Sixteen years after this TV adaptation first aired, and twenty years after he wrote it, Sam Shepard's stage play True West premiered on Broadway. It opened at the Circle in the Square Theater in New York on March 2, 2000, and ran for 154 performances. Sam Shepard's script was nominated for the 2000 Tony Award for the Best Play.
The Off-Broadway premiere of this play took place in December 1980, and featured Tommy Lee Jones and Peter Boyle as Austin and Lee. In 1982 it was staged by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, with Gary Sinise and John Malkovich in the roles. This production transferred to Off-Broadway and played for almost two years. Sinise and Malkovich repeated their performances for this TV adaptation.