FTE Brings Shepard’s True West to Life on Downtown Stage

From January 20 through January 29, the Fredericksburg Theatre Ensemble will transform the Allstate Community Theater at 810 Caroline Street downtown into True West. Pulitzer Prize winner Sam Shepard tells the darkly comedic tale of two estranged brothers, Austin, a writer, and Lee, a rootless drifter. As cast member Doy Demsick (Austin) said, “True West isn’t a western where I get to dress as a cowboy. It is the story of the real west, as it is now and how it was then, and how the ideas and dreams of those times clash.

True West tells a familiar story of a dysfunctional family, with an absent father, a distant mother and a bitter rivalry between two brothers. It tells a larger story, though, of an American west that never was and an American dream that may no longer be.

Director Devon Clark says that he was drawn to the show by the comedic overtones of this dramatic story. Despite the often grim, stark landscape found in Shepard plays, Clark says that the brothers find themselves in truly hilarious situations.

In addition to Demsick, the cast includes Josh Pastell, a former Fredericksburg police officer, as the dangerous drifter Lee, and local theater veterans Anne Kight Lloyd and Andy Braden. Lloyd portrays Mom, a brilliant piece of comic relief who seems to value her houseplants over people, and Braden plays Saul, a slick, manipulative Hollywood producer. Brianne Cook serves as stage manager for the show. Brianne played May in FTE's 2019 production of Shepard’s Fool for Love, and says she is drawn to the realistic way the playwright presents emotionally genuine family dynamics on stage.

Shows are at 7 PM on Friday and Saturday, January 20-21 and 27-28, and at 6 PM Sundays January 22 and 29 at the Allstate Community Theater in the 810 Caroline Street building downtown. Tickets are $20, and are available at fredericksburgtheatre.org.