PRESS RELEASE
March 19, 2016
Tucson’s Speak The Speech Theatre Company To Produce:
TRUE WEST By Sam Shepard.
The last two weekends in October and the first weekend in November (Oct.18-Nov.3) Speak The
Speech Theatre Company will produce Sam Shepard’s “True West” directed by Dan Reichel.
This play is a viciously funny and tragic portrayal of two brothers testing the boundaries of love,
resentment and civilization. The performances will be held at the Cabaret Theatre 330 S. Scott
Ave. Tucson, AZ. Fri. and Sat. Performances at 7:30pm and Sun. at 2pm. Ticket prices are as
follows: $18 Adult (before opening night) $20 Adult (after opening night), $15 Sr/Mil/Stu., $10
Group Sales (10 or more patrons). Tickets will be available Sep.18th one month before the
production. For more information or ticket sales call: (520)-904-8054 or visit us on the web at
ststheatre.org
About the Play
The play is the story of two brothers. Austin, played by Mike Sultzbach, is a screenwriter who is
about to make a sizable deal for a new project. Lee, played by Ken Beider, is a drifter and thief.
They come together in their mother’s house in Southern California while she is away on a trip to
Alaska. As Lee encroaches on his brother’s world, Austin begins to long for the freedom of
Lee’s life style. Together, the brothers represent what the West mythically used to be, what has
become of it and, by extension, what has become of America.
More About the Play and Company
Speak The Speech Theatre Company is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization whose purpose is to
enrich, educate and entertain the Tucson Community. Through the shared experience of live
theatre we hope to inspire the willingness to explore new ideas and generate dialogues
concerning class, social and economic justice and the courage to explore our own humanity.
There was a time, not a million years ago, when Sam Shepard was hailed as one of the greatest,
most original playwrights at work in the world today. It was a time when fledgling STS Theatre
artists were young, slim and mostly clean-shaven. Now, a quarter of a century or so later, they
have some grey in their beards and run a theatre company devoted to the classics.
So, it’s not surprising that they have decided to dust off the enigmatic and challenging “True
West” which had its first performance in 1980, as their Premier Performance to the Tucson
Community. Shepard’s reputation may have dimmed slightly but if ever there was a fascinating
journey through a playwright’s mind, it is “True West”. It’s actually the mind as a battlefield.
Austin (Mike Sultzbach), the bookish, scriptwriter in the play is Shepard, the playwright. Lee
(Ken Beider) is the other Shepard, a rough, tough, hard-drinking cowboy/actor. Finding
themselves in their mother’s suburban home, it’s business as usual at first. Austin works away on
a love-story script; Lee goes out and steals a television. But gradually they begin to usurp each
other’s roles. It’s blistering stuff as dual natures go to war with each other. And it’s even more
far-reaching than that, as Shepard probes truth and fiction, and the confused, fractured cultural
landscape of late 20th century America.
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Contact Information:
Dan Reichel/Director (520)-883-0976 or dreichel@ststheatre.org