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Lecture

Professor David Peimer
The Theater of Sam Shepard and the American Dream

Saturday 6.02.2021

Summary

An exploration of myth and reality in American culture through the plays of award-winning American playwright Sam Shepard, specifically True West (1980) and Buried Child (1978) and the complex relationships between characters and the allure of the cowboy myth.

Professor David Peimer

head and shoulders portrait of david peimer looking at camera, smiling

David Peimer is a professor of theatre and performance studies in the UK. He has taught at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and New York University (Global Division), and was a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University. Born in South Africa, David has won numerous awards for playwriting and directing. He has written eleven plays and directed forty in places like South Africa, New York, Brussels, London, Berlin, Zulu Kingdom, Athens, and more. His writing has been published widely and he is the editor of Armed Response: Plays from South Africa (2009) and the interactive digital book Theatre in the Camps (2012). He is on the board of the Pinter Centre in London.

Great question, it can absolutely be imagined, I think that many of the great writers use their imagination. But they are also in touch with ideals, values, dreams, what people believe in and in what they don’t.