If Noel Cowards character were chic and elegant then Sams were real rootless and raw and I like it! Floating. "Curse of the Starving Class - The Play" Survey of Dramatic Literature There are three acts. Addressing the lamb, he sets a duffel and a grocery bag on the table. The cast was as follows: The play was revived Off-Broadway at the Promenade Theatre, running from July 30, 1985 to February 16, 1986. Suspended in air, left and right, are faded curtains. Weston says that when he woke up that morning, after sleeping on the table, that he felt like a new man and walked around their property naked to reclaim ownership. Where Wesley seems angry with her for provoking Weston to anger, Ella holds that the incident was entirely Weston's fault. Ad Choices. He has done his laundry, which is all nicely folded on the table, and the lamb is back in the kitchen. Sam Shepard: Yes, Yes, Yes. Esquire 93 (February, 1980): 79-86. An enormous explosion is heard. New York, NY, Accessibility Statement Terms Privacy |StageAgent 2020. Word Count: 89. I listened like an animal. New York, NY, Accessibility Statement Terms Privacy |StageAgent 2020. The plays action demands a working refrigerator and a working stove, yet there are no walls to define the kitchen, and the ruffled, red-checked curtains that are suspended in midair do little to confirm a concrete reality. Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. Taylor is in disbelief, and Ellis threatens him. . 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. [9] The play focuses on the disturbed Tate familythe drunken father, burned-out mother, rebellious teenage daughter, and idealistic sonas they struggle for control of the rundown family farm in a futile search for freedom, security, and ultimately meaning in their lives. Returning, Emma asks, What kind of a family is this?. Ella tells Emma that the horse is crazy and that she is too young to leave home but Emma refuses to listen. Join the StageAgent community Weston enters, drunk, with a large bag of groceries. They tell him that they have blown up the car with Emma in it. 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. Bulls. Act I Emerson and Slater enter, laughing and holding the bloody carcass of the lamb. Urban Sprawl See more characters from Sam Shepard. eNotes.com, Inc. Taylor departs surreptitiously; Ellis grabs his money from Wesley and rushes off, with Wesley in pursuit. When the bodys defenses fail and intruders are allowed to breed inside the body, the play tells us, the body will soon fall to those forces that threaten it. Then I heard the Packard coming up the hill. Cars line up for gasoline, and President Ford appoints an energy czar to head U.S. energy policy efforts. He and Slater, another minor character, only appear at the end of the production when they blow up Weston's car for compensation. Then I could picture my dad driving it. Weston is proud of Emma, saying that it takes guts to do something like that at her age. This is Michael's monologue as Wesley Tate, the son of. No sight. The Word Is My Shepard. In New American Dramatists, 1960-1980. Ella enters, asks why the lamb is back in the kitchen, and tells Weston that she has been at the jail, visiting Emma. I guess we had to be. He pulls out the $1500 that he owes Weston for the purchase of the house, and Ella tells Wesley to throw him out. View All Characters in Curse of the Starving Class, THIS FEATURE IS ONLY AVAILABLE FOR PRO MEMBERS. Swaying very quietly like they were being blown by someones breath. The curse on the family is described by both women as something that breeds internally in Weston and Wesley and is inevitable. eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. As the play opens, she and Wesley are both surveying the chunks of the door broken down by her husband Weston. The play ends as Wesley, his back to his mother, concludes the story. 14. Copyright [2023] Mighty Actor, The Curse Of The Starving Class Monologue (Wesley), DRAMATIC MONOLOGUES FOR TEENS/KIDS (BOYS), DRAMATIC MONOLOGUES FOR TEENS/KIDS (GIRLS). Another risk in weak productions of Shepards work is that directors will make too little or too much of his surrealism. As the play opens, she and Wesley are both surveying the chunks of the door broken down by her husband . 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. 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Ella is the mother of the family in Curse of the Starving Class. 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. Feet. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. Ella and Ellis argue, Ellis shows her the deed Weston gave him, and Taylor arrives to settle his deal with Ella. As she leaves, Ella wakes up, mistakes Wesley for Weston, and tells him to go after Emma because she's too young to leave on her own. He is the representative for several large corporations that are looking to buy up land. 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. Lahr, John, A Ghost Town of the Imagination, in Village Voice, July 25, 1977, pp. Vol. 1998 eNotes.com He picks up the lamb and carries it off. 1. Dogs. Finally, highway patrolman Malcolm appears with the news that Emma, having shot up the Alibi Club, is in jail. 2003 eNotes.com . Ella finally enters and says that she is going on a business luncheon with Taylor. Our Essay Lab can help you tackle any essay assignment within seconds, whether youre studying Macbeth or the American Revolution. Wesley, who has been listening to this story, then asks what happens next. Ink and Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus Play with History. It is morning. Motif The central city suffers while middle-class people flee to suburbs that sprawl ever farther into what was once farmland. Curse of the Starving Class begins with Wesley, in sweatshirt and jeans, tossing pieces of a door into a wheelbarrow. Some critics consider it part of a Family Trilogy that includes Buried Child (1979) and True West (1980). Seeking 2 Actor Team for Spring Its themes include the struggle for dignity, moral obligations to family members, and the effect of money in America. Mom calling cops. My Messerschmitt. Gale Cengage Their daughter, Emma, is a smart and rebellious teen, itching to get away from her crazy home. Mom screaming. He tells her it was the night's sleep on the table that fixed everything. Weston yells at him, telling him that they didn't need the food, because the refrigerator is full for once. Last Updated on May 5, 2015, by eNotes Editorial. Taylor is a lawyer who is involved in real estate and is looking to buy the property from Ella. Mother and son find out Weston is in debt to some dangerous men. As a country whose greatest natural resource has always been its seemingly endless supply of land and space, the United States settlement and development has generally followed the same pattern. Later, when Wesley and Ella talk, Ella tells him that she is going to sell the house and use the money to go to Europe. 28 Feb. 2023 , Last Updated on May 5, 2015, by eNotes Editorial. Perhaps thats the reason theyre stuck where they are: broke, hungry, and fighting. I could feel the presence of all the people outside, at night, in the dark. Join StageAgent today and unlock amazing theatre resources and opportunities. Wesley appears, bloodied, and tells Weston that he has tried to get the money back. The symbols work together to undermine the realism of the play. Start your 48-hour free trial to get access to more than 30,000 additional guides and more than 350,000 Homework Help questions answered by our experts. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. Vol. Keys turned off. When he returns, he is wearing Westons overcoat, tennis shoes, and baseball cap, and he says that he butchered the lamb for food. Once she is arrested she says that she gains her freedom by offering sexual bribes to the sheriff. Ellis is the owner of a bar, the Alibi Club, where Weston spends his time when he is not at home. But with the millions of people who now lived there, there simply was not enough room in the city. Like so much else in Curse of the Starving Class, she is presented realistically, but there is a mythic quality to her character. Wesley tells him to take the Packard and escape to Mexico. The entire upkeep of the farm falls on the shoulders of their idealistic son, Wesley, the only one who seems to have some hope for the family left. Lights go off. 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. Car door slamming. 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. At the end of the play, the skinned lamb carcass symbolically suggests the sacrifice of Wesley, or perhaps Emma, to a malevolent force. The playwright Sam Shepards matter-of-fact observations about where his characters stand in the world tell us so much about the world they inhabit. Emma decides that Ella boiled her chicken and storms out. 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. California suffers from rolling blackouts, and the major population centers of the East Coast are warned about similar blackouts or brownouts. In the fridge, she finds some bacon and bread and, as she fries up the last of the familys meat, Wesley thinks about himself and his father and recalls a memory: I was lying there on my back. date the date you are citing the material. publication in traditional print. Their conversation quickly turns to an issue of thematic importance: restlessness and dissatisfaction in heartland America. Emma Tate is the daughter of Ella and Weston Tate. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. Swearing he will kill Taylor and Ella, Weston staggers against the table and falls asleep on top of it. 14. The Tates live on a farm where they formerly raised sheep and grew avocados. In a 1997 Paris Review interview, Shepard, whose own father was an alcoholic, made a powerful point about the men he grew up around. Wesley then explains to Emma that it is not typical homebuyers who are going to purchase the house, but that it is land developers. 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. The set similarly incorporates both realistic and mythic elements. Instead, it chooses to bring the eagle down, even if it means certain doom for the cat as well. The film was written by Bruce Beresford and directed by J. Michael McClary. They wanted large houses, cars, two-car garages, front and back yards. I could feel the space around me like a big, black world. She and Weston argue heatedly. eNotes.com Hes slept there before. Door slams. Act Two opens with siblings Emma and Wesley hard at work on tasks that are interestingly, stereotypically gender appropriate: Emma is recreating her charts on how to properly cut a frying chicken (since her brother pissed on them in the last act), and Wesley is rebuilding the door that his father broke down. Ella wakes up, and a huge explosion offstage follows upon this. Ella warns Emma that swimming during her period could kill her. Language. Cutting through the orchard. Ella looks at the carcass, remembering Westons story of the eagle. Download the entire Curse of the Starving Class study guide as a printable PDF! The lights go down with him staring in the open fridge. He is also the same man who swindled Weston into buying the useless desert property. Curse of the Starving Class "balances dark comedy and biting satire in its look at a family fighting to stay alive," according to the Long Wharf Theatre. Weston is a destructive and angry man . Sign up today to unlock amazing theatre resources and opportunities. Mans voice. Important moments, themes, monologues:-gender roles-Emma's monologue about being a mechanic and swindling her mom out of money Emma explains that her father broke the door down the night before in a drunken rage. The play ends with Ella and Wesley staring at the lamb carcass. The Tate family is a lower middle class, rural California family, trying to hold on to the last shreds of a family bond and traditional living. 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. Word Count: 713. Join StageAgent today and unlock amazing theatre resources and opportunities. 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. After the walls split, we see a young man, Wesley (Gilles Geary), picking up whats left of the kitchen door. As Ellis talks to them, they learn that Weston owes money to some pretty hard fellas. Wesley offers to take the money to those men, but Ella forbids it. Feet stopping. Emma walks out. Sign up today to unlock amazing theatre resources and opportunities. Ella is a stressed out woman trying to cope with intense emotional damage and frustration. I could see the trees being lit one after the other by the lights, then going back to black. Wesley still refuses to go after his sister, and Ella tells him that she is planning to use the money from the house to go to Europe and that he and Emma can come if they want. Ella then asks Emma what she is holding and Emma reminds her that these are her poster for the 4-H project on how to properly cut up a frying chicken that she has been working on quite some time. 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. 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. He tells the children that he has found a buyer for the house, and Emma leaves abruptly. . 2023 Cond Nast. Then I hear the door of the Packard open. Weston asks the lamb a question or twowith no door on the kitchen, is he inside or outside, meaning does he still have power over all that he surveys?before starting to complain about how little his family can do without him. Whole body crashing. As the crisis ends, both politicians and the public realize that these shortages were created arti- ficially by oil-producing countries and oil companies in order to boost profits. . Last Updated on May 5, 2015, by eNotes Editorial. Emma is frightened by him, but Wesley tells her to stay calm. Taking pictures of the enemy. Laws against marital rape, for instance, gain ground in many states that had previously resisted them. Paper bag covering Tiger Rose. Feet coming. Word Count: 1160. Sam Shepards matter-of-fact observations about where his Characters stand in the kitchen as Ellis talks to them, learn... 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