Contemporary American Theater Festival
62 posts — page 1 of 2
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Contemporary American Theater Festival rescheduled to July 2021
For the past thirty years, the Contemporary American Theater Festival at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, has produced and developed new plays in rotating repertory. DC Theater...
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Contemporary American Theater Festival hosts season announcement online
Shepherdstown, WV: For the past decade, the Contemporary American Theater Festival at Shepherd University has hosted a Shepherdstown Sneak Peek. Originally scheduled to be held at the Marinoff Theater...
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Review: ‘Support Group for Men’ by Ellen Fairey at Contemporary American Theater Festival
Given the seemingly endless parade of creeps and pervs we see in the news every day, it might seem surprising that a woman would write a sympathetic play about guys. The kind who think of themselves...
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Review: ‘A Welcome Guest: A Psychotic Fairy Tale’ by Michael Weller at Contemporary American Theater Festival
Eat your heart out, Christmas Carol. Hang up your dancing shoes, Nutcracker. Change the channel on reruns of It’s a Wonderful Life. It’s Christmas in July in Shepherdstown, as the Contemporary...
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Review: ‘Antonio’s Song/I Was Dreaming of a Son’ by Dael Orlandersmith and Antonio Edwards Suarez at Contemporary American Theater Festival
The Antonio in question is Antonio Edwards Suarez, the writer (with Dael Orlandersmith) and actor in this one-man autobiographical piece, part of the Contemporary American Theater Festival in...
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Review: ‘My Lord, What a Night’ by Deborah Brevoort at Contemporary American Theater Festival
My Lord, What a Night, a new play by Deborah Brevoort at the Contemporary American Theater Festival in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, explores the relationship between two 20th-century greats in very...
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Review: ‘Wrecked’ by Greg Kalleres at Contemporary American Theater Festival
Ah, the perfect relationship – not yours, of course, never yours. I’m talking about the one that other couple has; you know who I’m talking about, they’re always such great fun, always quick with a...
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Review: ‘Chester Bailey’ by Joseph Dougherty at Contemporary American Theater Festival
One of the true gems at this July’s Contemporary American Theatre Festival (CATF) in Shepherdstown, West Virginia is the East Coast premiere of Joseph Dougherty’s battle of heart and wit, Chester...
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Words Matter: Contemporary America Theater Festival 2019 Season Preview
For nearly 30 years, the Contemporary American Theater Festival in nearby Shepherdstown, West Virginia has offered audiences some of the most breathtaking, insightful and pointed dramas you’re likely...
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Review: ‘The House on the Hill’ at the Contemporary American Theater Festival
Aficionados of ancient tragedy will tell you that the main difference between the Romans and the Greeks was that the Romans –Seneca, especially—loved their violence served up downstage center, the...
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Review: ‘Memoirs of a Forgotten Man’ at the Contemporary American Theater Festival
Let’s stop for a moment to consider how much of the grey matter we’ve got upstairs, between those infernal ears, is dedicated to memory. Even as you read this review your mind is stocking up on words...
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The Ultimate Guide to Shepherdstown for the Contemporary American Theater Festival
by Allison Considine Ready for your next summer adventure or weekend getaway? Each July, the Contemporary American Theater Festival in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, presents new plays in the state’s...
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Review: ‘Thirst’ at The Contemporary American Theater Festival
Dystopias can be off-putting places, for those in search of more traditional fictional locales. Why would you want to begin your story in a wasteland, where everything we associate with civilization...
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Review: ‘A Late Morning (In America) With Ronald Reagan’ at the Contemporary American Theater Festival
Truth be known, there is much about Ronald Reagan that is eminently unlikeable: his shameless embrace of the southern, “State’s Rights” strategy, his contempt for social welfare programs, his blind...
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Review: ‘Berta, Berta’ at the Contemporary American Theater Festival
“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” –William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun. Of the many great moments in the late August Wilson’s Twentieth Century cycle, the most powerful one for me comes in...
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Review: ‘The Cake’ at the Contemporary American Theater Festival
The Contemporary American Theatre Festival is off to a rocking start, and with the local premiere of Bekah Brunstetter’s ripped-from-the-Supreme-Court-blotter comedy The Cake, the Festival makes a...
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What To Expect From This Year’s Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF)
Ah, summer – that fabled time of fireflies and lemonade stands, seersucker suits with wilting collars, tubing along a quiet stream, and of course — theatre. Live theatre. The kind of stuff that fills...
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Review: Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF): ‘Welcome to Fear City’
Fear City is the South Bronx in July 1977. There is nothing particularly unique about that July in that year in that place. Fear, it seems, is a way of life in the South Bronx. Kara Lee Corthron’s...
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Review: Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF): ‘Everything Is Wonderful’
The Amish with their horse and buggy, 19th century culture; their simple, old world uniforms and habits; their infamous Rumspringa where the teenage Amish is given the opportunity to choose between...
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Review: Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF): ‘The Niceties’
Eleanor Burgess’ The Niceties is a political play that takes the gloves off. It’s bare knuckled and it’s bloody, though no bones are broken and no souls crushed. But who knows what tomorrow will...
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Review: Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF): ‘Byhalia, Mississippi’
Evan Linder‘s Byhalia, Mississippi pulls theatre-goers into familiar territory: the “white trash” world of Laurel and Jim. Once there, however, the unfamiliar takes shape: amidst the gutter talk, the...
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Review: Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF): ‘We Will Not Be Silent’
David Meyers’ We Will Not Be Silent places American audiences within an interrogation room in Nazi Germany in 1943. Leaders of the White Rose, one of several resistance groups to Hitler and his Third...
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Review: Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF): ‘Wild Horses’
Last year there was Not Medea; this year there is Wild Horses, Allison Gregory’s rollicking one-woman ride through a 13-year-old’s adventures in horse country. Though structurally not as well defined...
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Review: Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF): ‘The Wedding Gift’
Chisa Hutchinson’ The Wedding Gift takes its audience into a fascinating world: an exotic “paradise” where matriarchy rules and the white / black power dynamic is turned on its head, where the...
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Review: Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF): ‘The Second Girl’
Ronan Noone’s The Second Girl received its second chance opening at the Contemporary American Theater Festival last weekend and, like its hardscrabble characters, it’s a well-deserved second chance....
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Review: Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF): ‘Not Medea’
Bags and umbrella in hands, a young woman arrives late for the theater, apologizing profusely and comically all the while. She notices the “live” caged bird on stage while proclaiming what a joy it is...
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Review: Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF): ‘20th Century Blues’
Susan Miller’s 20th Century Blues, which opened last weekend at Shepherdstown’s Contemporary American Festival, speaks right from the heart of successful, east coast boomer women. Four 60-something...
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Review: Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF): ‘pen/man/ship’
The Contemporary American Theater Festival opened Friday, July 8, 2016, for the 26th time: five new plays with five new stories to tell. In Chistina Anderson’s pen/man/ship at the in-the-round...
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Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF) Playwrights Interviews: Part 5: Chisa Hutchinson and “The Wedding Gift” by Sharon J. Anderson
Here is Part 5 of 5 in a series of interviews by Sharon J. Anderson, Contemporary American Theater Festival Trustee/Professional Story Listener and Creative Director. Meet Playwright Chisa Hutchinson...
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Spine: The 26th Contemporary American Theater Festival: Ed Herendeen’s 26th Snapshot of America’s Theatrical Culture
The Contemporary American Theater Festival at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, is approaching its second quarter of a century of new American plays. This year’s rotating repertory...
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Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF) Playwrights Interviews: Part 3: Allison Gregory and “Not Medea”
Here is Part 3 of 5 interviews by Sharon J. Anderson, Contemporary American Theater Festival Trustee/Professional Story Listener and Creative Director. Meet Playwright Allison Gregory and learn about...
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Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF) Playwrights’ Interviews: Part 2: Christina Anderson and “pen/man/ship”
Here is Part 2 of 5 interviews by Sharon J. Anderson, Contemporary American Theater Festival Trustee/Professional Story Listener and Creative Director. Meet Playwright Christina Anderson and learn...
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Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF) Playwrights Interviews: Part 4: Ronan Noone and “The Second Girl” by Sharon J. Anderson.
Here is Part 4 of 5 interviews by Sharon J. Anderson, Contemporary American Theater Festival Trustee/Professional Story Listener and Creative Director. Meet Playwright Ronan Noone and learn about his...
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Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF) Playwrights Interviews: Part 1: Susan Miller and “20th Century Blues”
Here is Part 1 of 5 interviews by Sharon J. Anderson, Contemporary American Theater Festival Trustee/Professional Story Listener and Creative Director. Meet Playwright Susan Miller and learn about her...
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Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF) Announces Its 2016 Line-Up of Plays
CATF ANNOUNCES ITS 2016 LINE-UP OF PLAYS To take place in rotating repertory July 8 – 31, 2016 Featuring new plays from Christina Anderson, Allison Gregory, Chisa Hutchinson, Susan Miller, and Ronan...
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Spine: Review of ‘On Clover Road’ at Contemporary American Theater Festival
A mother has lost her child to a cult; its leader has taken her as his divine bride. A de-programmer, whose own child died mysteriously, has come to the mother’s aid, for a kidnapping and breaking of...
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Spine: Review of ‘We Are Pussy Riot’ at Contemporary American Theater Festival
Pussy Riot, punk truth tellers and guitar playing agitators and feminist rabble rousers who stood up to the Russian State and its Church affiliates under Vladimir Putin. They went into Moscow’s...
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Spine: Review of ‘World Builders’ at Contemporary American Theater Festival
We are all populated by the images of main stream culture. Whether you’re 80 and still want Sam to play it again, or 50 and still believe in the Force or 30 and still imagine yourself at Hogwarts with...
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Spine: Review of ‘The Full Catastrophe’ at the Contemporary American Theater Festival
Michael Weller’s The Full Catastrophe, based on a novel by David Carkeet, is a comedy, a comedy about marriage and those longing for marriage. It is light-hearted and fun, well acted and directed, and...
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The Playwright’s Playground – The Playmakers CATF 2015: Part 5: Playwright Michael Weller on ‘The Full Catastrophe’
This Special Edition of The Playwright’s Playground begins ‘The Playmaker Series: CATF 2015.’ In a series of in depth conversations, I speak with the artistic teams associated with the plays at this...
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The Playwright’s Playground – The Playmakers CATF 2015: Part 4: Playwright Sheila Callaghan on ‘Everything You Touch’
This Special Edition of The Playwright’s Playground begins ‘The Playmaker Series: CATF 2015.’ In a series of in depth conversations, I speak with the artistic teams associated with the plays at this...
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The Playwright’s Playground – The Playmakers CATF 2015: Part 1: Playwright Barbara Hammond on ‘We Are Pussy Riot’
The Playwright’s Playground – The Playmakers CATF 2015: Playwright Barbara Hammond on We Are Pussy Riot This Special Edition of The Playwright’s Playground begins ‘The Playmaker Series: CATF 2015.’ In...
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The Playwright’s Playground: The Playmakers CATF 2014: Actress, Daphne Gaines Gives an Insider’s Look at ‘The Ashes Under Gait City’ and Her Simone the Believer Character
This Special Edition of The Playwright’s Playground continues The Playmaker Series: CATF 2014. In a series of in depth conversations, I speak with the artistic teams and talent associated with the...
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The Playwright’s Playground: The Playmakers CATF 2014: Playwright Charles Fuller Talks About His Life, the Encouragement of Ralph Ellison, and the Complicated People in His Play ‘One Night’
This Special Edition of The Playwright’s Playground continues The Playmaker Series: CATF 2014. In a series of in depth conversations, I speak with the artistic teams associated with the plays at this...
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The Playwright’s Playground: The Playmakers CATF 2014: Playwright Chisa Hutchinson Talks About Playwriting, and the Parallels of Real Life and Her Play ‘Dead & Breathing’
This Special Edition of The Playwright’s Playground continues The Playmaker Series: CATF 2014. In a series of in depth conversations, I speak with the artistic teams associated with the plays at this...
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Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF): ‘One Night’
Women in uniform in the military. Women in uniform in the foxholes. Women in uniform. Sexual assault. Of both men and women. Charles Fuller’s new play, One Night, tackles head on one of the most...
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Comtemporary American Theater Festival (CATF): ‘Uncanny Valley’
We are definitely a culture acraze with technology. I-Phones are only on the lower end of the spectrum: we have virtual realities, simulated sports, robotic housecleaners, robotic warehouse workers,...
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The Playwright’s Playground: The Playmakers CATF 2014: An Interview with Playwright Christina Anderson (‘The Ashes Under Gait City’)
This Special Edition of The Playwright’s Playground continues The Playmaker Series: CATF 2014. In a series of in depth conversations, I speak with the artistic teams associated with the plays at this...
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Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF) Review: ‘Dead and Breathing’
Despite the deus ex machina that ends the show—the miracle that I don’t mind mentioning because playwrights that resort to miracles as conclusions should have their audiences warned in advance—Dead...
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Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF) Review: ‘North of the Boulevard’
North of the Boulevard is not for the faint of heart; neither is it for the prudish or the overly sensitive; nor is it for those who require anything close to political correctness. North of the...
