Ellis, the owner of the Alibi Club walks into the house and sees Weston on the table. Wesley asks her how she got out of jail and she tells him that she made sexual overtures at the guard. Peacocks. Weston looks around and moves to the refrigerator. . Wearing a 4-H Club uniform, Emma carries charts illustrating how to cut up a chicken. Sam Shepard. "Curse of the Starving . Taylor arrives for his luncheon date with Ella; the children treat him rudely. Ella, in curlers, wearing a bathrobe, is angry with Weston for having broken the door during the night, but brightens at finding bread and bacon in the refrigerator. Every resident of the Village Landais has dementiaand the autonomy to spend each day however they please. Inside has become a hollow, void place to the family, and as a result, they want outElla to Europe, Emma to Mexico, Wesley to Alaska, Weston to an alcoholic stupor. DeRose, David J. Sam Shepard. Ella returns from jail, exhausted, to find Weston cooking breakfast for Wesley. My heart was pounding. Wilmeth, Don B. and Miller, Tice L. "The Cambridge Guide to American Theatre", Cambridge University Press, 1996, Yale Rep Starts Shepard's 'Curse Of The Starving Class' Feb. 3 in New Haven", "Long Wharf Theatre stages 'Curse of the Starving Class' February 13 through March 10", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Curse_of_the_Starving_Class&oldid=1020900821, This page was last edited on 1 May 2021, at 18:23. New York: Garland, 1988. Word Count: 509. Weston tries to calm Wesley down, and to wake Ella up, but cannot seem to do either. 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. How old is Wesley in "Curse ofthe Starving Class"? Lights go off. 28 Feb. 2023 . Foot kicking hard through door. New York: Twayne, 1992. He remembers a time he was castrating sheep and appeased an eagle by throwing testicles up on a tin roof where the bird could get them. They wanted large houses, cars, two-car garages, front and back yards. Our Essay Lab can help you tackle any essay assignment within seconds, whether youre studying Macbeth or the American Revolution. to read our character analysis for Ella Tate and unlock other amazing theatre resources! Weston is proud of Emma, saying that it takes guts to do something like that at her age. 14. 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. Makes me feel lonely. Ellas loneliness, or the incredible amount of adrenaline she has to produce in order to keep her body togetherIm not sure about her soul; shes not that deepmakes her hungry. Packard disappearing. Whats he doing? Wesley protests feebly. Ella begins to act antsy and Emma realizes that Ella has boiled her chicken. Ellis, the owner of the bar where Weston drinks, enters with $1500 and says he owes Weston for the sale of the house; Ella orders her son to throw him out. *Our system only provides suggested monologues or songs for select characters if we have matching monologues and song information in our database. Like the stock gangsters whose entrance signals the end of the play, these symbols break down the illusion of reality. This play cannot be decoded as an allegory in which we can reduce the refrigerator to a representation of spiritual hunger, the lamb to a representation of sacrifice and innocence, and the door to a representation of the barrier between the family and the outside world. Gain full access to show guides, character breakdowns, auditions, monologues and more! No answer. As the play opens, she and Wesley are both surveying the chunks of the door broken down by her husband Weston. Its humiliating to have the cops come, he says, whining a little. Wesley does not want to do it because he is making the door and Emma doesn't want to do it because she is remaking her posters. Emma then yells down that she is going to take the horse and leave. Having escaped jail by having sex with Officer Malcolm, Emma has decided to become a criminal. Sound of door not opening. [5] The cast was as follows: Wesley - Ebbe Roe Smith Ella - Olympia Dukakis Emma - Pamela Reed Taylor - Kenneth Welsh Weston - James Gammon Ellis - Eddie Jones Malcolm - John Aquino Word Count: 494. Like any second something could invade me. These objects are indeed symbolic, but they are meant to hit the audience with their power. Ellis says that Weston must have sent Emma down there and takes back his $1,500 and runs off to his club, swearing he will get revenge on Weston. Emma returns, still furious, and the three begin an argument about the starving class and whether or not they are part of it. Makes me feel like were someone else. Weston stumbles in, drunker than before, announcing that he has sold the house to Ellis. However, we have dozens of other monologues that you can read. California suffers from rolling blackouts, and the major population centers of the East Coast are warned about similar blackouts or brownouts. Emma is frightened by him, but Wesley tells her to stay calm. The family of four featured in this play live together in misery on a ranch. "Curse of the Starving Class - Literary Style" Drama for Students Emma and Wesley discuss whether their mother will come back, or whether she will run off to Mexico with Taylor. All monologues are property and copyright of their owners. Ella returns with groceries and says she knows there is a curse working against family. Curse of the Starving Class: Directed by J. Michael McClary. But with the millions of people who now lived there, there simply was not enough room in the city. When he pushes the wheelbarrow off, Ella begins a conversation about menstruation that seems directed at another person, but no one is there. Emma decides that Ella boiled her chicken and storms out. Hes plastered and cant move. Act two opens on Wesley and Emma in the kitchen, where Wesley is building a new front door for the house. 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. Taylor then enters and Ella tells him what is happened. One foot right through the door. In addition, playwright Sam Shepard is himself an actor and can be seen in over a dozen wide-release films (many with his longtime partner Jessica Lange), including Country, Places in the Heart, and The Right Stuff. We don't currently have any monologues from Curse of the Starving Class . Then I heard the Packard coming up the hill. Ella warns Emma that swimming during her period could kill her. Gale Cengage Emma walks out. Emerson and Slater enter, laughing and holding the bloody carcass of the lamb. Dust laying on their wings. Door slams. Wesley returns, bloodied by Ellis. Slater also brings the dead lamb's carcass into the house. She is just waking up and winds an alarm clock in her hand as she watches WESLEY sleepily. Later, when Wesley and Ella talk, Ella tells him that she is going to sell the house and use the money to go to Europe. From a mile off I could tell it was the Packard by the sound of the valves. With James Woods, Kathy Bates, Randy Quaid, Henry Thomas. If there are two dates, the date of publication and appearance No sound. "Curse of the Starving Class - Historical Context" Drama for Students . Curse of the Starving Class is a 1994 American drama film directed by J. Michael McClary and starring James Woods, Kathy Bates, Randy Quaid, Henry Thomas and Louis Gossett Jr. [1] It is based on Sam Shepard 's 1977 play of the same name. Wesley refuses to stop Emma, and Ella begins to tell him about her plans to sell the house. Feet and hands tearing. Perhaps that's the reason they're stuck where they are: broke, hungry, and fighting. Swaying very quietly like they were being blown by someones breath. Oumano, Ellen. Word Count: 89. At times, Wesley loses patience with his family members, as evidenced by his lack of sympathy for his sister's ruined 4-H project, to which he responds by urinating on her charts and suggesting that his sister do something truly useful with her time. As she leaves, Ella wakes up, mistakes Wesley for Weston, and tells him to go after Emma because she's too young to leave on her own. Dogs barking down the road. Already a member? The set similarly incorporates both realistic and mythic elements. Even sleeping people I could feel. He exits again and returns with a lamb, which he puts in the enclosure. The second is the date of Laws against marital rape, for instance, gain ground in many states that had previously resisted them. Vol. As Ellis talks to them, they learn that Weston owes money to some pretty hard fellas. Wesley offers to take the money to those men, but Ella forbids it. No sound. He tells Wesley and Emma that he has already purchased the house from Weston and shows them the cash. The three of them begin arguing about whether they are the starving class, while Wesley urinates on Emmas chart. [10], Simard, Rodney. 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. But treating Shepards stage paradigms superficially can lead to characterizations that miss the point of how his figures got to be heartbroken or angry in the first place. The play opens with Wesley putting pieces of a broken down door into a wheelbarrow. Paper bag covering Tiger Rose. Feet coming. As she speaks, her daughter, Emma enters and joins the conversation in progress. Some critics consider it part of a Family Trilogy that includes Buried Child (1979) and True West (1980). Ella wakes up, and a huge explosion offstage follows upon this. When Emma enters, she joins in that conversation, and Shepard creates the sense that this conversation has been going on for some time. Emma, by way of contrast, often shouts her lines from offstage. Wesley re-enters and starts yelling to the offstage Emma about her chicken. The men tell Wesley, still calling him Weston, that he is to pass on the warning to his father and they leave. The symbols work together to undermine the realism of the play. Ella returns with groceries that Taylor has bought for the family and throws out the artichokes. These people are not meant to be accurate representations of real people, nor are we meant to believe that this family had a lamb, brought it inside, and then butchered it. Below are five dramatic monologues for women of various ages, pulled from a wide variety of sourceseverything from a Sam Shepard play to HBO's "Succession.". 1970s: With the first wave of feminism, women begin demanding equal treatment by the law and by their husbands. Episode 10: Sam Shepards Curse of the Starving Class Sam Shepard wasnt just a playwright but an actor himself, fully into the arts. I could feel myself lying far below them on my bed like I was on the ocean and overhead they were on reconnaissance. Finally, highway patrolman Malcolm appears with the news that Emma, having shot up the Alibi Club, is in jail. Like so much else in Curse of the Starving Class, she is presented realistically, but there is a mythic quality to her character. She is a small woman wearing a bathrobe, pink fuzzy slippers, hair in curlers. Afraid of sound. 1. VerMeulen, Michael. 6162. 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. Ella is the mother of the family in Curse of the Starving Class. Weston tells Ella to let Emma go and then there is a bright flash and a loud explosion from outside. Jump-start your essay with our outlining tool to make sure you have all the main points of your essay covered. "A Little Princess" "I love this monologue because of its sincerity. Hello, this is Emma's monologue from Curse of the Starving Class by Sam Shepard. They tell him that they have blown up the car with Emma in it. Ella has not returned from her meeting with Taylor. Weston, once a pilot, is now an alcoholic heavily in debt. Can you send me character analysis of characters of Sam Shepard's play "Curse of the Starving Class"? I could feel the headlights closing in. Weston asks where Ella is, and then goes into a rage when Wesley and Emma tell him where she went. He compares it to a zombie invasion and takeover, where the zombies build their own city. But the people who came to Los Angeles did not want to live in the same kinds of overcrowded cities many of them had left back East. She reassures the refrigerator that soon there will be little eggs, butter, and other foods tucked away inside of it. Man going insane. She participates in 4-H, she is an excellent student, and she wants to make something of herself. Yes I am aware =)#Respecttheplaywright #ZakiyyahBG #Monologues#Bestmonologues #SamShepard #Curseofthestarvingclassmonologue #Ella Wesley enters and decides that Emma's project is pointless and that she ought to focus on more important things. While Wesley is bathing, Weston yells in to him that he agrees to become an avocado grower for the Grower's Association. His mother, Ella enters, and Wesley and she talk about the events of the night before. Maggie Siff, as the wife of an abusive man, in Shepards story of a broken family. Wesleys monologue is like the steady tapping of rain on a windowpane: melancholy and constant. The property requirements suggest a realistic, if not a naturalistic play. As Wesley and Ella argue, Ella speaks of the curse she sees operating on the family. Taylor departs surreptitiously; Ellis grabs his money from Wesley and rushes off, with Wesley in pursuit. Taylor is in disbelief, and Ellis threatens him. He tells Weston that he butchered the lamb for food, but Weston yells at him and shows him the newly stocked refrigerator. Weston begins to tell Wesley about how he began to see the poison in his own father, and how Wesley can see it in him. Mans voice. See more characters from Sam Shepard. Ink and Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus Play with History. 28 Feb. 2023 , Last Updated on May 5, 2015, by eNotes Editorial. 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. Then, looking in that bloody fridge, he, like his children, finds nothing: zero! Ella wants Wesley to go after Emma and persuade her not to take the horse, but he doesn't want to; he doesn't care if she leaves . Feet stopping. Sign up today to unlock amazing theatre resources and opportunities. Weston considers fleeing to Mexico, and Wesley muses about finding Taylor to get the money for the desert land back. Sam Shepard: The Life and Work of an American Dreamer. When Kinneys staging of Curse begins, we hear snatches of rock and roll as the lights come up on a large, dirty kitchen whose door to the outside world has been busted in. Foot kicking harder. Weston says that when he woke up that morning, after sleeping on the table, that he felt like a new man and walked around their property naked to reclaim ownership. The production had original live rock, blues, jazz, punk, and Latin-style music, composed and arranged by Steve Bargonetti and Diane Gioia. Weston tells Wesley that he got up early and took a walk around the house and decided he wanted to stay, so he cleaned up, bought food, made a huge breakfast, and did all of the laundry. Taylor says that any deal Weston makes is void because he is considered incompetent by the state. men who came back from the war, had to settle down, raise a family and send the kids to schooland they just couldnt handle it. That was what Shepard knew as a boy. She then pulls out a wad of cash and tells him that she's taking their mother's car and going into crime. publication in traditional print. Emma yells at Ella and exits. When: what time period Where: city and state. "Curse of the Starving Class - Media Adaptations" Drama for Students Continue with Recommended Cookies, Home | The Curse Of The Starving Class Monologue (Wesley). Clean laundry is stacked on the table; the room has been swept. Gale Cengage The curse, as Ella puts it, of the Tate family is that they have nitroglycerine liquid dynamite running in their blood. Me, the enemy. Alone, Ella stares at Weston asleep on the table; he sits up, they look at each other, she runs off, and he lurches toward the refrigerator, kicking artichokes out of his way. Note: When citing an online source, it is important to include all necessary dates. Whole body crashing. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Weston is a destructive and angry man . 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. Vol. Ella is a stressed out woman trying to cope with intense emotional damage and frustration. After this outburst he passes out. Shoulder smashing. She has just started her first period, and has several mood swings during the play. His partner, Slater, enters after him, playing with the skinned lamb carcass. Obviously, these two motifs are related to each other, for disease is the intrusion of an entity that should be kept outside the body. *Our system only provides suggested monologues or songs for select characters if we have matching monologues and song information in our database. date the date you are citing the material. I could hear the coyotes. Weston tries to be civil to Ella, but she starts screaming at him. Dad calling Mom. Wesley then leaves and Emma returns, covered in mud after being thrown from the horse and dragged through the mud. He picks up the lamb and carries it off. She appears to be the most bizarre character in the play, yet is also the most normal member of the family. Results may vary. Addressing the lamb, he sets a duffel and a grocery bag on the table. 1998 eNotes.com [9] The play focuses on the disturbed Tate familythe drunken father, burned-out mother, rebellious teenage daughter, and idealistic sonas they struggle for control of the rundown family farm in a futile search for freedom, security, and ultimately meaning in their lives. Packard coming up the lamb finds nothing: zero an example of data being May. Bright flash and a loud explosion from outside a chicken not enough room in the city they large. Says that any deal Weston makes is void because he is considered incompetent by law. Curse of the Starving Class, while Wesley urinates on Emmas chart whether. Quietly like they were on reconnaissance where: city and state: //www.enotes.com/topics/curse-starving/in-depth # in-depth-bibliography-bibliography-2.. 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