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Johnna Adams D W Gregory Eleanor Burgess Biography & Facts

The Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF) is an American annual professional theatre festival held at Shepherd University, located in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. According to the New York Times (in 2015), it is one of "50 essential summer festivals". In 2016, Germany's World Guide identified the festival as one of the "Top 10 theatre festivals not to miss this summer". A representative of the Theatre Communications Group in its publication American Theatre stated that "(CATF's) forward focus has helped ... change the American theatre conversation, bringing new voices and pressing topics to the stage ..." The Festival specializes in premieres and second or third productions of new plays, currently producing six plays each summer in rotating repertory. History A 2010 NPR segment stated: "For 20 years, in the oldest town in West Virginia, new plays have had a home and a loyal audience. The Contemporary American Theater Festival at Shepherd University is a dream for the writers of those plays." The festival was started in 1991 "on a wing and a prayer and a $90,000 budget" by producing director Ed Herendeen. It was modeled after the Williamstown Theatre Festival, located in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It has the goal of producing and developing new American theater, specifically plays that deal with contemporary issues and strive to challenge and entertain audiences. In addition to finding new scripts which could be either premieres or on a second/third production, the festival has also commissioned works since 1998. Through the summer of 2013, the festival has produced 100 plays, by 73 American playwrights, including 37 world premieres, 9 of which were commissioned. It had an operating budget for 2013 of $1 million. In 2017 the New York Times picked it as "one of the top festivals in theater ... that we think you should see this spring and summer around the country". The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 caused officials to scrap the festival and defer to 2021. Facilities Housed on the university's campus, the CATF uses three performance spaces. The first is the 416 seat Frank Center for the Arts Stage, a conventional proscenium performance space without a curtain. The second is The Stanley C. and Shirley A. Marinoff Theater, a 180-seat flexible seating space, located in the recently completed Center For Contemporary Arts II(CCA II). This space replaced the Studio Theater, an adapted space in Sara H Cree Hall. The third space is a smaller adapted black box space in Room 112 of Center For Contemporary Arts I. The CATF scene shop and costume shop are also located in the new CCA II. Notable productions Uncanny Valley, 2014 Festival As part of the National New Play Network Rolling World Premieres, CATF transferred their production to 59E59 Theaters in New York City from October 2 – 26. The production received favorable reviews. H2O, 2013 Festival This production was one of six finalists for the 2014 Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award, recognizing playwrights for the best scripts that premiered professionally outside New York City during 2013 Gidion's Knot, 2012 Festival This world premiere production received a Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play citation as one of the top three new plays of 2012. The play has been published by Dramatists Play Service and had 14 productions scheduled for 2014 around the USA. According to American Theatre magazine, it is the 11th most-produced play in the 2013-2014 theater season. Farragut North, 2009 Festival This play was adapted for the screen as The Ides of March starring George Clooney and Ryan Gosling. My Name is Rachel Corrie, 2007 Festival. This production was notable because of the controversy surrounding the play (see the play's article in Wikipedia for details of the controversy). The festival playbill contained a two-page ad, "My Name is Rachel Corrie Does Not Tell the Whole Story: Don't Be Misled", which included photos of six other women named Rachel who were killed by Palestinian suicide bombers. A member of the festival's board of trustees resigned in protest and several regular patrons decided not to attend the festival in response to the selection of this work. The Artistic Director "was flooded with letters urging the board members to remove the play". The actual production was without incident and no drop in attendance. Compleat Female Stage Beauty, 1999 Festival This production was notable as it was one of the early works commissioned by the festival which then went on to be regularly produced and was adapted by the playwright (Jeffrey Hatcher) into a film version Stage Beauty starring Claire Danes, Billy Crudup, and Tom Wilkinson. Carry the Tiger to the Mountain, 1998 Festival This play by Cherylene Lee – and the festival's first commissioned work – focused on the beating death of Vincent Chin in 1982 Detroit. The play's production became the impetus for a state-wide discussion on race and served as the backdrop to the governor's year-long efforts on this issue, which began with a town-hall discussion, in the theater, following a production of the play. The festival was recognized for its role as catalyst for this important dialogue with the 1999 "Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts." Complete production history The following is a complete list of the festival's productions. 2019 Festival My Lord, What a Night by Deborah Brevoort*^; Support Group for Men by Ellen Fairey; Wrecked by Greg Kalleres*; A Welcome Guest: A Psychotic Fairy Tale by Michael Weller**; Chester Bailey by Joseph Dougherty; Antonio' s Song / I was dreaming of a son by Dael Orlandersmith and Antonio Edwards Suarez* 2018 Festival The Cake by Bekah Brunstetter; Berta, Berta by Angelica Cheri*; Memoirs of a Forgotten Man by D.W. Gregory*^; Thirst by C.A. Johnson*; A Late Morning (in America) with Ronald Reagan by Michael Weller*; The House on the Hill by Amy E. Witting*. 2017 Festival The Niceties by Eleanor Burgess, Welcome To Fear City by Kara Lee Corthron,*, Wild Horses by Allison Gregory*, Byhalia, Mississippi by Evan Linder, Everything Is Wonderful by Chelsea Marcantel*, We Will Not Be Silent by David Meyers*. 2016 Festival pen/man/ship by Christina Anderson, Not Medea by Allison Gregory*^, The Wedding Gift by Chisa Hutchinson*, 20th Century Blues by Susan Miller*, The Second Girl by Ronan Noone. 2015 Festival World Builders by Johnna Adams*, Everything You Touch by Sheila Callaghan, On Clover Road by Steven Dietz*, We Are Pussy Riot by Barbara Hammond**, The Full Catastrophe by Michael Weller*, based on the novel by David Carkeet 2014 Festival The Ashes Under Gait City by Christina Anderson*, One Night by Charles Fuller, Uncanny Valley by Thomas Gibbons*^, North of the Boulevard by Bruce Graham, Dead and Breathing by Chisa Hutchinson*. 2013 Festival A Discourse on the Wonders of the Invisible World by Liz Duffy Adams*, Modern Terrorism, or They Who Want to Kill Us and How .... 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