SOURCE: Shewey, Don. “Sam Shepard's Identity Dance.” American Theatre 14, no. 6 (July/August 1997): 12-17.

In the following essay, Shewey debates Shepard's mid-life quandaries, discussing the all-Shepard season at the Signature Theatre in New York, Shepard's collaborations with Joseph Chaikin, and his recent revisions to some of his best known works.

Since 1991, the Signature Theatre Company in New York has been devoting its entire season to reconsidering a single playwright's body of work. In the past, artistic director James Houghton's choice of playwrights to honor has been undeniably worthy, yet the seasons Signature produced didn't so much alter as confirm the way we think about these writers. Edward Albee? Good playwright, an American master. Horton Foote? Solid craftsman. Adrienne Kennedy? Fascinating and formally challenging.

This year Signature turned its attention to Sam Shepard; and the results have been erratic, unpredictable, perverse, surprising, unnerving—which is to say, a very interesting...