It took 20 years before Sam Shepard’s 1980 play “True West” premiered on Broadway.
In retrospect, it was a long time coming for a work considered by many a visceral depiction of sibling rivalry like none before it. It’s one of the darkest commentaries on the so-called American Dream, too.
Shepard’s psychological tale of estranged brothers Lee and Austin and of typewriters, toasters and telephone cords, has lost none of its explosiveness over the years.
San Diego actors Jason Maddy and David McBean, who are co-starring in Roustabouts Theatre Company’s production of “True West,” will testify to that.
“We are seeing humanity take an animalistic turn in a lot of ways,” said Maddy, who’s playing the thieving, boozing brother Lee. “Rational thought in some places has gone out the window. Humanity has become a little more dog-eat-dog, and only the strong survive. This play is ripping off the flesh and saying ‘This is exactly what that looks like.’”
McBean, portraying the educated aspiring writer brother Austin, suggests that playwright Shepard is “exploring these themes about the American Dream and its failures, this illusion of success and masculinity and manhood, and what that means to individuals as they choose their life paths.”
“There are parallels to how men are responding to our current society and circumstances in such vastly different ways,” McBean said.
Under the direction of Roustabouts co-founder and artistic director Phil Johnson, “True West” is being staged at Diversionary Theatre in University Heights. It’s the first production of the play locally since Cygnet Theatre produced it in 2014.
“We’re not doing the ‘typical version,’” Maddy said of this production. “Our relationship (the two brothers) is different based on certain circumstances that Phil wants to put into the play. There is an animalistic quality inside the play, but these two characters do need each other. There’s a deeper humanity in that.
“I don’t want this to be the same as this version or that version. This is ours. I want to keep it honest. I think there is a fight for dominance (in the story) but I also think there’s a need for each other and there is a love, whatever that love is.”
To the casual observer, love may be hard to find in a sibling relationship that’s, at the very least, tense and, at its worst, brutal.
Maddy recalled an acting teacher who once told him that he didn’t see enough danger in his portrayals.
“For Lee,” Maddy said, “it’s nothing but danger. I’ve always had a desire to play this character. It’s a bucket list role for me.”
McBean, on the other hand, is known to audiences almost exclusively for his work onstage in comedies.
“I wouldn’t be the first choice (for ‘True West’) in most people minds,” he said. “I’m definitely a comic actor. These are very different muscles. But I think acting is acting. I’m working very hard to meet Jason where he is — he’s so good at this.”
Maddy acknowledges that chemistry. “We both feed off each other,” he said. “When your scene partner is there with you so much you don’t have to do as much work as an actor. You just get to listen and respond. It leads itself to go where it needs to go.”
Where “True West” goes, like a projectile, is right through the heart of that aforementioned American Dream. Along the way, Maddy said, it reflects Shepard’s gift for “capturing raw humanity.”
“We are complex as humans, and I want to make sure that humanity is given life — not just the one angry aspect of it.”
‘True West’
When: Previews, 7:30 p.m. today and 2 p.m. Saturday. Opens at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and runs through April 13. 7:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays
Where: the Roustabouts Theatre Company at Diversionary Theatre, 4545 Park Blvd., University Heights
Tickets: $46
Phone: 619-568-5800
Online: theroustabouts.org
