Community Theatre, Thetford, Vermont.

For three weekends in August, Thetford’s Parish Players will present one of the greatest American plays of the past 60 years, directed by Ray Chapin and featuring a powerhouse cast.

Buried Child has been called an “American gothic masterwork by the New York Times, and an “uncompromising mix of dark comedy, menace and mystery” by the Los Angeles Times. The play explores the ramifications of an Illinois farm family withholding a terrible secret for decades. And while the play is often praised for its starkly classical portrayal of tragedy, its verbal swordplay and situational havoc are frequently very funny.

First presented in 1978, Buried Child won the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and also gained Sam Shepard an Obie for Playwrighting. Shepard rewrote parts of the play for its 1996 revival, which earned five Tony nominations, including Best Play. The Parish Players production will be using Shepard’s revised version, with a cast that includes some of the Upper Valley’s most experienced stage actors.