THIRTEEN's Theater Close-Up Rebroadcasts Sam Shepard's Pulitzer Prize-Winning BURIED CHILD

In November 2016, Sam Shepard's Pulitzer-Prize winning play Buried Child debuted on THIRTEEN's Theater Close-Upseries. In tribute to Shepard, who passed away last week at age 73, THIRTEEN is presenting a special encore presentation ofBuried Child airing in New York Friday, August 4 at 9 p.m. ET on THIRTEEN. Actress Blythe Danner hosts the broadcast. Director Scott Elliott's acclaimed production by The New Group is available to stream online now for those within the New York metro area.

This production features Ed Harris as Dodge, Amy Madigan as Halie, Rich Sommer and Paul Sparks as sons Bradley and Tilden, respectively, Nat Wolff as grandson Vince, Taissa Farmiga as Vince's girlfriend Shelly, and Larry Pine as Father Dewis.

The play -- captured live on-stage during THE MARCH 30 BroadwayHD livestream-- was revived 20 years after its last major New York production. Dodge (Harris) and Halie (Madigan) are barely hanging on to their farmland and their sanity while looking after their two wayward grown sons (Sommer and Sparks). When their grandson Vince (Wolff) arrives with his girlfriend (Farmiga), no one seems to recognize him, and confusion abounds. As Vince tries to make sense of the chaos, the rest of THE FAMILY dances around a deep, dark secret. This wildly poetic and cuttingly funny take on the American family drama gleefully pulls apart the threadbare deluded visions of our families and our homes.

Critics praised the production. Ben Brantley in The New York Times found it "Thoughtful and absorbing. Ed Harris is splendid. Mr. Elliott's production wants us to listen to Mr. Shepard's characters as if they truly were members of our own family, so that (just like our own family) they can sucker-punch us when we feel most unguarded."
Wilborn Hampton, The Huffington Post, said it was "A riveting revival that captures the symbolism and rich poetic imagery that makes Shepard so unique. This is vintage Shepard in the hands of masters."
The production played early in 2016 at The Pershing Square Signature Center, and

reunited Sam Shepard with The New Group, following the company's 2010 production of his play A Lie of the Mind. Ed Harris and Amy Madigan had appeared at the New Group in the acclaimed 2013 production of Beth Henley's The Jacksonian. Buried Child had its New York premiere in 1978 and was revived on Broadway in 1996.

THIRTEEN is using its UNRIVALED expertise in producing national PBS arts programming - which began with such classic series as Theater in America, part of the award-winning series GREAT PERFORMANCES and special limited series such as Stage on Screen -- to provide New Yorkers with unparalleled access to one of the City's greatest underexposed cultural assets.

Scenic Design is by Derek McLane. Costume Design is by Susan Hilferty. Lighting Design is by Peter Kaczorowski. Sound Design is by Jeremy S. Bloom.

Directed for television by David Horn, Buried Child is a production of THIRTEEN Productions LLC for WNET and The New Group in association with Broadway HD. Mitch Owgang is producer; Bill O'Donnell is series producer; and David Horn is executive producer. Stewart F. Lane and Bonnie Comley are executive producers for Broadway HD. Executive-in-charge for WNET is Neal Shapiro.

Major support for Theater Close-Up, Season Two is provided by the Howard Gilman Foundation, Bernard and Irene Schwartz, the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, the President's Innovation Fund and Leo Shull and Family.

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