Eder, Richard, Theatre: The Starving Class, in New York Daily News, March 3, 1978, p. C4. Ella leaves with Taylor, telling Wesley to take the lamb with the maggots back outside. Copyright [2023] Mighty Actor, The Curse Of The Starving Class Monologue (Wesley), DRAMATIC MONOLOGUES FOR TEENS/KIDS (BOYS), DRAMATIC MONOLOGUES FOR TEENS/KIDS (GIRLS). Feet walking toward the door. Property he had there has proved worthless, so he decides to sell the familys home. "Curse of the Starving Class - The Play" Survey of Dramatic Literature He and Slater, another minor character, only appear at the end of the production when they blow up Weston's car for compensation. Employee communication . Weston talks to the lamb briefly, and then begins putting the groceries, which turn out to only be desert artichokes, in the refrigerator. He then came inside and took a bath, made a big breakfast, drank some coffee, and did everyone's laundry. "Curse of the Starving Class - Literary Style" Drama for Students She is just waking up and winds an alarm clock in her hand as she watches WESLEY sleepily. Vol. "Curse of the Starving Class - Summary" Drama for Students Suspended in air, left and right, are faded curtains. The lifters have a sound like nothing else. Disclaimer: Some of the articles on Mighty Actor include affiliate links to sites like Amazon, Skillshare, and others. Then a long silence. Sound of door not opening. Gale Cengage Wesley re-enters and starts yelling to the offstage Emma about her chicken. Wesley returns as Weston fills the refrigerator with artichokes he bought in the desert. 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. Michael Venzor was featured in a 2011 Equity Showcase of "Curse of the Starving Class" by Sam Shepard. Even all the sleeping animals. 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. Taylor then enters and Ella tells him what is happened. No sound. The second is the date of 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. Urban sprawl came to Los Angeles. As she cooks, Wesley recounts the nights events, making car sounds as he pushes the wheelbarrow off. Planes still hanging. . 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. Even sleeping people I could feel. Emma asks the refrigerator why it doesn't have any food because they aren't part of the starving class. 1. Ella tries to get Wesley to go down and stop Emma from taking the horse. 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. Heart still pounding. New landPlymouth Rock, California, Alaska, or anywhere in betweenis settled and cleared for farming or industry by rugged individualist pioneers; more people move near that newly desirable land, and towns spring up; the towns grow so big and encroaching that the rugged individualists feel crowded by city life (or are unable, economically, to survive) and move on to find new frontiers. Wesley takes the money, offering to deliver it to the people his father owes money to. Maggie Siff, as the wife of an abusive man, in Shepards story of a broken family. To help, she has some suggestions for fantastic dramatic monologues for child actors. Wesley is cleaning up shards of wood from the door his father broke down the night before during a drunken outburst. The play ends as Wesley, his back to his mother, concludes the story. Malcolm agrees to wait for Ella at the station. 14. Then I could picture my Dad driving it. Wesley leaves and Emma returns, covered in mud from being dragged by the horse. Ella mistakenly calls Wesley Weston. (The set design is by Julian Crouch.) He then suggests that they move away to some place safe, like Alaska. The refrigerator is the focal point of the action; each member of the family is obsessed with its emptiness. His violent nature and utter lack of accountability are the crux of many of the family's issues. She tells Wesley that she knows about Westons foolish purchase of desert land sight unseen, and Wesley deduces that it was Taylor who sold him the land. Wesley tells him to take the Packard and escape to Mexico. In act 1, while Ella prepares her breakfast, Wesley has a long speech in which he recounts his sense of life while lying in bed, not simply on this night but also on many other nights. His mother, Ella (Maggie Siff), enters, wondering why her son is doing what hes doingcleaning up after the guy who broke the door down, otherwise known as Weston (David Warshofsky), Wesleys father and Ellas spouse. Sam Shepard's coming of age drama about a dirt-poor 1950's-era farm family. Swearing he will kill Taylor and Ella, Weston staggers against the table and falls asleep on top of it. Taylor is a lawyer who is involved in real estate and is looking to buy the property from Ella. 14. Ella goes to the back part of the house and Emma goes to the refrigerator. Scouting me. Los Angeles grew dramatically in the middle of the twentieth century, becoming one of Americas largest cities. [2] The play was commissioned by Joseph Papp and premiered in London in 1977 before playing at Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival in 1978. 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. Every resident of the Village Landais has dementiaand the autonomy to spend each day however they please. When Kinneys staging of Curse begins, we hear snatches of rock and roll as the lights come up on a large, dirty kitchen whose door to the outside world has been busted in. Feet and hands tearing. Vol. Perhaps thats the reason theyre stuck where they are: broke, hungry, and fighting. And although Warshofsky cant quite control what hes doing, presumably because of a lack of directionhis castmates are under-directed, too, and they compensate for it by either underplaying or overplaying their rolesif you scrape away the bombast, you can see what Shepard is getting at. Christian H. Moe. Perhaps that's the reason they're stuck where they are: broke, hungry, and fighting. Wesley tells Weston that his creditors are going to kill him. Ed. Peacocks. Whenand where doesTheCurse of the Starving Class take place? No sight. Wesley and Emma then argue over who is going to go add water to the artichokes that are boiling on the stove. Having the set self-destruct is meant to indicate, of course, that trouble is on the way, but why make such an overdetermined move when Shepard clearly reveals, in the ensuing dialogue and action, how troubling the story were entering is? Cohn, Ruby. Already a member? They tell him that they have blown up the car with Emma in it. . "Curse of the Starving Class - Bibliography" Great Characters in Literature Randall argues here that, although Curse of the Starving Class is indeed a more realistic play than the works that preceded it, Shepard retains a use of language in this play that we do not ordinarily associate with realistic drama., "Curse of the Starving Class - Bibliography and Further Reading" Drama for Students Alone, Ella stares at Weston asleep on the table; he sits up, they look at each other, she runs off, and he lurches toward the refrigerator, kicking artichokes out of his way. Wesley describes the suburbanization going on around them as a zombie invasion and tells her he dreams of going to Alaska. all the upkeep! During their argument, Wesley goes to Emma's posters and begins to urinate on them. As Wesley and Ella argue, Ella speaks of the curse she sees operating on the family. Then, far off the freeway could be heard. The set similarly incorporates both realistic and mythic elements. eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. Try it today! I could feel the presence of all the people outside, at night, in the dark. He pulls out the. Wesley protests feebly. When Wesley tells him that Ella is thinking of selling the house, Weston explodes and threatens to kill her and Taylor. I could feel this country close like it was part of my bones. absolutely zero! Results may vary. While Ella takes steps to get away by trying to sell the old homestead, through a lawyer named Taylor (Andrew Rothenberg), Wesley cant imagine his life as anything other than what it is: he moves and speaks as if bewitched by the awfulness; his existence is a Daddy-dominated dream. [2] The screenplay was written by Bruce Beresford, who also served as an executive producer. [6], The play was produced at Yale Repertory Theatre, New Haven, Connecticut, in February 2000, directed by Jim Simpson and featuring Kristine Nielsen, Guy Boyd, Mandy Siegfried, Danny Seckel, Paul Boocock, Ron Faber, Steve Mellor, Dan Moran and Chime Serra. Join the StageAgent community *Our system only provides suggested monologues or songs for select characters if we have matching monologues and song information in our database. eNotes.com Today: The U.S. again faces an energy crisis, but this time the shortages and exorbitant prices affect electricity. 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. Christian H. Moe. Word Count: 958, Curse of the Starving Class begins with Wesley, in sweatshirt and jeans, tossing pieces of a door into a wheelbarrow. Returning, Emma asks, What kind of a family is this?. Just sitting. 1. Hes plastered and cant move. When Emma enters, she joins in that conversation, and Shepard creates the sense that this conversation has been going on for some time. Monologues. . Mother and son find out Weston is in debt to some dangerous men. online is the same, and will be the first date in the citation. Ellis, the owner of the Alibi Club walks into the house and sees Weston on the table. SUZIE. 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. 1970s: Oil and gas shortages precipitate an energy crisis in the United States. These objects are indeed symbolic, but they are meant to hit the audience with their power. Acts 1 and 2 both begin with characters engaged in simple question-and-answer conversations which serve to provide expository information necessary to an understanding of what has occurred before the start of the play or between the acts. The play was initially produced in London at the Royal Court Theatre on April 21, 1977, directed by Nancy Meckler. She tells Wesley that just when you think the curse has been beaten, and it has retreated back into the smallest cells of their genetics, it will suddenly reappear in full force. Makes me feel lonely. Ellas loneliness, or the incredible amount of adrenaline she has to produce in order to keep her body togetherIm not sure about her soul; shes not that deepmakes her hungry. WESLEY keeps cleaning up the debris, ignoring her. I could feel the presence of all the people outside, at night, in the dark. Weston considers fleeing to Mexico, and Wesley muses about finding Taylor to get the money for the desert land back. They swipe at each other viciously over their conflicting hopes and dreams until they rip each other to shreds. Barnes, Clive, Shepards Starving Class Offers Much Food for Thought, in New York Post, March 3, 1978. 0. View All Characters in Curse of the Starving Class, Curse of the Starving Class guide sections. Ella Tate Curse of the Starving Class. Taylor says that any deal Weston makes is void because he is considered incompetent by the state. 28 Feb. 2023 , Last Updated on May 5, 2015, by eNotes Editorial. Car door slamming. 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: Twayne, 1992. The central city suffers while middle-class people flee to suburbs that sprawl ever farther into what was once farmland. 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. Researchers have studied how much of our personality is set from childhood, but what youre like isnt who you are. Obviously, these two motifs are related to each other, for disease is the intrusion of an entity that should be kept outside the body. The Word Is My Shepard. In New American Dramatists, 1960-1980. He tells Wesley to go clean up, and he'll make him a big breakfast. The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child. A pop of metal. See more characters from Sam Shepard. He picks up the lamb and carries it off. . His symbolsthe lamb, the broken door, the refrigerator, the old carjump out at the viewer and almost announce I am a symbol! But Shepard uses them less as true symbols than as evocative images. Emma and Wesley keep opening the fridge and looking for something thats not therea crystal ball filled with absence. Feet. 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