Curse of the Starving Class

An esteemed playwright doesn’t shine in a new staging of one of his seminal works even with major and rising stars.

Posted on March 3, 2025 by Joel Benjamin in Off-Broadway, Plays, Still Open

Christian Slater and Calista Flockhart with Lois the sheep in a scene from Sam Shepard’s “Curse of the Starving Class” at The Pershing Square Signature Center (Photo credit: Monique Carboni)

What is it that veteran actors used to say? Never work with children or animals.

A sweet sheep named Lois steals Sam Shepard’s Curse of the Starving Class (1978) from the human actors in a new production directed by Scott Elliott under the auspices of The New Group.

Shepard’s weird and violent tale of the Tate family’s descent into total chaos and death is part of his trio of plays which includes Buried Child and True West.

Time and this production haven’t been kind to this play which was a dark, mysterious shocker in its time. Unfortunately, mystery and shock are in plentiful supply on TV, Broadway and film.

Jeb Kreager, Cooper Hoffman and Calista Flockhart in a scene from Sam Shepard’s “Curse of the Starving Class” at The Pershing Square Signature Center (Photo credit: Monique Carboni)

Elliott has directed too realistically, turning Curse into a sad melodrama, minus the magic. Maybe Shepard’s odd take on rural goings-on had more of a shocking appeal to sophisticated urban audiences back in the seventies before TV series about Yellowstone and Fargo, filled with their own weirdness, effaced the darkness of Shepard’s characters and plots.

Mother Ella (Calista Flockhart), father Weston (Christian Slater), son Wesley (Cooper Hoffman, following in the footsteps of his father Philip Seymour Hoffman who made his Broadway debut in Sam Shepard’s True West)—late teens, early twenties—and daughter Emma (Stella Marcus), just sixteen, live through several tempestuous days. Dysfunctional doesn’t even begin to describe the Tate family living on a decrepit farm in rural California where abuse—both emotional and physical—was plentiful and brutal.

Curse unravels in the Tate kitchen, a wittily detailed set designed by Arnulfo Maldonado. The glass doors leading out are smashed from a recent ruckus between Ella and Weston. Wesley makes an effort to clean up the shards while his mom shuffles in to make breakfast only to find the refrigerator bare—a running theme in the play. (Will the refrigerator ever be filled?)

Emma is experiencing her first menstruation while trying to put together a presentation about chickens and eggs for a 4-H project only to find out her mother has eaten the chicken which was to be exhibit one.

Calista Flockhart and Kyle Beltran in a scene from Sam Shepard’s “Curse of the Starving Class” at The Pershing Square Signature Center (Photo credit: Monique Carboni)

She is a tad stressed out by her period. Her brother urinates on Emma’s posters, the first grotesque act in a series. (He later wanders about stark naked.) Emma tries to rebel and run off on her horse, but never gets far away, winding up causing damage to the local saloon where her father hangs out and where he accumulated huge gambling debts.

Ella, fed up with her drunken, abusive husband, has plans to sell the farm out from under Weston who has his own plans. Both are taken in by Taylor, a seedy lawyer (a miscast Kyle Beltran) who winds up cheating both of them.

Other characters include local police who provide little sympathy for Emma when she destroys the saloon and thugs who strong-arm Weston, beating him up. Wesley, ever the faithful son, tries to defend his father only to be savagely attacked himself.

Weston, in a short burst of optimism, wants to freshen up the farm while Ella finally fills the damned refrigerator.

Jeb Kreager and David Anzuelo in a scene from Sam Shepard’s “Curse of the Starving Class” at The Pershing Square Signature Center (Photo credit: Monique Carboni)

Emma, reeling from the changes in her body and the dismal state of her 4-H project, attempts to run away again, this time in the family’s wreck of a car, with tragic results.

Not even the sheep escapes the violence in the end.

Elliot hasn’t found a consistent tone, but the actors work hard, particularly Flockhart. Hoffman and Marcus as the benighted siblings come off best. Slater is a bit lightweight, but entertaining.

Catherine Zuber’s costumes and Jeff Croiter’s lighting are fine as is Leah Gelpe’s generally subtle ambient sound design prior to an explosion.

What was once a head-scratcher is now commonplace.

Curse of the Starving Class (extended through April 6, 2025)

The New Group

The Pershing Square Signature Center

Romulus Linney Courtyard Theater, 480 West 42^nd Street, in Manhattan

For tickets, visit http://www.thenewgroup.org

Running time: two hours and 55 minutes including one intermission

About Joel Benjamin (590 Articles)

JOEL BENJAMIN was a child performer on Broadway and danced with leading modern dance and ballet companies. Joel has been attending theater, ballet and opera performances ever since childhood, becoming quite opinionated over the years. He was the founder and artistic director of the American Chamber Ballet and subsequently was massage therapist to the stars before becoming a reviewer and memoirist. He is a member of the Outer Critics Circle.