Latest news with #SamShepard
Chicago Tribune
03-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Column: BOLD Series drama in Aurora both fictional and real
I have to admit that after watching the recent opening of 'True West' at Copley Theatre in downtown Aurora, I had some negative feelings, but not about the show itself, which kicked off the fourth season of the Paramount's BOLD Series. This powerful drama clearly lives up to the name given to these productions held in this small theater that was renovated a few years ago to showcase thought-provoking performances that tend to stick with audiences long after the final bow is taken on stage. 'True West,' a Pulitzer-Prize finalist written by Sam Shepard in 1980, is explosive and raw – pitting two brothers against each other who share scars from childhood but little else. Even though the drama uses character-types and symbolism taken from the classic American Western, it is set in the 20th century's less primitive – but still cut-throat – environment of Hollywood and Southern California. And the conflict between the law-abiding brother and his petty thief sibling isn't over a herd of cattle or gold mine but over a screenplay an agent promises will bring them fame and fortune. The tension and anger that builds throughout the show makes for powerful theater. But 'True West' is also full of dark humor, symbolism and some flat-out remarkable acting. And I found myself, as I usually do after a BOLD production, sitting in my seat for a few moments to collect my thoughts. Only this time they centered not on the fictional ending I'd just witnessed but on an ending more realistic that could impact this community. The BOLD Series kicked off in 2022 but quickly made a name for itself with audiences and critics. And that can't help but provide excellent marketing for the city. Consider the words of Chicago Tribune editor and writer Chris Jones, who covers theater in Chicago, New York … and Aurora. He said in his review of 'True West' that was published Friday in the Chicago Tribune that 'there's not a moment here that does not ring true and essential.' 'Frankly, I was blown away by how well this play works in the here and now, how relevant it feels,' he wrote. Then he added, 'If you're in shouting distance of Aurora, you won't regret the roughly 50 bucks or the two hours in its company.' In other words – mine to be exact – this nationally-recognized theater expert is practically begging people to come to Aurora. And that's music to the ears of anyone who remembers, not that many years ago, when the downtown had such a bad reputation people were being warned to stay away. But just as the brothers in 'True West' had dueling philosophies that crashed and nearly burned, Paramount leaders and the new mayoral administration in Aurora have opposing views on how critical all this is to downtown Aurora. That conflict was obvious immediately after John Laesch was elected mayor this spring when he told reporters he had no intention of pursuing the City of Lights Center, a 4,000-seat theater and 600-person event space that was next on the Aurora Civic Center Authority's list to continue making the city an entertainment hub. That angst and uncertainty has only grown since then. Last week at a town hall meeting, Laesch, who has put reducing city debt at the top of his priority list, made it clear there would be drastic cuts to the $7 million grant the city gave last year to the Aurora Civic Center Authority, which owns and operates the Paramount Theatre, Copley Theatre, Paramount School of the Arts and North Island Center, plus manages the city-owned RiverEdge Park and Stolp Island Theatre. That amount is 'way too much money,' he told the audience at Metea Valley High School. And that most likely means layoffs and huge cuts to programming may be necessary. Which brings me again to Jones' review and where my thoughts were as 'True West' kicked off the new BOLD Series season. 'In the unlikely setting of a small civic theater in downtown Aurora,' he noted, 'director Jim Corti and crew are staging what appears to be an ongoing series of very intense and distinctive versions of 20th century American classics of the kind theaters don't produce as much anymore.' There's no question the Paramount has brought theater magic – not to mention cool branding – to the city of Aurora. But this series of unique and powerful plays is not inexpensive to produce. 'True West' may have been among the best BOLD productions I've seen so far. But my fear is that it could also be its last.
New York Times
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Lewis Pullman of ‘Thunderbolts*' Has Become Hollywood's Go-To Bob
This interview contains spoilers for 'Thunderbolts*.' Lewis Pullman still isn't sure if he's playing a hero or a villain in the latest Marvel movie, 'Thunderbolts*.' 'He's very malleable and easily influenced because he hasn't had a real, strong, reliable source of love in his life,' the actor said of his character, a dark Superman-like figure known as the Sentry/the Void — although his civilian name, Bob, is how you might remember him best. Think what would happen if Superman were super-depressed. Oh, also, he appears capable of vaporizing people with a flick of his hand. 'There's a contrast between being this all-powerful being and then having your greatest weakness and your main Achilles' heel be your own self,' Pullman said in video call this week from his apartment in Los Angeles. He had just returned to the city, where he was born and raised, after a Vancouver, B.C., shoot for the Netflix movie 'Remarkably Bright Creatures,' based on Shelby Van Pelt's enormously popular novel. That was followed by a whirlwind press tour that had taken him from London to New York to Los Angeles to Miami and back to Los Angeles, just in time for his brother's wedding. He looked like he'd rolled in from the beach in a white T-shirt, denim button-up and perfectly windswept hair, and books by authors like the novelist Harry Crews and the playwright Sam Shepard were stacked behind him, with boxes resting atop tables. 'I haven't really had the time to unpack,' he said, apologizing for the mess. Pullman — the son of, yes, Bill Pullman — is the breakout star of the latest Marvel film, which has attracted praise for its candid depiction of mental health. 'What I love about this film is that it is so adamantly trying to rid our society' of the stigma around mental health, Pullman said. Like his character, he has an introspective bent, turning over every question in his mind before answering. While Pullman had never read the Marvel Comics featuring the Sentry — also known as Robert Reynolds, shortened to Bob in 'Thunderbolts*' — he was drawn to the profound sadness and isolation of the character, whose Hyde-like alter ego is the Void, the darkness that lives inside Bob. Struck by bouts of melancholy, he forges an unlikely friendship with Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova, who was trained as a child to be a Black Widow assassin. 'She sees something of herself in him,' Pullman said. 'She sees that they are both at the end of their lines.' The role is a breakout turn for Pullman, who earned an Emmy nomination last year for his portrayal of a brilliant scientist in the Apple TV+ series 'Lessons in Chemistry.' Before that, he played a pilot — also named Bob — in the 2022 hit 'Top Gun: Maverick,' opposite Tom Cruise. 'I should probably take a breather from playing Bobs,' he said with a laugh. In the video call, he shared what drew him to the character and his own experiences with anxiety, depression and therapy. These are edited excerpts from the conversation. How did you first get involved in 'Thunderbolts*'? I got phone call that was very vague and cryptic, and I was like, 'I should meet with Jake [Schreier, the director] and see what this is all about.' He couldn't give me the script, so he told me the story old-fashioned style, word by word. It was great to have that experience. You don't get it very often. I had only three days to prepare for the screen test and audition, which wasn't as much time as I'd like. So I tried to go as broad as possible, and then shrink it down and go as specific as possible in finding and discovering where it is that I, as Lewis, can relate to this character. Where did you pull from? What was so exciting and terrifying was how much I related to this character. In terms of the mental health parts of it, the anxiety and the depression, I have a good healthy dose of O.C.D., and just self-doubt and that negative self-talk that can paralyze you. I'm lucky to have come from a great family that was very proactive and resourceful about helping me figure it all out. And so to try to inhabit somebody who didn't have that — I was close enough to those alleyways to be able to see what it would have looked like had I not had those. Have you had candid conversations with people in your own life about mental health? I was a social work major in college in North Carolina, and so I have had many conversations about these topics. Coming into this project, it was obvious that it was a major theme. But it was never our goal to make this a P.S.A. This is still an incredibly fun, large-scale blockbuster film. But by shining a flashlight on it, it becomes more real. In many ways, my anxiety is something I'm grateful for. It's there as a protective mechanism. You don't just make a movie about it, and then the conversation's over. I'll be talking about it until I circle the drain. And that's something I've come to be OK with and embrace. Do you also have personal experience with depression? That's something that's less of a consistent force in my life. It comes in waves. But it's something that's deep in my marrow because, when you feel that, it's very hard to forget. I was able to tap into that in a way that was safe, with therapy, and then friends and support. I go about therapy in the same way that I go about acting — I assume that I never know anything, that there's always something to learn. I did a lot of cognitive behavioral therapy in high school, and now I'm in talk therapy. I've realized that the times when you should stick with therapy the most is when you think you're doing the best without it. That's a mind game that I've fallen for a couple of times. Why do you think the character has resonated with people? That oscillation that he has between feeling this worthlessness, met with this true belief in yourself, is very resonant. That's something important about Bob: He wants to be of use, but he's been told his whole life that when he tries to get involved, he always makes things worse. A lot of us have been told that, in one way or another. And so to see this very real person amongst these surreal and extraordinary circumstances is what makes it so resonant. Why do Bob and Yelena have such a strong connection? She is one of the first people who really sees him. They have this commonality of desperateness for connection and for meaning. That was something that I related to with Florence. She was so generous and compassionate toward me coming into this world. She saw that I felt like I didn't belong and didn't feel like I was going to be able to ever rid myself of this impostor syndrome. And she took it upon herself to be a very supportive, not just castmate, but friend. And that's hopefully what you see on camera. What was shooting that climactic group hug like? There were so many moments like that where Jake was like, 'If we can sell this, it'll work. If we can't, it's going to fall apart.' And that was this high-wire act that we felt the whole shoot. That was a hard couple of days. Luckily, Jake really made sure to protect that time in the schedule. And it was toward the end. So being able to have all that lived-in emotional memory, it was able to all just culminate into that moment. What has it been like to see fans embrace the character? I'd put so much weight and pressure on myself, because I wish I could have watched a character like this in high school. And so I really did not want to mess it up for little me. It just means a lot that people are going to see it, that they know that it's not just a fun action movie, that there are also hard topics. What do you hope people take away from the film? I hope that people watch this who need to see it, that they find something they didn't know that they needed. Two hours in a movie theater seems like a small amount of time, but it really can shift the course of your life. What would you say to people who feel like Bob? It's OK to not smile, it's OK to cry, it's OK to let all those feelings out, and to not bottle them up. You'll find that, more often than not, there will be somebody there to catch you, if you're vulnerable enough to let them.
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
True West prepares to open at Corn Stock Theatre
PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — When two brothers who are polar opposites are stuck together at their mother's house while she's on vacation, what can go wrong? Find out at Corn Stock Theatre's fourth production of their winter season, 'True West'. Written by Sam Shepard and directed by Blake Stubbs, True West is a play that touches on jealousy and resentment between brothers from a broken household. When Lee (played by Drake Newnum) unexpectedly shows up at Mom's house after spending years in the desert, Austin (played by Patrick Walsh) is forced to juggle his work and his already unsteady relationship with his brother. True West opens at Corn Stock Theatre on Friday, February 7th, where they will also announce next year's winter season. To buy tickets for the show, click here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
