Springfield StageWorks is proud to present Sam Shepard’s dark tale of sibling rivalry, TRUE WEST, August 30 – September 8, 2012 at the historic State Theatre in downtown Springfield, OH.
The Show
TRUE WEST is a dark, intense drama, full of strange quirks and comic relief. A finalist for the 1983 Pulitzer Prize in Drama, this American classic explores alternatives that might spring from the demented terrain of the California landscape. Sons of a desert dwelling alcoholic and a suburban wanderer clash over a film script. Austin, the achiever, is working on a script he has sold to a producer when Lee, a demented petty thief, drops in. He pitches his own idea for a movie to the producer, who then wants Austin to junk his bleak, modern love story and write Lee’s trashy Western tale. But this is only the beginning. Come see for yourself just how deep this rabbit hole goes.
The Author (from Wikipedia.org)
Sam Shepard (born Samuel Shepard Rogers IV; November 5, 1943) is an American playwright, actor, and television and film director. He is the author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child. Shepard was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of pilot Chuck Yeager in The Right Stuff (1983). Shepard received the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award as a master American dramatist in 2009.
The Group
Springfield StageWorks is a 501(c)(3) non-profit performing arts organization – Springfield, Ohio’s newest non-profit theatre company. Starting in the summer of 2004 at Veteran’s Park Amphitheater, they have held performances at the Bushnell Building, the Westcott House and now, thanks to the generosity of James and Nike Lagos, performances take place in the new home of StageWorks, downtown Springfield’s historic State Theatre. Productions ranging from the works of William Shakespeare to the avant garde works of Samuel Beckett and David Mamet have set StageWorks apart as the alternative theatre group in the Springfield community.
The Director
Sarah Davis is a recent transplant from Detroit, MI where she attended Eastern Michigan University in a dual baccalaureate program (Theatre/Anthropology). She has performed locally with the Dayton Theatre Guild, Town Hall Theatre, Clark State Community College and the Dayton Playhouse and also in several productions with The Upstage Theatre (Detroit, MI), The Toledo Repertoire Theatre (Toledo, OH) and The Coming Attractions Players (Rossford, OH). Her performance as Catherine in Proof (Detroit, 2004) earned her the prestigious Peg Anderson Hodge Award for Acting Excellence. She has also starred in several films, most recently ‘The State’ (Itzahobby Productions, Inc.) which is currently in post-production. Ms. Davis is the author of several short stories as well as a series of children’s books dubbed ‘The Toby Tales’.
The Cast
Austin: Joel Bonsell
Lee: Saverio Perugini
Saul: David Michael Schopmeyer
Mom: Bonnie Bertelson
