“For me, playwriting is and has always been like making a chair. Your concerns are balance, form, timing, lights, space, music. If you don't have these essentials, you might as well be writing a theoretical essay, not a play.”

American playwright, actor and author

Sam Shepard was an American playwright, actor, director, screenwriter, author and musician. He is known for a career that spanned half a century and for writing 58 plays, along with books of short stories, essays and memoirs. His work earned major recognition, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Drama Desk Award, the PEN/Laura Pels Theater Award and a record 10 Obie Awards. He was also nominated for two Tony Awards, an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Laurence Olivier Award and a Primetime Emmy Award, and he was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1994.