CMU School of Drama


Thursday, September 12, 2019

“True West” at barebones productions

The Pittsburgh Tatler: Some theater thrills because it resonates with the Zeitgeist; some thrills because the performances are so juicy and riveting you’re just jazzed to be on the ride.

The barebones production of Sam Shepard’s classic True West falls into that latter category.

1 comment:

Mitchell Jacobs said...

I think this might be one of the most interesting works I have heard of in a while. As the youngest child in my family with two older sisters whose personalities are pretty much polar opposites, I find this production intriguing for its portrayal of sibling dynamics. The idea of chasing each other towards an unidentified goal is something I saw constantly growing up, and so much of what is said in this article manages to put into words the intricacies of sibling dynamics I have seen for years. There is also something really interesting about the identification of some different extremes of male behavior. Though they may be less common now, there is definitely a stereotype for males of being either a traditional dad (driven, successful, family and career oriented) or more of a wild-card (spontaneous, dangerous, and rough), and though there are more stereotypical types of men now, men who don't fit into these categories are often not taken as seriously or assumed to be gay. I really like the evaluation of masculinity in this play and think the article does a good job addressing it.