Sam Shepard

Samuel Shepard Rogers III (November 5, 1943 – July 27, 2017) was an American playwright, actor, director, screenwriter, author and musician whose career spanned half a century. He wrote 58 plays as well as several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs. His numerous accolades include the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (for his play Buried Child), the Drama Desk Award, the PEN/Laura Pels Theater Award, and the record 10 Obie Awards, in addition to nominations for two Tony Awards, an Academy Award, an Emmy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe. He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1994. The New York magazine described Shepard as "the greatest American playwright of his generation."
Shepard's plays are known for their bleak, poetic, surrealist elements, black comedy, and rootless characters living on the outskirts of American society. His style evolved from the absurdism of his early Off-off-Broadway work to the realism of later plays like Buried Child and Curse of the Starving Class.