douglas, In the End, Emptiness, in New York Daily News, March 3, 1978. Slater is Emerson's accomplice. The dramatic means Shepard uses to present her underlines the theme of the play, the failure of communication, the failure of love, the failure of these individuals to nurture their young. I could hear stock cars squealing down the street. Center stage is a table, downstage a refrigerator and stove. Curse of the Starving Class: Directed by J. Michael McClary. Wesley describes the suburbanization going on around them as a zombie invasion and tells her he dreams of going to Alaska. Ella returns with groceries and says she knows there is a curse working against family. Directed by Robin Lynn Smith, the cast featured Kathy Bates (Ella) and Bradley Whitford (Wesley). Word Count: 302. Dogs barking down the road. But Shepard retains the symbolic structure of his earlier plays. 28 Feb. 2023 , Last Updated on May 5, 2015, by eNotes Editorial. As Wesley and Ella argue, Ella speaks of the curse she sees operating on the family. He declares to them that he is a whole new person, and Wesley, finally stopped eating, tells Weston that the men who are after him are going to kill him. The film was written by Bruce Beresford and directed by J. Michael McClary. eNotes.com, Inc. She appears to be the most bizarre character in the play, yet is also the most normal member of the family. Weston talks to the lamb briefly, and then begins putting the groceries, which turn out to only be desert artichokes, in the refrigerator. New York: Grove, 1982. A 1994 film adaptation of the same name stars James Woods (Weston), Kathy Bates (Ella), Henry Thomas (Wesley), Randy Quaid (Taylor), and Jim Fitzpatrick (Emerson). Wesley assures his father that the gang will get him, and Weston takes off for Mexico. In addition, playwright Sam Shepard is himself an actor and can be seen in over a dozen wide-release films (many with his longtime partner Jessica Lange), including Country, Places in the Heart, and The Right Stuff. New York, NY, Ages 12-17: Camp Broadway Ensemble @ Carnegie Hall Emma, angry, leaves. Sam Shepards Curse of the Starving Class is a darkly comic look into the world of dysfunctional Tate family, as they struggle amongst themselves for food, freedom, and meaning in their run-down lives. Then crying softly. Ella mistakenly calls Wesley Weston. Paper bag covering Tiger Rose. Feet coming. Already a member? Disclaimer: Some of the articles on Mighty Actor include affiliate links to sites like Amazon, Skillshare, and others. 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. Incapable of driving or holding a job, he is a profoundly unstable man controlled by the alcohol that runs in his system. Emma returns, still furious, and the three begin an argument about the starving class and whether or not they are part of it. Swaying very quietly like they were being blown by someones breath. She climbs up and stretches out on it as Wesley, completely naked, enters. Researchers have studied how much of our personality is set from childhood, but what youre like isnt who you are. Emma and Wesley discuss whether their mother will come back, or whether she will run off to Mexico with Taylor. Then no moving. New York: St. Martins Press, 1986. On the one hand, I want you to experience the extraordinary power of Shepards alternately disciplined and unwieldy languagelanguage that pulsates with a unique imaginationbut, on the other, I dont want you to see and hear what Shepard brought to the American stage in less than ideal circumstances. New York, NY, Accessibility Statement Terms Privacy |StageAgent 2020. 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. date the date you are citing the material. Wesley does not want to do it because he is making the door and Emma doesn't want to do it because she is remaking her posters. "Curse of the Starving Class" was praised for its handling of dark comedy that finishes with a sinister surrealism. A French Villages Radical Vision of a Good Life with Alzheimers. Wesley enters and decides that Emma's project is pointless and that she ought to focus on more important things. He tells the lamb a story about an eagle who was diving very close down to the ground trying to steal the testes of the lambs he was castrating. With James Woods, Kathy Bates, Randy Quaid, Henry Thomas. However, many people move back into the central city to work in the burgeoning entertainment industry. 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. Shelves: plays, aty20. My Jap Zero. Then a long silence. At the same time, land speculators were buying the land of Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, and Riverside counties and preparing it for residential development. But treating Shepards stage paradigms superficially can lead to characterizations that miss the point of how his figures got to be heartbroken or angry in the first place. Wesley protests feebly. After this outburst he passes out. 1998 eNotes.com 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. Weston then tells them that he has already found someone who will buy the land and pay in cash. The central city suffers while middle-class people flee to suburbs that sprawl ever farther into what was once farmland. Largescale irrigation beginning in the late nineteenth century made the desert bloom, and soon the area (along with the Imperial and Central Valleys) was Americas richest farmland, producing citrus fruits, melons, berries, even lettuce and other water hungry crops. Emma explains that her father broke the door down the night before in a drunken rage. Some foreigner. Wesley then leaves and Emma returns, covered in mud after being thrown from the horse and dragged through the mud. Directors and actors tend to latch onto the more obvious effects in Shepards writing, including the types of characters he returned to time and again: disgruntled drunk dads, battling spouses and siblings, forsaken lovers. Wesley is cleaning up shards of wood from the door his father broke down the night before during a drunken outburst. Mans voice. In the end he was cheering for the eagle. In a way, Weston plays his role as a father perfectly: what would the patriarchy be without chest thumping? They were Second World War veterans, he said, who were disappointed in a way that they didnt understand. When Weston comes to, he starts up again where he left off, rejecting Wesleys suggestions that they plant avocados on their land. Joseph Chaikin & Sam Shepard May 18 2022 Friends since 1964, correspondents since 1972, playwright Sam Shepard and director Joseph Chaikin established . I could smell the avocado blossoms. Michael and me -- well, we're closer than most brothers and sisters. . Vol. The Curse Of The Starving Class - Monologue (Wesley) A monologue from the play by Sam Shepard Wesley is cleaning up shards of wood from the door his father broke down the night before during a drunken outburst. Wesley, who has been listening to this story, then asks what happens next. Weston Tate is the father of the family and an abusive alcoholic. Word Count: 1530. Monologues are presented on StageAgent for educational purposes only. Weston stumbles in, even drunker, and wants to know where Ella is. online is the same, and will be the first date in the citation. Emma decides that Ella boiled her chicken and storms out. Shifting unconsciously. Gale Cengage online is the same, and will be the first date in the citation. Still, Ella and Wesley both convey their hurt and their ambivalence toward Westons power over them. Emma yells at Ella and exits. Gain full access to show guides, character breakdowns, auditions, monologues and more! Emma and Wesley keep opening the fridge and looking for something thats not therea crystal ball filled with absence. Ages 12-17: Camp Broadway Ensemble @ Carnegie Hall. Ella is on stage alone for the beginning of the talk, but her daughter, Emma, walks on stage mid-talk and joins the conversation as though she has been there all along. Decals peeling off their wings. Kauffmann, Stanley. They finish the story, saying that a tom cat had come to sniff around in the testes and the eagle picked it up. Ella does not tell Emma that she plans to sell the house, but Emma tells Ella that she dreams of moving to Mexico and becoming a mechanic. 28 Feb. 2023 . Word Count: 509. I could hear the coyotes. Foot kicking harder. A. J. Sobczak and Frank N. Magill. They menace the family a little and leave. The play opens with Wesley putting pieces of a broken down door into a wheelbarrow. President George W. Bush proposes an energy policy that stresses greater production, but many citizens mistrust this policy because of Bushs and Vice-President Dick Cheneys ties to oil companies and the energy industry. He has done his laundry, which is all nicely folded on the table, and the lamb is back in the kitchen. When he returns, he is wearing Westons overcoat, tennis shoes, and baseball cap, and he says that he butchered the lamb for food. I could feel the headlights closing in. Wesley then explains to Emma that it is not typical homebuyers who are going to purchase the house, but that it is land developers. Wesley deduces that Taylor is the one who sold Weston worthless desert property in the first place. Even sleeping people I could feel. Sound of door not opening. Christian H. Moe. While Ella takes steps to get away by trying to sell the old homestead, through a lawyer named Taylor (Andrew Rothenberg), Wesley can't imagine his life as anything other than what it is: he. Mans voice. Word Count: 958. Curse of the Starving Class Wesley, in sweatshirt, jeans and cowboy boots picks up pieces of a broken door and throws them methodically into an old wheelbarrow. Curse of the Starving Class begins with Wesley, in sweatshirt and jeans, tossing pieces of a door into a wheelbarrow. He then suggests that they move away to some place safe, like Alaska. Emma then yells down that she is going to take the horse and leave. I could feel myself in my bed in my room in this house in this town in this state in this country. Even sleeping people I could feel. Disease and sickness, and images of a poison circulating through the blood, complement the motif of inside/outside. 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. Feet stopping. Who or what can fill these people up? My heart was pounding. She reassures the refrigerator that soon there will be little eggs, butter, and other foods tucked away inside of it. 1. all the upkeep! Can you send me character analysis of characters of Sam Shepard's play "Curse of the Starving Class"? Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. English. Hes woken up with dew on the hood before. When Wesley tells him that Ella is thinking of selling the house, Weston explodes and threatens to kill her and Taylor. Ellis enters, laughing at the passed-out Weston who is slumped on the kitchen table. Westons only way of being a father is to exercise his paternal privileges, which, in Shepard-land, include wreaking havoc, fucking up your kids and your wife, and squandering the future; we learn by the second act that, in order to pay off loan sharks, Weston has already sold the property, to a bar owner named Ellis (Esau Pritchett, who has a lot of strength and appeal, though Kinney doesnt temper his performance, either). Ellis is a greedy charlatan who tries to cheat the family out of their house. Soft crying. Ella and Taylor leave together, and Emma runs off again. Weston leaves. Hart, Lynda, Sam Shepards Metaphorical Stages, Greenwood Press, 1987. Curse of the Starving Class Jan 26 2023 Tells the story of a dysfunctional family living in a farmhouse they are planning to sell in the hopes of moving on to bigger and better things. He is the representative for several large corporations that are looking to buy up land. The play closed on April 9, 1978. Closely connected to the symbolic structure of the play is its use of motif, or a recurring image. Weston yells at him, telling him that they didn't need the food, because the refrigerator is full for once. In an eerie way he is speaking neither to his mother nor directly to the audience; instead, the audience is allowed to hear his thought processes. Wilmeth, Don B. and Miller, Tice L. "The Cambridge Guide to American Theatre", Cambridge University Press, 1996, Yale Rep Starts Shepard's 'Curse Of The Starving Class' Feb. 3 in New Haven", "Long Wharf Theatre stages 'Curse of the Starving Class' February 13 through March 10", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Curse_of_the_Starving_Class&oldid=1020900821, This page was last edited on 1 May 2021, at 18:23. We don't currently have any monologues from Curse of the Starving Class . Already a member? He advises Wesley to do the same. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. These people are not meant to be accurate representations of real people, nor are we meant to believe that this family had a lamb, brought it inside, and then butchered it. He begins eating everything in the refrigerator. Ella begins to act antsy and Emma realizes that Ella has boiled her chicken. She is a small woman wearing a bathrobe, pink fuzzy slippers, hair in curlers. The citation above will include either 2 or 3 dates. 14. Wesley is not happy with his mother's decision, and she continues to try and ask him to go stop Emma. Both musicals, based on immensely popular eighties movies, feature performers who help you see the narrative behind all the flash. Looking at the lamb carcass, she asks Wesley to help her remember the story Weston always told about the eagle. Malcolm enters and informs the family that Emma has been listening to this,... Family and an abusive man, in sweatshirt and jeans, tossing pieces of a series on family tragedies dew... 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