The Lion Theatre recently hosted a production by the Los Angeles based Athene Theatre. The production was Sam Shepard’s play True West and it was performed at the midtown 42nd street theatre. Today was the final performance scheduled for this show. Shepard’s plays are no stranger to New York though his settings are frequently dessert and southwest locations. Many of his plays deal with certain mythological aspects of American culture and society. In the case of True West, it is typically considered to be more of a standard traditional narrative work than most of Shepard’s plays.
True West is primarily focused on the relationship between two brothers and their competitive rivalry nature. Austin and his older brother Lee are the two main characters and Austin is at their mother’s house sitting and trying to write a screenplay. Lee shows up after not having seen his brother in over two years. Past issues are brought into the present and the two end up in personal and professional relationship entanglements. There are plenty of struggles and futile but sincere attempts at connection, as is a common in Shepard’s work. Ultimately the past is not resolved and the future is uncertain.
The play was originally produced at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco and has also been on the Steppenwolf stage in Chicago. This production starred a relatively unknown Gary Sinise and John Malkovich. This production was transferred to New York where it gained attention and critical approval at the Cherry Lane Theatre. John C. Reilly and Philip Seymour Hoffman starred in a Broadway production in 2000. And while Broadway is always a big draw for tourists in some of New York City’s finest five star hotels, many are also equally or sometimes even more attracted to some of the more edgy and experimental works found throughout this great city.
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