ShepardFest is the only festival in the world that celebrates the life and work of Sam Shepard. Produced by Light Works, it brings artists, scholars, students, and audiences together through performances, readings, films, music, and conversation. Led by Founding Artistic Director, Raines Carr, ShepardFest explores Shepard’s enduring influence on American theatre and culture while creating space for discovery, dialogue, and connection.
This year’s festival lineup is a staged reading of “Kicking a Dead Horse,” three lectures in theatre design and dramaturgy, the films “Thunderheart” and “Days of Heaven,” along with a full production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, “Buried Child.”
Longtime Shepard researcher, Robert M. Dowling, is this year’s special guest. He wrote “Coyote: The Dramatic Lives of Sam Shepard,” which is the most comprehensive work on Shepard’s life and career. He will be at every festival event to engage talkbacks and sign books.
“Kicking a Dead Horse” will feature Raines Carr, the festival’s Artistic Director, and Brooke West Carr. “Kicking a Dead Horse” is a one-man play about Hobart Struther, a wealthy New York art dealer. In a midlife crisis, he abandons his marriage and lucrative career to find authenticity in the American West, only to be stranded when his horse suddenly drops dead on the first day. As many Shepard plays, it remains quite relevant today, in some ways more than when it was written in 2007.
“Buried Child” will be directed by Mary Claire Branton and feature some of Jacksonville’s best acting talent. Written in 1978, “Buried Child’ breaks genre boundaries. A small, slow burn turns into a wild and terrifying family spectacle. The Pulitzer Prize-winning play is about a grandson who unexpectedly visits after a long absence, which brings a revelation of a decades-old family secret—an illegitimate infant drowned and buried in the backyard. It is an exceptional tapestry of devastating confrontation, born from guilt and generational trauma.
The St. Augustine Film Festival has also partnered with ShepardFest to present “Thunderheart” and “Days of Heaven.” “Thunderheart” is a loosely based fictional portrayal of events relating to the Wounded Knee incident in 1973. In addition to Shepard, it stars Val Kilmer and Graham Greene. “Days of Heaven” is a stunningly beautiful screen poem about life in America at the turn of the 20th century, written and directed by Terrence Malick.
Why Sam Shepard?
Sam Shepard’s work sits at the crossroads of poetry, myth and the American landscape. His plays and writings explore family, identity, love, violence and longing with a voice that is at once raw, lyrical and deeply human.
Shepard doesn’t offer easy answers; he invites us to sit with contradictions, to listen closely and to reckon with who we are and where we come from. As a playwright, actor, poet, musician and filmmaker, Shepard moved fluidly across artistic forms, reshaping American theatre in the process. His work continues to challenge artists and audiences alike, demanding bold performances and honest engagement.
ShepardFest exists because his voice still resonates, provoking conversation, inspiring creativity and reminding us that theatre can be both intimate and epic at the same time.
Why St. Augustine?
St. Augustine is a city shaped by history, storytelling and layers of lived experience, making it a natural home for ShepardFest.
As the nation’s oldest city, St. Augustine carries a sense of memory and myth that echoes the themes found throughout Shepard’s work: the weight of the past, the pull of place and the tension between what is remembered and what is imagined. With its walkable downtown, historic venues and vibrant arts community, St. Augustine offers an intimate setting where performances, conversations and community can intersect.
ShepardFest embraces the city not just as a backdrop, but as a collaborator, inviting audiences to engage with theatre in a place where stories linger and history feels close at hand.
Light Works cultivates theatre events, festivals, films and books.
Here’s a look at the festival schedule.
July 31
Aug. 1
Aug. 2
Aug. 3
All events take place at The Waterworks, 184 San Marco Ave., St. Augustine. Tickets are available at https://lightworks.ludus.com/index.php
For further information, email info@shepardfest.org or call 904-439-9954.
