Curse of the Starving Class

The Tate family is dead broke, the front door smashed in and nothing in the refrigerator. Dad drunkenly dreams of a hermit’s life in the desert while Mom longs for European sophistication. So when both hatch schemes, independent of each other, to sell the family farm out from underneath their two children, a wild battle ensues to save each person’s piece of the American Dream. This modern classic by Sam Shepard, a Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning playwright, balances dark comedy and biting satire in its look at a family’s fight to stay alive.