{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox play | name = La Turista | image = | image_size = | caption = | writer = Sam Shepard | characters = {{plainlist | * Salem * Kent * Boy * Doctor * Son * Doc * Sonny }} | setting = Hotel rooms in Mexico and in the US | premiere = 4 March 1967<ref name="Fisher2011">{{cite book|author=James Fisher|title=Historical Dictionary of Contemporary American Theater: 1930-2010|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m6O5-spILIUC&pg=PA440|date=1 June 2011|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-7950-8|pages=440–}}</ref> | place = American Place Theatre, New York City.<ref name="NastićBratić2016">{{cite book|author1=Radmila Nastić|author2=Vesna Bratić|title=Highlights in Anglo-American Drama: Viewpoints from Southeast Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2iH5DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA68|date=8 February 2016|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|isbn=978-1-4438-8845-5|pages=68–}}</ref> | orig_lang = English | subject = | genre = Drama | web = }}
'''''La Turista''''' is a play by the American playwright Sam Shepard,<ref name="LittleMcLaughlin2007">{{cite book|author1=Ruth Little|author2=Emily McLaughlin|title=The Royal Court Theatre Inside Out|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NaodAQAAIAAJ|year=2007|publisher=Oberon|isbn=978-1-84002-763-1}}</ref> first performed at American Place Theatre, New York City in 1967, directed by Jacques Levy.<ref name="DebusscherSchvey1989">{{cite book |author1=Debusscher |first=Gilbert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9ow5eSO59bQC&pg=PA169 |title=New Essays on American Drama |author2=Schvey |first2=Henry I. |author3=Maufort |first3=Marc |publisher=Rodopi |year=1989 |isbn=90-5183-107-2 |pages=169– |author-link2=Henry Schvey}}</ref> The title refers to the most common illness among tourists. The two main characters are Salem and Kent, which are also the names of brands of cigarettes. It is a two-act dramatic play. The first act takes place in Mexico, and the second in the United States. Some see this play as a reference to the Vietnam War.
==Production history== ''La Turista'' was first performed at the American Place Theatre in New York City, on March 4, 1967. The cast was as follows:
*Salem – Joyce Aaron *Kent – Sam Waterston *Boy/Sonny – Lawrence Block *Doctor/Doc – Michael Lombard *Son – Joel Novack *Directed by: Jacques Levy<ref name="Roudane2002">{{cite book|author=Roudane|title=The Cambridge Companion to Sam Shepard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sMwpZSI38bIC&pg=PP17|date=27 May 2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-77766-7|pages=17–}}</ref>
==Reception== Reviewing a 1981 Boston production, critic Alan Stern wrote that "''La Turista'' has no discernible theme...Shepard uses free association and non sequiturs for their own sake. Instead of soaring to the outer reaches of the imagination, his speeches are mired in so much logorrhea."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Stern |first1=Alan |title=Shepard's revenge |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_boston-phoenix_1982-01-05_11_1/page/n54/mode/1up |access-date=July 1, 2024 |work=The Boston Phoenix |date=January 5, 1982}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{cite book | last=Shepard | first=Sam | title=Seven Plays | publisher=Bantam Books | location=New York | year=1984 | isbn=0-553-34611-3 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/samshepardsevenp0000shep }}
==External links== * {{Books and Writers |id=sshepard |name=Sam Shepard }} * [http://www.nybooks.com/articles/12058 The New York Review of Books: CRITICS] * [http://www.iobdb.com/Production/3327 ''La Turista''] at the Internet Off-Broadway Database {{Sam Shepard}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turista}} Category:Plays by Sam Shepard Category:1967 plays Category:Plays set in Mexico Category:Plays set in the United States
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