props demanded by the script.” The play’s realism and accessibility contribute
to its enduring popularity with audiences and critics. So, too, does its story line.
Austin is a screenwriter with a budding career and family, and Lee is a drifter
and thief who lives alone in the desert. As Austin works on a screenplay in his
mother’s house (which he is house-sitting), Lee decides to return home, initially
with the intention of stealing from his mother’s neighbors. Intrigued by the
prospect of emulating Austin’s success, however, Lee pitches his own story to a
Hollywood producer, Saul Kimmer, who then drops Austin’s project for Lee’s.
What ensues is role reversal as Lee vainly attempts to transform his idea into
a screenplay while Austin, despondent, goes on a drinking binge followed by
a stealing spree. The brothers’ rivalry soon becomes physically violent, and the
play ends with the image of endless struggle between them.
Students should begin study of any of Shepard’s works, including True West,
by consulting the Sam Shepard website http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/
theatre_dance/Shepard/shepard.html, which includes a good primary bibliogra-
phy and a selected secondary bibliography that includes both reviews and critical
works. This site, which is maintained with scholarly care, should not be confused
with the site at http://www.sam-shepard.com/, which is for fans only.
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION AND RESEARCH
- A stage production of True West was filmed and originally aired on public
television’s American Playhouse in 1984; it starred Gary Sinise as Austin and
John Malkovich as Lee. It was also performed for television in 2002. View a
copy of one of these performances and compare it to a reading copy of the
play. - The battle that takes place between Austin and Lee echoes the struggles
between Chet and Stu in Cowboys #2 and those between Cavale and Slim in
The Cowboy Mouth. The three plays also explore similar themes: the appeal
and illusion of the Old West, commercialism versus artistry, the difference
between “real life” and performance. The earlier plays, however, are stylisti-
cally very different from True West. In addition to being single-act plays,
Cowboys #2 and The Cowboy Mouth have less-developed characters and rely
more on absurd and nonrealistic details. Students interested in tracing the
development of Shepard’s style could compare True West to one or both of
these earlier plays, focusing on plot, setting, and character and paying close
attention to Shepard’s stage directions. For discussions that trace Shepard’s
evolving style, students can consult Bottoms, DeRose, Graham, Kimball, and
Mottram. - In his biography of Sam Shepard, Don Shewey writes: “There’s a lot about
True West that is explicitly autobiographical. Like Austin, Shepard himself has
put in time as a would-be screenwriter, but he’s also been known to share in
Lee’s sticky fingers.” In addition, the house where the events take place is “40
miles east of Los Angeles,” directions that apply to Duarte, California, where
Shepard spent his teenage years. Evocative of the biography of Shepard’s father
are the references to and stories about “the old man,” including the one about