SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. — The Contemporary American Theater Festival opens Friday and runs through July 28 at Shepherd University, featuring three new plays and an offering in two parts — plus a bonus production.
CATF is also hosting more than 30 special events led by industry experts and artists, including lectures, post-show conversations and discussions that surround the themes explored in the plays.
“When I first selected the season, I started talking to some of the artists who were going to help bring these plays to life and the word ‘brave’ kept coming into the conversations. But when I think about this season, I really think that it is about different types of love. In these four scripts, I read stories about loving each other amidst incredible challenges and how that love is healing, noble and hopeful,” said Artistic Director Peggy McKowen.
Here are this year's plays:
Tornado Tastes Like Aluminum Sting by Harmon dot aut was selected as one of three plays across the country to receive the Venturous Playwright Fellowship Grant. CATF partnered with Harmon to submit the grant proposal for consideration as part of the 2024 season and will present its world premiere. Set in rural Kansas against the backdrop of a looming tornado, audiences are introduced to Chantal, a non-binary tween/teen with synesthesia. Chantal dreams of becoming a filmmaker, and their loving parents offer support and guidance along this poignant and humorous journey.
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Written as an offering to the community of Black individuals living with HIV/AIDS, Donja R. Love’s What Will Happen to All That Beauty? follows the couple Max and J.R. during a trying time in their relationship. As the relationship unfolds, Max dedicates so much time fighting for her husband’s life that she suddenly discovers she must soon fight for her son. What Will Happen to All That Beauty? will be performed in two parts, and dinner will be available for purchase during selected performances.
CATF presented a staged reading of Enough to Let the Light In by Paloma Nozicka in 2023 as part of its Fall Reading Series. It is both a love story that twists and surprises, and a psychological thriller that will leave the audience with more questions than answers. When a couple spends the evening together, they slowly start to reveal secrets about themselves that ultimately test their relationship.
The Happiest Man on Earth by Mark St. Germain recently had its world premiere at Barrington Stage in Pittsfield, Mass. Based on the memoir by Eddie Jaku, the play recounts the true-life story of a Holocaust survivor. The tale references the escape from terrifying experiences and ends with the joy of love, marriage and fatherhood. It is both challenging and uplifting — a reaffirmation of life. This small, intimate play balances the season’s more epic productions.
In addition, CATF has partnered with the Appalachian Chamber Music Festival to produce A Mother’s Voice, featuring Musici Ireland. This multidisciplinary concert/production is a commemorative dedication to women affected by the mother and baby homes in Ireland during the 1900s. This is a special event with a limited run that will only occur in the second part of July.
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Ticket information
Individual tickets to the CATF 2024 July season range from $40-$70. Packages of three or five mainstage performances range from $174-$300. Tickets can be purchased online at catf.org or by calling the box office at 681-240-2283.
Since its founding in 1991, the Festival has produced over 144 new plays, including 66 world premieres and 11 commissions. Plays produced at CATF have gone on to have robust lives including regional productions, Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, and film adaptations.
For more information and the full schedule of special events, visit catf.org.
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