The Athena Theatre Company Closes Sam Shepard's TRUE WEST, 1/31

The award-winning, critically acclaimed Athena Theatre is entering its sixth season, proud to present their first production for the 2010 season in NYC, Sam Shepard's 'True West' will play through January 31 at Theatre Row.

Tickets priced at $18 General Admission. Complimentary tickets are available for Industry Guests and AEA Members with current ID. www.TicketCentral.com 212.279.4200

True West will also feature original music by Andrew Edwards, Chicago-based Film and Theatre composer. He has scored independent films in New York City, Chicago, and LA, including Sans Pertinence (dir. Derek Lake) and Blackout (dir. Tim Munson). Off-Broadway, his musical, Fitz &
Walloughs Get It In The End! enjoyed a successful 6-week run in 2007. He has released 3 LP's with his band, Cellardoor, including Distance (2006). Most recently, his scores for the short films Nancy Picks and Chooses and Love in Chains went to Cannes Film Festival in the Short
Film Competition.

ABOUT ATHENA THEATRE
Since its inception in 2003, the Athena Theatre has been acclaimed by critics and audiences alike. Its primary goal is to present theatrical experiences that "entertain,
inform, enlighten, question and deepen audience awareness to vital modern issues."

ABOUT THE PLAY
Pulitzer Prize Winning playwright, Sam Shepard, Obie Award Winning and Tony Award Nominee for his classic American play, True West; centers around the confrontation of two
brothers. There is a possibility that these two brothers are different aspects of one personality, or that they are not people but symbols of the American West.True West is about the sibling rivalry between two estranged brothers who have reconnected. Austin, the younger brother, is a Hollywood screenwriter writing a screenplay while house sitting for his mother, who is vacationing in Alaska. His older brother, Lee, appears at the house after the two have not seen each other for years. Lee is a drifter and thief and has been living in the desert. The two are not on good terms, but Austin attempts to appease his older brother, who is more dominant.True West was first performed at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco, where Shepard was the resident playwright. It had its world premiere there on July 10, 1980. The production later moved to Joseph Papp's The Public Theater in New York City, where it starred Tommy Lee Jones and Peter Boyle.It was revived
by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, with then fairly unknown actors Gary Sinise (who also directed the production) and John Malkovich playing the leads. With Shepard's approval, this production made a big splash when it transferred to New York, where it opened at Cherry Lane
Theatre. It ran for 762 performances and, later in the run, the leads were taken over by James Belushi, Gary Cole, Erik Estrada, Dennis Quaid and Randy Quaid. The production was so successful that a television recording (featuring Sinise and Malkovich) aired on PBS.

In 2000, Philip Seymour Hoffman and John C. Reilly played the leads on Broadway, where they switched parts every so often during the run. They solicited to share a single joint Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Play for the production, but were instead each nominated individually. This revival was also nominated for Best Play and Best Director (Matthew Warchus).
In 2003, Wilson Milam took a lavish and updated production (replacing the smashing of a typewriter with a modern working laptop, and using 20 working toasters) to the Bristol Old Vic The production caused the Bristol Old Vic to remove the first 3 rows of seats for fear that the audience would be harmed and installed a Perspex shield for safety reasons. It did however receive much critical acclaim from the British National Press and was cited as Pick of the Week in The Guardian
newspaper (October 27, November 2, 2003).Bruce Willis starred in another television production that aired on the Showtime cable channel.

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM
Sam Shepard (Playwright) is an American playwright, actor, and television and film director. He is author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play, Buried Child.

 

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