(ENGLEWOOD, NJ) -- Elusive playwright Sam Shepard is known for plays such as True West and Buried Child, as well as award-winning acting roles in films such as The Right Stuff.  The Black Box Performing Arts Center will honor Shepard's work this summer in The Sam Shepard Festival, which delivers vibrant script-in-hand performances of a diverse sampling of 5 raucous one-act plays by the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright. 

Fool For Love, Cowboys #2, The Holy Ghostly, The Unseen Hand, and Back Bog Beast Bait will appear in two exciting 'line-ups' on alternating evenings.  Embrace the style, rhythms, and landscape of Shepard's absurdist vision of the "American West" replete with cowboys, gunslingers, swamp-beasts, sultry lovers, seedy hotel rooms, space freaks, and a major dose of rock'n'roll!

Sam Shepard was one of the most important and influential writers of his generation. He died on July 27, 2017 from complications of Lou Gehrig's disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). During his profilic career, he received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child and won 10 Obie Awards for writing and directing. In addition to writing, Shepard acted in numerous films including Fool For Love, Crimes Of The Heart, Steel Magnolias, Thunderheart, All The Pretty Horses, and The Right Stuff (for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

General admission ickets are $20 and can be purchased at www.BlackBoxPAC.com.  It is recommended patrons reserve tickets in advance in order to guarantee seating! Please note that masks continue to be required of all audience members and there is no eating or drinking inside the theater. Patrons must continue to fill out a COVID Screening Form upon entering the building, regardless of vaccination status. 

The Black Box Performing Arts Center is located at 49 East Palisade Avenue in Englewood, New Jersey.

The schedule is as follows:

Fri 6/18 at 8:00pm: FOOL FOR LOVE, COWBOYS #2, THE HOLY GHOSTLY

Sat 6/19 at 8:00pm: FOOL FOR LOVE, COWBOYS #2, THE HOLY GHOSTLY

Sun 6/20 at 8:00pm: FOOL FOR LOVE, COWBOYS #2, THE HOLY GHOSTLY

Fri 6/25 at 8:00pm: THE UNSEEN HAND, BACK BOG BEAST BAIT, COWBOYS #2

Sat 6/26 at 8:00pm: THE UNSEEN HAND, BACK BOG BEAST BAIT, COWBOYS #2

Sun 6/27 at 8:00pm: THE UNSEEN HAND, BACK BOG BEAST BAIT, COWBOYS #2

Thurs 7/8 at 8:00pm: FOOL FOR LOVE, COWBOYS #2, THE HOLY GHOSTLY

Fri 7/9 at 8:00pm: THE UNSEEN HAND, BACK BOG BEAST BAIT, COWBOYS #2

Sat 7/10 at 8:00pm: FOOL FOR LOVE, COWBOYS #2, THE HOLY GHOSTLY

Sun 7/11 at 8:00pm: THE UNSEEN HAND, BACK BOG BEAST BAIT, COWBOYS #2

Fool For Love is Presented in Special Arrangement with Dramatists Play Service Inc. Cowboys #2, The Holy Ghostly, The Unseen Hand, and Back Bog Beast Bait are Presented in Special Arrangement with Concord Theatricals Inc. on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. Titles may be subject to change.