Sam Shepard Notes

Sam Shepard Notes

Sam Shepard

My newest short story is called A Coyote at Beckett’s. It’s about Sam Shepard (actor, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, fiction/non-fiction writer) performing with my Irish band in Santa Barbara (true!) and the ramifications of that performance (fiction!).

I’ll be reading it this month (June 2026) at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference. I was a finalist for the Best Fiction Prize last month and I’m looking forward, as always, to meeting and reading and critiquing with my fellow writers.

The story hasn’t been published yet, but I’ll be announcing it here when it happens.

Meanwhile, below, you can see some quotes, plays, awards, and influences Sam has had over the years.

  • “I’m gathering out of the lostness something that gives me control.”
  • Fear is the guiding principle of Shepard’s work. Fear of authority, fear of flying, fear of climate change, fear of failure, fear of abandonment, fear of loneliness, fear of heredity, fear of exposure, fear of death, and fear of our escalating estrangement from reality.
  • “If you can manage your own anxiety (fear) it gives you more control over your life.”
  • Sam’s Dad: “That’s what fame and fortune’ll get you. A couple of blond chippies and a shrimp cocktail.” [Referring to a chance meeting with the cowboy-actor Gabby Hayes wearing a tuxedo at the Shadow Mountain Inn in the Mojave Desert in 109-degree heat, where Gabby was dancing and eating with 2 women.] Sam was seven years old.
  • Plays Sam used as inspiration:
    • Eugene O’Neill: Long Day’s Journet into Night
    • Tennessee Williams: The Glass Menagerie
    • Arthur Miller: Death of a Salesman
    • Lorraine Hansberry: A Raisin in the Sun
  • In less than 10 years, Sam churned out:   (These are known as the Family Plays)
    • Curse of the Starving Class
    • Buried Child (Won the Pulitzer Prize)
    • True West (Finalist for the Pulitzer)
    • Fool for Love
    • A Lie of the Mind

Coyote: The Dramatic Lives of Sam Shepard is a comprehensive biography written by Robert M. Dowling. It explores the multifaceted life of the legendary playwright, actor, and filmmaker, mapping his journey from the 1960s downtown New York arts scene to Hollywood and the Mojave Desert. The biography details key aspects of Shepard’s life, including:

  • The Artist: Analyzes his ingenious playwriting and traces his rise in the Off-Off-Broadway movement. Specifically, his time writing for the Magic Theatre in San Francisco.
  • The Icon: Explores his untamed, mythic persona, which was heavily influenced by the fierce independence of the American West.
  • The Personal Life: Covers his spirited personality, famous relationships (such as with Joni Mitchell and Jessica Lange), and his time touring with Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue.

Coyote uncovers the deeply complex psychology of the man, framing his diverse careers as facets of a single, untamable American original.