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Sam Shepard

  • Birth

    Sam Shepard was born in Fort Sheridan Illinois
  • Experimental theatre movement

    Experimental theatre movement

    This date is between 1950s and 1960s. The Experimental Theatre movement emerged in the 20th century as a reaction against traditional theatre. It focused on innovation, breaking the “fourth wall,” and exploring new ways to engage audiences. Artists used improvisation, symbolism, and unconventional spaces to challenge social norms and provoke thought. This movement aimed to make theatre a more immersive, emotional, and transformative experience. https://stageagent.com/learn/c8gfjvkybyigctiau8wue/
  • Moves to california

    Moves to california

    He moved with his family because his father, a career army pilot, eventually settled the family on a farm in Duarte, California, after a period of frequent relocation. He spent most of his time working on ranches and racetracks, which influenced his artistic work. Working in ranches and with horses became one of his central themes in his plays and writing. --- https://samshepardarchive.com/about/#:~:text=Born%20in%20Fort%20Sheridan%2C%20Illinois,sides%20of%20the%20human%20experience.
  • Graduated High School

    Graduated High School

  • Period: to

    Attended Mount San Antonio Junior College

    Shepard graduated from high school in Duarte in 1961 and attended Mount San Antonio Junior College to study agriculture. However, he left the school after a year to join the Bishop’s Company Repertory Players in 1962. --- https://www.anoisewithin.org/author-profile-sam-shepard/#:~:text=Shepard%20graduated%20from%20high%20school%20in%20Duarte,the%20Bishop's%20Company%20Repertory%20Players%20in%201962.
  • moves to new york

    moves to new york

    After his high school years, Shepard began acting and writing poetry. As he grew older, Shepard was inspired by jazz music and the works of playwright Samuel Beckett. Eventually, he moved to New York to pursue his own artistic ambitions. -- Seattle Rep
  • Cowboy play

    Cowboy play

    A one-act play. Two buddies play what seems to be a game of cowboys and indians, re-enacting key episodes from Western mythology - episodes which lead to decay, stasis, and the apparent death of one of the characters. -- http://www.sam-shepard.com/cowboys.html
  • The rock garden play

    The rock garden play

    In the second, the boy fetches his mother glasses of water while she chatters on about the weather. In the third, the boy and his father sit around in their underwear. When the father expounds on the topic of rock gardens, the young man falls out of his chair three times and finally responds with an arrestingly graphic description of his sexual experiences. After five minutes, the play ends with the father falling out of his chair. -- http://www.sam-shepard.com/rockgarden.html
  • La Turista Wins Obie Award

    La Turista Wins Obie Award

  • Marries actress O-Lan Jones

    Their relationship started in New York CIty through mutual friends, led to a marriage that lasted from 1969 to 1984, and produced a son, Jesse Mojo Shepard. --- https://www.thewittliffcollections.txst.edu/research/a-z/shepard-dark.html#:~:text=Sam%20Shepard%20and%20Johnny%20Dark%20met%20in%20New%20York%20City,had%20a%20son%2C%20Jesse%20Shepard.
  • Plays drums for The Holy Modal Rounders

    Plays drums for The Holy Modal Rounders

    He played for The Holy Modal Rounders because he was broke and needed money. Stampfel and Shepard met while Stampfel was in the pawn shop, and Shepard who was playing drums with another guitarist. Stampfel, folk musician of The Holy Modal Rounders. --- https://www.anoisewithin.org/author-profile-sam-shepard/#:~:text=Shepard%20graduated%20from%20high%20school%20in%20Duarte,the%20Bishop's%20Company%20Repertory%20Players%20in%201962.
  • The tooth of crime premieres

    The tooth of crime premieres

    Obie Award Winner. With the arrival of the younger contender, Crow, who embodies new ideals and challenges Hoss's established values, the tension escalates into a symbolic duel that critiques the outdated codes governing success and identity in the music scene. --- EBSCO
  • disillusionment of post-Vietnam America

    disillusionment of post-Vietnam America

    The disillusionment of post-Vietnam America profoundly influenced Sam Shepard's work, permeating his plays with themes of violence, betrayal, and the decay of the American family and its myths. This national malaise, following a destructive war and the erosion of a triumphant national identity, provided the context for Shepard's critique of the American West and traditional masculinity. --- TSU
  • Buried Child premieres

    Buried Child premieres

    Wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Three-act play, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, 1979. Sam Shepard takes a macabre look at one American Midwestern family with a very dark secret. When Vince brings his girlfriend, Shelly, home to meet his family, she is at first charmed by the "normal" looking farmhouse,which she compares to a "Norman Rockwell cover or something"--that's before she actually meets his crazy family--his ranting. --- http://www.sam-shepard.com/buriedchild.html
  • True West premieres

    True West premieres

    One of his most famous works. two estranged brothers, Austin and Lee, who clash at their mother's suburban home --- Britannica
  • Begins relationship with actress Jessica Lange

    Begins relationship with actress Jessica Lange

    Both of them met while working on the movie Frances and started dating shortly after. Later in the relationship, they have two children, Hannah Jane and Samuel Walker, born in 1985 and 1987 --- https://people.com/movies/inside-sam-shepard-and-jessica-langes-tumultuous-relationship/
  • Fool for Love premieres on Broadway

    Fool for Love premieres on Broadway

    This is a one-act play set in a seedy motel room in the Mojave Desert. It follows May and Eddie, two former lovers locked in a passionate, volatile relationship filled with love, betrayal, and obsession. As they argue and reveal their painful past, it is uncovered that they share the same father, making them half-siblings. The play explores themes of forbidden love, family secrets, identity, and emotional dependency, using Shepard’s signature mix of realism and surrealism. --- sam shepard(3)
  • He left for a another woman

    Sam Shepard divorced O-Lan Joens in 1984 because he left her for actress Jessica Lange.
  • Acts in the right stuff

    Acts in the right stuff

    Sam Shepard plays legendary test pilot Chuck Yeager, who is portrayed as the embodiment of the elusive, mythic "right stuff" that all pilots strive for. His character serves as a stark contrast to the Mercury Seven astronauts, whom the media and NASA promote as national heroes. --- wins Oscar nomination, http://www.sam-shepard.com/rightstuff.html#:~:text=%22'The%20Right%20Stuff'%20is,and%20respect%20that%20surrounded%20Yeager.%22
  • Moves to Kentucky horse farm

    Sam Shepard moved to a Kentucky horse farm primarily to seek a quiet, private life away from the public spotlight, especially as his health declined
    ---- Courier Journal
  • Birth of Child, Hannah Jane

    Birth of Child, Hannah Jane

    The birth of Hannah Jane, 1985. Jane is a producer and writter, Known for Citizen Ashe(2021), Going to Mars:The Nikki Giovanni Project(2023) and The Fall of the House of Usher(2021).
  • Simpatico premieres

    Simpatico premieres

    Vinnie is hiding in Cucamonga after a shady deal with his friend Carter. They blackmail a commissioner to avoid a race-track scam, but Carter then runs off with Vinnie's wife, Rosie, and his car. Now, Vinnie wants to move on. 'Simpatico' is a NY revival of Shepard's play, blending film noir, Ibsen-like thriller, and revenge drama. --- http://www.sam-shepard.com/simpatico.html
  • The late henry moss opens in san Francisco

  • Receives PEN/Laura Pels Award for Master American Dramatist

  • Death

    The cause of death of Sam Shepard was Lou Gehrig's disease. LGD is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects the motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. He died at the age of 73 years old.