True West

Set in southern California, Sam Shepard’s True West opens with Austin attempting to write a treatment for a screenplay after his solitude has been invaded by his brother Lee. Austin is a successful married screenwriter who waters the plants while house sitting for his mother. Lee is the beer-swilling drifter and petty thief who never sleeps. He breaks into homes and steals television sets, and his fondest memories are of a pit bull that he used for fighting. As the two brothers coexist, while their mother vacations in Alaska, the ferocity with which Austin and Lee war with one another indicates not only a deep-seated conflict between them but also an equally compelling symbiosis.