He passed away in 2017, and we honor his legacy with this revival. This new production of Curse of the Starving Class, directed by Terry Kinney, honors Pulitzer Prize-winning Legacy playwright Sam Shepard, who passed away in 2017.Living a stagnant, unhappy existence in rural California, the struggling Tate family is desperate for change, but every family Other articles where Curse of the Starving Class is discussed: Sam Shepard: Curse of the Starving Class (produced 1977; film 1994), the Pulitzer Prize-winning Buried Child (produced 1978), and True West (produced 1980) are linked thematically in their examination of troubled and tempestuous blood relationships in a fragmented society. [3] The play was commissioned by Joseph Papp. CURSE OF THE STARVING CLASS is directed by long-time Catastrophic company member Jeff Miller, who previously directed BURIED CHILD in a 2016 Catastrophic production that the Houston Chronicle called “quietly devastating” with “the pull of a whisper and the force of a cannon.” In Curse of the Starving Class, the unnamed family on which the play centers are all affected by their unidentifiable sensation that a frontier has disappeared. The play was initially produced in London at the Royal Court Theatre on April 21, 1977, directed by Nancy Meckler. They live in southern California, a place that was initially a true frontier and then in the depression became the land of dreams for poor migrants from the Dust Bowl and the South . March 19-21, 26-28 Performances begin at 7:30; Saturday Matinees begin at 1:00 pm Lower Denton Theatre. Curse of the Starving Class Summary Wesley is putting pieces of broken door into a wheelbarrow when his mother, Ellla, enters, and the two begin to discuss the events of the previous evening which led to his father, Weston, breaking down the door in the first place. [4] Curse of the Starving Class premiered Off-Broadway at the New York Shakespeare Festival, on March 2, 1978, presented by Joseph Papp Pulitzer Prize-winner Sam Shepard was our Playwright-in-Residence during the 1996-97 Season, when we first produced Curse of the Starving Class. Production history. The Curse of the Starving Class Written by Sam Shephard Directed by Anna Migliarisi. CURSE OF THE STARVING CLASS is directed by long-time Catastrophic company member Jeff Miller, who previously directed BURIED CHILD in a 2016 Catastrophic production that the Houston Chronicle called “quietly devastating” with “the pull of a whisper and the force of a cannon.” Curse of the Starving Class is not only the first play of what is known as the “family trilogy” (the two other plays in that trilogy are Buried Child and True West), it also stands as the initial play of the second phase of Shepard’s career. CURSE OF THE STARVING CLASS is directed by long-time Catastrophic company member Jeff Miller, who previously directed BURIED CHILD in a 2016 Catastrophic production that the Houston Chronicle called “quietly devastating” with “the pull of a whisper and the force of a cannon.”