Curse of the Starving Class 1978

Ages: 13+
Opened: February 14, 1978
Closing: April 09, 1978

Curse of the Starving Class - 1978 - Off-Broadway History , Info & More

Joseph Papp Public Theater [Newman Theater]
425 Lafayette Street New York, NY 10003

Sam Shepard’s Curse of the Starving Class is a darkly comic look into the world of dysfunctional Tate family, as they struggle amongst themselves for food, freedom, and meaning in their run-down lives. Tate Family patriarch Weston, is an alcoholic, who leaves his family for days at a time, buys into scam business deals, and owes money to all the wrong people in town. His wife, Ella, is utterly burned-out and will do just about anything to leave her husband behind. Their daughter, Emma, is a smart and rebellious teen, itching to get away from her crazy home. 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. The “curse,” as Ella puts it, of the Tate family is that they have nitroglycerine — liquid dynamite — running in their blood. Perhaps that’s the reason they’re stuck where they are: broke, hungry, and fighting. Whatever the cause, the Tates will do just about anything to raise themselves out of the downward spiral into which they’ve fallen. But is it even possible, at this point? Or are some families, Shepherd asks, just cursed before they begin?

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San Jose Stage Co. Announces New Dates for Sam Shepard's THE TOOTH OF CRIME
by Chloe Rabinowitz - May 24, 2022

San Jose Stage Company has announced new dates for the final production of its 39th Season, Sam Shepard’s rarely produced THE TOOTH OF CRIME.  Due to an unfortunate COVID-19 outbreak within the company, THE TOOTH OF CRIME will now run from August 3 – 21, 2022 at San Jose Stage Company (490 South 1st Street, San Jose, CA, 95113).

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by Chloe Rabinowitz - Aug 18, 2021

New York City Ballet will open its 2021-22 season on Tuesday, September 21, 2021 with a four-week Fall Season, presenting its first full-company, live performance in more than 19 months. 

PLAY OF THE DAY! Today's Play: CURSE OF THE STARVING CLASS by Sam Shepard
by Chloe Rabinowitz - May 18, 2020

During this time when productions all over the world have been put on pause, we are coming together to celebrate plays that have left their mark on theater history. This week we will be focusing on the plays of Sam Shepard. Today's play, Curse of the Starving Class!

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EgoPo Classic Theater Presents its Upcoming Season, SHEPARD COUNTRY
by Stephi Wild - Sep 20, 2019

EgoPo Classic Theater will carry on its tradition of producing annual themed festival seasons with the 2019-2020 Festival Season, Shepard Country, celebrating the ground-breaking works of the late, great American playwright Sam Shepard. This year, EgoPo returns to America, but through the lens of Shepard, a playwright dedicated to stripping the mask off the myth of the American family to reveal its true depth, rawness, and often painful reality.

MET Presents CURSE OF THE STARVING CLASS
by Julie Musbach - Mar 7, 2019

Maryland Ensemble Theatre (MET) is proud to present Curse of the Starving Class. In this dark comedy, a family's survival in a harsh and changing world is put to the test. The play is set in a farmhouse in the American West, inhabited by the Tate family, who has enough to eat but not enough to satisfy the other pangs of hunger that bedevil them. As the show progresses, the characters fall victim to the dark underbelly of American life-and become benighted innocents pursuing a dream that remains beyond their reach.

BWW Flashback: Beyond TRUE WEST- The Great Plays of Sam Shepard!
by Nicole Rosky - Jan 26, 2019

On Thursday night, Roundabout Theatre Company brought Sam Shepard's Pulitzer Prize-nominated play, True West, back to Broadway, continuing the legacy of the late playwright's work.

Bi-Coastal Production of FOOL FOR LOVE Comes to Theater for the New City
by Julie Musbach - Oct 15, 2018

Beetlebung Road LLC, a new theater production company, will launch November 15 to December 9 with a bi-coastal production of Sam Shepard's 'Fool for Love,' to be presented November 15 to December 2 by Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave., Manhattan and December 6 to 9 by The Lounge Theatre, 6201 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles.  The production, directed by Kymberly Harris, will arise from a careful artistic process of immersion on many levels.  The company chose to debut at Theater for the New City (TNC) as part of that process: to honor and recapture the path of Shepard's 'Buried Child,' which was commissioned by TNC and premiered there in 1978.

Warehouse Theatre To Honor Late Playwright Sam Shepard With Repertory Festival Featuring TRUE WEST and BURIED CHILD
by BWW News Desk - Sep 22, 2018

Warehouse Theatre will present The Sam Shepard Festival, a theatre repertory series honoring the American playwright Sam Shepard. The Festival will include fully staged productions of the Pulitzer Prize winning play Buried Child, the Tony Award winning play True West, and the semi-autobiographical play Cowboy Mouth, as well as readings on Curse of the Starving Class, Heartless, and Fool for Love.

Warehouse Theatre To Honor Late Playwright Sam Shepard With Repertory Festival Featuring TRUE WEST and BURIED CHILD
by BWW News Desk - Aug 31, 2018

Warehouse Theatre will present The Sam Shepard Festival, a theatre repertory series honoring the American playwright Sam Shepard. The Festival will include fully staged productions of the Pulitzer Prize winning play Buried Child, the Tony Award winning play True West, and the semi-autobiographical play Cowboy Mouth, as well as readings on Curse of the Starving Class, Heartless, and Fool for Love.

Warehouse Theatre To Honor Late Playwright Sam Shepard With Repertory Festival Featuring TRUE WEST and BURIED CHILD
by Stephi Wild - Aug 18, 2018

Warehouse Theatre will present The Sam Shepard Festival, a theatre repertory series honoring the American playwright Sam Shepard. The Festival will include fully staged productions of the Pulitzer Prize winning play Buried Child, the Tony Award winning play True West, and the semi-autobiographical play Cowboy Mouth, as well as readings on Curse of the Starving Class, Heartless, and Fool for Love.

Photo Flash: San Jose Stage Company Continues Season 35 with FOOL FOR LOVE
by A.A. Cristi - Nov 27, 2017

San Jose Stage Company continues their Season 35 honoring an American Theatre icon who shaped the very core of their organization with their presentation of Sam Shepard's Fool for Love. This cowboy romance dissects the poignant causes and effects of love lost through the retrospective eyes of two past lovers.

San Jose Stage Company Continues Season 35 with FOOL FOR LOVE
by BWW News Desk - Nov 3, 2017

San Jose Stage Company continues their Season 35 honoring an American Theatre icon who shaped the very core of their organization with their presentation of Sam Shepard's Fool for Love.

Patti Smith Remembers Her Friend, Sam Shepard: 'We Were Just Ourselves'
by Nicole Rosky - Aug 1, 2017

As BroadwayWorld sadly reported yesterday, playwright, actor, author, screenwriter, and director Sam Shepard has passed away. Shepard, who had been ill with ALS for some time, died peacefully on July 27 at his home in Kentucky, surrounded by his children and sisters. He was 73 years old.

Playwright, Director and Actor Sam Shepard Passes Away at 73
by Nicole Rosky - Jan 30, 2024

BroadwayWorld has just learned that playwright, actor, author, screenwriter, and director Sam Shepard has passed away. He was 73 years old.

Michael Shannon to Lead Hang A Tale's CURSE OF THE STARVING CLASS Reading
by BWW News Desk - Jun 19, 2017

New York City-based theater company, Hang A Tale, concludes its Spring Reading Series, featuring Michael Shannon in Sam Shepard's Curse of the Starving Class.

Hang A Tale Announces SPRING READING SERIES
by A.A. Cristi - May 18, 2017

New York City-based theater company, Hang A Tale, announces its Spring Reading Series, featuring Michael Shannonand Marsha Stephanie Blake.

Shakespeare & Company Presents a Winter Studio Festival of Plays
by A.A. Cristi - Dec 13, 2016

Shakespeare & Company is pleased to announce its Winter Studio Festival of Plays on January 14 and 15, 2017. This weekend of staged readings will showcase a diverse array of playwrights and feature both emerging and established Company artists. All performances will take place in the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre on the Shakespeare & Company campus in Lenox, Massachusetts.

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by BWW News Desk - Jul 25, 2016

The Old Globe today announced that, due to popular demand, another additional week has been added to the world premiere run of Steve Martin's new play Meteor Shower, which will now play July 30 - September 18, 2016, with opening night on August 7.

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by Nora Dominick - Oct 23, 2015

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FIFTH OF JULY Begins Tonight at Aurora Theatre Company
by BWW News Desk - Apr 17, 2015

Lanford Wilson's 'Talley Trilogy' continues on the Aurora Theatre Company main stage with FIFTH OF JULY. Aurora Artistic Director Tom Ross (A Bright New Boise, This Is How It Goes, Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance, The Shape of Things) helms FIFTH OF JULY, featuring Craig Marker (The Shape of Things, The Persians), Elizabeth Benedict, John Girot, Jennifer Le Blanc, Oceana Ortiz, Harold Pierce, Josh Schell, and Nanci Zoppi. FIFTH OF JULY plays tonight, April 17 through May 17 at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley.

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by BWW News Desk - Mar 27, 2015

The past has a stranglehold on the present in Sam Shepard's Buried Child, a funny and frightening, surrealistic drama about a dysfunctional Midwestern family. Palm Beach Dramaworks presents the Pulitzer Prize-winning play at the Don & Ann Brown Theatre from tonight, March 27 through April 26.

BURIED CHILD Opens 3/27 at Palm Beach Dramaworks
by Tyler Peterson - Mar 5, 2015

The past has a stranglehold on the present in Sam Shepard's Buried Child, a funny and frightening, surrealistic drama about a dysfunctional Midwestern family. Palm Beach Dramaworks presents the Pulitzer Prize-winning play at the Don & Ann Brown Theatre from March 27 through April 26, with specially priced previews on March 25 and 26.

FIFTH OF JULY Runs 4/17-5/17 at Aurora Theatre Company
by Tyler Peterson - Mar 4, 2015

Lanford Wilson's 'Talley Trilogy' continues on the Aurora Theatre Company main stage with FIFTH OF JULY. Aurora Artistic Director Tom Ross (A Bright New Boise, This Is How It Goes, Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance, The Shape of Things) helms FIFTH OF JULY, featuring Craig Marker (The Shape of Things, The Persians), Elizabeth Benedict, John Girot, Jennifer Le Blanc, Oceana Ortiz, Harold Pierce, Josh Schell, and Nanci Zoppi. FIFTH OF JULY plays April 17 through May 17 at the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. For tickets ($32-60) and information the public can call (510) 843-4822 or visit auroratheatre.org.

Curse of the Starving Class FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What productions of Curse of the Starving Class have there been?
Curse of the Starving Class has had 4 productions including Off-Broadway which opened in 1978, Off-Broadway which opened in 1985, Off-Broadway which opened in 1997 and Off-Broadway which opened in 2019.

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