| Buried Child | |
|---|---|
 Cover of Playbill for 1996 Broadway production | |
| Written by | Sam Shepard |
| Date premiered | June 27, 1978 |
| Place premiered | Magic Theatre, San Francisco |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Drama |
| Setting | Illinois farmhouse, 1978 |
Buried Child is a play written by Sam Shepard that was first presented in 1978. It won the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and launched Shepard to national fame as a playwright. The play depicts the fragmentation of the American nuclear family in a context of disappointment and disillusionment with American mythology and the American Dream, the 1970s rural economic slowdown, and the breakdown of traditional family structures and values. In 1979, Shepard also won the Obie Award for Playwriting. The Broadway revival in 1996 received five Tony nominations, including Best Play.