Chris Cooper, Marianne Leone et al. to Now Perform Curse of the Starving Class for Commonwealth Shakespeare

Academy Award Winner Chris Cooper and wife Marianne Leone will now star in a script-in-hand presentation of Sam Shepard’s Curse of the Starving Class, rather than the previously reported Buried Child. Commonwealth Shakespeare Company will present the free-of-charge presentation at the Wimberly Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts on Monday, February 21 at 7pm. Jim True-Frost will direct.

Set on a dilapidated avocado farm in the southwest, Curse of the Starving Class focuses on the dysfunctional family dynamic between a fragmented American family chasing their version of the American Dream. Cooper will play Weston with Leone as Ella.

Additional cast members will include Jared Craig as Wesley, Kelby T. Akin as Ellis, Tom O’Keefe as Taylor, and Marie Polizzano as Emma.

Cooper won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for Adaptation. He was recently seen in Julie Taymor’s film adaptation of The Tempest. He was nominated for an Emmy Award for his work in the HBO film My House In Umbria. Among his theater credits is the 1980 Broadway production of Of the Fields, Lately.

There will be a Wine and Cheese reception with the cast and director immediately following the reading. Tickets for the reception are $20.

To purchase or for more information, click here.