Pamela Reed in Sam Shepard’s Curse of the Starving Class

When I first heard that Pamela Reed was returning to Curse of the Starving Class, I assumed it would be a smaller role than she had in the original production. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that she was cast as the main female lead. Reed who played the daughter Emma, in the play’s New York premier in 1978,  is now playing the mother Ella.

The play opens with Ella, in curlers, a pink bathrobe and slippers cooking bacon in the kitchen. The realism in the play is reinforced by the authentic props and Pamela actually cooks bacon on stage (I was close enough to smell the bacon).

The play is about a family struggling with debt, the father’s alcoholism and the family’s disillusion with the American Dream. It is the fantasy of the American dream that is represented as the *Curse* in the title. Reed said this about Shepard’s curse: “What he’s talking about, the sale of America and the breaking down of what makes us a family, is more profound today than it was when we first did the play in 1978. Shepard was a visionary in many ways. Unfortunately what he’s talking about has become so true.”

The play was recently rewritten for this revival. In shortening, the drama to a two act play, the rewrite changes the timeline in which the audience learns things. Pamela said, “The changes aren’t massive amounts of writing, but because of where the act break is, now you know things that you didn’t when we did the play the first time. [Before] you weren’t sure. It causes one to play things differently.”

Although this is a dark drama, it is interspersed with comedic elements. Peter DuBios, the director, said “I’ve always found this play so funny, and Sam’s rewrite has made the situations more absurd and more extreme”. Pamela agrees “I think he’s made it tighter, made it a little cleaner. He’s brought a little more humor to it. It’s a very funny piece.”

It is a very funny play and my favorite comedic moment was Ella leaning into the refrigerator and belting the artichokes out behind her. The artichokes went flying across the stage and some went into the audience. I must say that  Pamela Reed has an excellent throwing hand.

I think Pamela Reed sums up the play brilliantly. Reed says “I think this play has real legs. Long, long legs.”

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I kept the meeting with Pamela Reed a secret until the script she signed went on auction, so I'm editing this to talk about the meeting.

Sean (JKI's admin) and I went backstage after the play and met Pamela Reed in the green room (which really was green). When she walked in the room we told her we were the Jericho fans and she asked if we were the ones who sent the flowers (JKI sent her flowers on opening week). 

I said yes, and Pamela gave me a great big hug. She told me that she had never received flowers from her fans before and that she was so excited about them she went around and showed the entire play cast the card and said " See what the Jericho fans sent me!". She put the flowers in her dressing room where she could see them everyday.

Pamela had tears in her eyes when she told me that. (JKI kept the flowers a  secret, because honestly we did not know how they would be received or if they would get to her. They were sent on behalf of all the Jericho fans.)

Pamela signed the script and our tickets and we talked for a few minutes and then left to catch the BART train home.

Gwen