SOURCE: Willadt, Susanne. “States of War in Sam Shepard's States of Shock.” Modern Drama 36, no. 1 (March 1993): 147-66.

In the following essay, Willadt analyzes the structure of States of Shock, emphasizing Shepard's sense of machismo and his portrayal of relationships between men.

I

After a six-year silence, Sam Shepard, formerly one of the most prolific and most produced American playwrights, finally returned to the American theater with States of Shock. The play was first presented by The American Place Theatre in New York City on April 30, 1991, for a very limited run.¹ As has been the case for so many other Shepard plays before, States of Shock was eagerly anticipated by New York, theater critics as an opportunity to fight another critical war about Shepard. Shepard has always had what Walter Kerr, the “high priest” of the New York theater critics, once named his “cult audience.” However, the surprising fact...