Sam Shepard as Slim in Cowboy Mouth, 1971
Portrait of the Artist: Sam Shepard and the Anxiety of Identity
A masters thesis presented to the faculty of the University of Virginia on May 1, 1996.
by John Blackburn
An introduction by way of Shepard's most recent work.
A general look at Shepard's career.
The 1971 play, Cowboy Mouth reveals much about Shepard's life-as-dramaturgy.
Patti Smith seems to have had an enormous impact on Shepard. Also, she serves as perhaps our best Shepard informant.
But Sam Shepard likes it.
Shepard's early models for the ideal man came from the silver screen.
The play True West displays evidence of the playwright's deeply-held ambivalence.
Shepard adapts Fool for Love to the screen and takes its leading role.