Research Playwrights, Librettists, Composers and Lyricists, See more characters from The cast was as follows: The play was revived Off-Broadway at the Promenade Theatre, running from July 30, 1985 to February 16, 1986. Downshifting into second for the last pull up the hill. Ella leaves with Taylor, telling Wesley to take the lamb with the maggots back outside. Weston tries to calm Wesley down, and to wake Ella up, but cannot seem to do either. The "curse," as Ella puts it, of the Tate family is that they have nitroglycerine liquid dynamite running in their blood. Shoulder smashing. The lights come up on Wesley, building a new door, and Emma, in a Western shirt, jodhpurs, and riding boots, making new charts for her demonstration. Sam Shepard. Then stopping. Then, far off the freeway could be heard. They tell him that they have blown up the car with Emma in it. Vol. Once she is arrested she says that she gains her freedom by offering sexual bribes to the sheriff. Seeking 2 Actor Team for Spring The last date is today's to read our character analysis for Ella Tate and unlock other amazing theatre resources! Ella warns Emma that swimming during her period could kill her. He looks at his parents; they do not notice him, and he leaves with the lamb. She then decides to steal her mother's car and take up a life of crime, claiming that it is the only way to make a real living in this world. 28 Feb. 2023 , Last Updated on May 5, 2015, by eNotes Editorial. Pushing the clothes to the floor, she falls asleep on the table. Shepard, though, does not define the familys curse just as a disease, though; this curse is more historical and supernatural, like the curses that afflicted the great families of Greek tragedy. She is a small woman wearing a bathrobe, pink fuzzy slippers, hair in curlers. Hart, Lynda, Sam Shepards Metaphorical Stages, Greenwood Press, 1987. Today, Los Angeles is one of the largest urban conglomerations in the world. But Shepard retains the symbolic structure of his earlier plays. SUZIE. No answer. Hello, this is Emma's monologue from Curse of the Starving Class by Sam Shepard. Create and promote branded videos, host live events and webinars, and more. all the upkeep! The citation above will include either 2 or 3 dates. Weston tries to explain the poison to Wesley by comparing it to the way to you poison a coyote by putting strychnine in the belly of a dead lamb. Wesley realizes that it was Taylor who sold Weston the desert property just as Ellis arrives with fifteen hundred dollars for the house, the exact amount Weston owes to gangsters. I could feel myself lying far below them on my bed like I was on the ocean and overhead they were on reconnaissance. publication in traditional print. His teen-age sister, Emma (Lizzy DeClement), on the other hand, can only howl about being emotionally ripped off. ELLA ( after a while) You shouldn't be doing that. Part of the immensely useful Twaynes U.S. DeRose, David J., Sam Shepard, Twayne, 1992. Mom calling cops. While Ella eats her breakfast, Wesley urinates on Emmas charts. On the other hand, all the members of the family, except for Ella, are given long monologues which are almost soliloquies. Last Updated on May 5, 2015, by eNotes Editorial. Wheels screaming. It is the next day. Breakdown. His symbolsthe lamb, the broken door, the refrigerator, the old carjump out at the viewer and almost announce I am a symbol! But Shepard uses them less as true symbols than as evocative images. nada! Emma runs away, only to return covered with mud, thrown by her horse. As she cooks, Wesley recounts the nights events, making car sounds as he pushes the wheelbarrow off. 28 Feb. 2023 , Last Updated on May 5, 2015, by eNotes Editorial. Weston stumbles in, drunker than before, announcing that he has sold the house to Ellis. The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Then softly crying. Peacocks. Then I could picture my Dad driving it. Wesley is cleaning up shards of wood from the door his father broke down the night before during a drunken outburst. Emma returns, still furious, and the three begin an argument about the starving class and whether or not they are part of it. 14. As a country whose greatest natural resource has always been its seemingly endless supply of land and space, the United States settlement and development has generally followed the same pattern. Ellis grabs the money back from Wesley (feeling that now he is owed for the damage to his bar), and the act closes as Ella agrees to come to the police station to pick up Emma. Christian H. Moe. Emma tells Taylor that her family has violent tendencies caused by some family members having nitroglycerin, which is a very explosive element, in their blood. The Curse of the Starving Class Community Note includes chapter-by-chapter summary and analysis, character list, theme list, historical context, author biography and quizzes written by community members like you. Wesley then explains to Emma that it is not typical homebuyers who are going to purchase the house, but that it is land developers. absolutely zero! The Tates live on a farm where they formerly raised sheep and grew avocados. The drama is here to create an impact: whereas the realistic story of the family appeals to our minds and emotions, the symbols affect us on a subconscious level. Among other things, in act 1, Sam Shepard calls for the table and chairs, the refrigerator and stove, the remains of the broken door, the wheelbarrow, the duffel, the bag full of artichokes, and the live lamb and the collapsible pen. This is Michael's monologue as Wesley Tate, the son of. We're what the school psychologist calls -- products of a broken home. Ellis represents the greed and controlling nature of business owners and the tendency of these people to take unfair advantage of each other and people below them. His mother, Ella enters, and Wesley and she talk about the events of the night before. The Curse of the Starving Class Community Note includes chapter-by-chapter summary and analysis, character list, theme list, historical context, author biography and quizzes written by community members like you. Word Count: 89. We don't currently have any monologues from Curse of the Starving Class . Copyright [2023] Mighty Actor, The Curse Of The Starving Class Monologue (Wesley), DRAMATIC MONOLOGUES FOR TEENS/KIDS (BOYS), DRAMATIC MONOLOGUES FOR TEENS/KIDS (GIRLS). Center stage is a table, downstage a refrigerator and stove. Foot kicking. eNotes.com Act I Wesley tells him that he ran into a brick wall. Head smashing. Ella is the mother of the family in Curse of the Starving Class. eNotes.com When the bodys defenses fail and intruders are allowed to breed inside the body, the play tells us, the body will soon fall to those forces that threaten it. The eagle carried the cat away, and they fought until both came crashing down. Mans voice. Ed. He is a wicked man, a villain in the story. Curse of the Starving Class: Directed by J. Michael McClary. Cohn, Ruby. In her attempt to steal the car, she is blown up with the car by the bomb that Slater puts in it. The lights go down with him staring in the open fridge. DeRose, David J., Sam Shepard, Twayne, 1962. They are realistic as stage properties, but the sheer quantity Weston brings home is obsessive, imparting a meaning beyond their food value. Solutions . Wesley tells her, when she asks if he is going to take over the role of Daddy Bear, that he feels himself becoming his father, that as he put on Westons clothes, he could feel something growing on him. Wesley refuses to stop Emma, and Ella begins to tell him about her plans to sell the house. Hes plastered and doesnt want to move. Vol. Curse of the Starving Class was adapted as a film in 1994 by Shepard and Bruce Beresford and produced by Breakheart Films. Incapable of driving or holding a job, he is a profoundly unstable man controlled by the alcohol that runs in his system. You might get the wrong idea about what he was up to, what he worked so hard to say. He exits again and returns with a lamb, which he puts in the enclosure. Ella returns with groceries that Taylor has bought for the family and throws out the artichokes. How old is Wesley in "Curse ofthe Starving Class"? date the date you are citing the material. Hes plastered and cant move. Emma decides that Ella boiled her chicken and storms out. The play was initially produced in London at the Royal Court Theatre on April 21, 1977, directed by Nancy Meckler. He is easily taken advantage of and when his debts are not paid, it takes an even more terrifying toll on the people close to him. Mom screaming for police. Emma goes to the refrigerator and begins to look for her chicken. Whenand where doesTheCurse of the Starving Class take place? When Emma enters, she joins in that conversation, and Shepard creates the sense that this conversation has been going on for some time. Their daughter, Emma, is a smart and rebellious teen, itching to get away from her crazy home. Vol. 2023 Cond Nast. Ella finally enters and says that she is going on a business luncheon with Taylor. Wesley enters and decides that Emma's project is pointless and that she ought to focus on more important things. Ella. Dust laying on their wings. Malcolm enters and informs the family that Emma has been arrested for riding her horse through the Alibi Club and shooting up the bar. The citation above will include either 2 or 3 dates. Taylor enters and talks with Emma, who calls him creepy. Wesley then leaves and Emma returns, covered in mud after being thrown from the horse and dragged through the mud. She asks Wesley why he is wearing their father's clothes. To help, she has some suggestions for fantastic dramatic monologues for child actors. Wesley and Emma then argue over who is going to go add water to the artichokes that are boiling on the stove. I could feel myself in my bed in my room in this house in this town in this state in this country. Dad's a foul talking drunk, and Mom is desperately trying to save what's left of their family life. The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child. The play opens on an image of the breakdown of the barrier between outside and inside, the shattered front door that allows all sorts of undesirable elements to enter the house. The open spaces that once separated them have largely disappeared; similarly, the farmland that once was the areas largest economic resource has long since given way to other industries. My heart was pounding. Center stage is a table, downstage a . They finish the story, saying that a tom cat had come to sniff around in the testes and the eagle picked it up. eNotes.com, Inc. Some foreigner. Wesley then tells Weston that Ella has also found a buyer for the house and Weston goes into a rage, and then collapses on a table and falls asleep. Cutting through the orchard. Jump-start your essay with our outlining tool to make sure you have all the main points of your essay covered. Ella returns from jail, exhausted, to find Weston cooking breakfast for Wesley. Mother and son find out Weston is in debt to some dangerous men. Seeking 2 Actor Team for Spring Wesley then enters and sets up a small enclosure in the kitchen. Weston in new clean clothes and the lamb in its enclosure are on stage, and Weston is telling the lamb his story about castrating lambs and throwing their testes onto a roof for an eagle to eat. . From a mile off I could tell it was the Packard by the sound of the valves. The symbols work together to undermine the realism of the play. Emma explains that her father broke the door down the night before in a drunken rage. All monologues are property and copyright of their owners. California, especially southern California, is perhaps the best laboratory to examine this development. Addressing the lamb, he sets a duffel and a grocery bag on the table. Ellis enters, laughing at the passed-out Weston who is slumped on the kitchen table. Wesley tells Weston that his creditors are going to kill him. eNotes.com Bulls. The production had original live rock, blues, jazz, punk, and Latin-style music, composed and arranged by Steve Bargonetti and Diane Gioia. Disease and sickness, and images of a poison circulating through the blood, complement the motif of inside/outside. Act two opens on Wesley and Emma in the kitchen, where Wesley is building a new front door for the house. Its themes include the struggle for dignity, moral obligations to family members, and the effect of money in America. Weston stumbles in, even drunker, and wants to know where Ella is. Episode 10: Sam Shepards Curse of the Starving Class Sam Shepard wasnt just a playwright but an actor himself, fully into the arts. Like several of Shepard's plays, Cures of the Starving Class explores family dysfunction in Western America. Ella returns with groceries. Downshifting into second for the last pull up the hill. Ella and Ellis argue, Ellis shows her the deed Weston gave him, and Taylor arrives to settle his deal with Ella. Ella Tate is the wife of Weston and mother of Wesley and Emma Tate. Emma walks out. Then moving around through house. New landPlymouth Rock, California, Alaska, or anywhere in betweenis settled and cleared for farming or industry by rugged individualist pioneers; more people move near that newly desirable land, and towns spring up; the towns grow so big and encroaching that the rugged individualists feel crowded by city life (or are unable, economically, to survive) and move on to find new frontiers. In act 1, while Ella prepares her breakfast, Wesley has a long speech in which he recounts his sense of life while lying in bed, not simply on this night but also on many other nights. The tom cat and the eagle start fighting in midair, with the cat clawing out the eagle's chest, and the eagle trying to drop it. Throwing the artichokes out, she fills the refrigerator. She often changes topics when she feels it in her best interest and tries to ignore the things going on immediately around her. Ellis is the owner of a bar, the Alibi Club, where Weston spends his time when he is not at home. Weston looks around and moves to the refrigerator. Wesley, who has been listening to this story, then asks what happens next. She participates in 4-H, she is an excellent student, and she wants to make something of herself. Vol. The man tells her that he was going to knock but that there was no door. Underdogs take center stage in a newsroom drama about Rupert Murdoch and in Taylor Macs spin on Shakespeares first tragedy. The play ends as Wesley, his back to his mother, concludes the story. We are all a version of someone elses story. 14. Word Count: 958. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. 1 Mar. Ella wakes up, and a huge explosion offstage follows upon this. He begins eating everything in the refrigerator. Word Count: 509. Word Count: 57. Wesley exits at the sounds of his fathers approach. Ella goes downtown to get Emma out of jail. As the play continues we constantly see this theme emphasized: conversations in the kitchen are conducted in a normal tone of voice, but conversations between one person in the kitchen and another person outside the room are almost always furious screaming matches; the refrigerators constant opening and shutting reminds us that inside is an empty place; even the lamb, when brought onstage by Wesley, is placed into a small penned enclosure. *Our system only provides suggested monologues or songs for select characters if we have matching monologues and song information in our database. The play opens on Wesley, who is loading broken pieces of the familys front door into a wheelbarrow. The men tell Wesley, still calling him Weston, that he is to pass on the warning to his father and they leave. As the play opens, she and Wesley are both surveying the chunks of the door broken down by her husband Weston. Continue with Recommended Cookies, Home | The Curse Of The Starving Class Monologue (Wesley). Log in here. . Taylor is a lawyer who is involved in real estate and is looking to buy the property from Ella. [6], The play was produced at Yale Repertory Theatre, New Haven, Connecticut, in February 2000, directed by Jim Simpson and featuring Kristine Nielsen, Guy Boyd, Mandy Siegfried, Danny Seckel, Paul Boocock, Ron Faber, Steve Mellor, Dan Moran and Chime Serra. Sam Shepard's coming of age drama about a dirt-poor 1950's-era farm family. Motif Monologues. Christian H. Moe. Ella looks at the carcass, remembering Westons story of the eagle. Mans voice. Ella and Taylor leave together, and Emma runs off again. I could feel the presence of all the people outside, at night, in the dark. He picks up the lamb and carries it off. 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