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Austin, the son of a desert rat alcoholic, is working on a screenplay to pitch to a producer.

Just when the deal looks good, his petty thief brother Lee stumbles back into his life.

Opening at Fusion on Thursday, Sept. 12, Sam Shepard鈥檚 Pulitzer Prize-winning 鈥淭rue West鈥� excavates their volatile relationship as they navigate their contrasting lifestyles while staying in their mother鈥檚 California home.

The college-educated Austin has achieved the American Dream. He鈥檚 a successful screenwriter about to sell his next creation to a producer. The antisocial Lee suddenly appears just as the deal looks sealed. The two estranged siblings have not seen each other in five years.

鈥淭hey start out as these opposite types,鈥� said director Jacqueline Reid, Fusion co-founder. 鈥淭hen they change modalities. Each brother becomes like the other. They鈥檙e writing a screenplay together.鈥�

Soon Lee pitches his own film epiphany to the producer, a Western of trashy proportions. Will Hollywood bite?

鈥淎 lot of his characters in many of his plays have issues of substance abuse,鈥� Reid said. 鈥淭he assumption is that it鈥檚 autobiographical.鈥�

Much of Shepard鈥檚 work explores generations to answer questions of identity. What is real? What is an illusion? Reid said. Themes of rescuing our parents and rescuing our pasts thread throughout his work.

鈥淥f course, what we see is maybe not,鈥� Reid continued. 鈥淚t鈥檚 each person鈥檚 responsibility to do it for themselves.

鈥淲e tend to repeat (behavior) based on trauma,鈥� she added. 鈥淚t becomes especially relevant to modern times, which is a testament to the playwright鈥檚 genius.鈥�

Premiered on Broadway in 2000, the play starred John C. Reilly and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman alternating the lead roles.

鈥淗is characters viscerally jump into battle and come to decisions that change their lives,鈥� Reid said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 incredibly theatrical, so it鈥檚 always a visual feast.鈥�