Curse of the Starving Class at Whidbey Island Center for the Arts

The Tates are on the brink of emotional and financial ruin and each family member plans a desperate escape. Ella plots with a smarmy real estate agent, while husband Weston holes up at the local bar, and son Wesley tries desperately to hold the house together. Meanwhile, 13-year-old Emma dreams of a life of crime — and the family’s lamb takes the brunt of it all.

The play, a perfect balance of dark comedy and biting satire, is about a family faltering in their search for security, escape, and the American Dream.

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Sam Shepard wrote Curse of the Starving Class as the beginning of a family trilogy: a collection of “family plays” that were greatly influenced by his own history and troubled relationship with his father.

Winner of the 1977 Obie Award for Best New American Play.

Authors

• Sam Shepard