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 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's mission is "dedicated to producing and developing new American theater". To support this mission its stated goals (core values) are to:
sustain an artistic process of innovation and daring;
tell diverse stories;
to create a profound and ever-evolving relationship between the audience and the work.
To satisfy this mission, it specializes in premieres and second or third productions of new plays, currently producing five plays each summer in repertory.
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
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.
Uncanny Valley, 2014 Festival
H2O, 2013 Festival
Gidion's Knot, 2012 Festival
Farragut North, 2009 Festival
My Name is Rachel Corrie, 2007 Festival.
Compleat Female Stage Beauty, 1999 Festival
Carry the Tiger to the Mountain, 1998 Festival
The following is a complete list of the festival's productions.
2017 Festival
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 We Learn to Love Them by Jon Kern,
H2O by Jane Martin
**,
Heartless by Sam Shepard,
Scott and Hem in the Garden of Allah by Mark St. Germain
**.
2012 Festival
Gidion’s Knot by Johnna Adams
*,
The Exceptionals by Bob Clyman,
In a Forest, Dark and Deep by Neil LaBute,
Captors by Evan M. Wiener,
Barcelona by Bess Wohl
*
2011 Festival
From Prague by Kyle Bradstreet
*,
Race by David Mamet,
Ages of the Moon by Sam Shepard,
We Are Here by Tracy Thorne,
The Insurgents by Lucy Thurber
**
2010 Festival
Breadcrumbs by Jennifer Haley
*,
The Eelwax Jesus 3-D Pop Music Show Book & Lyrics by Max Baker, Music by Lee Sellars
*,
Inana by Michele Lowe,
Lidless by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig,
White People by J.T. Rogers
2009 Festival
Dear Sara Jane by Victor Lodato
*,
Farragut North by Beau Willimon,
Fifty Words by Michael Weller,
The History of Light by Eisa Davis
*,
Yankee Tavern by Steven Dietz
2008 Festival
The Overwhelming by J. T. Rogers,
Pig Farm by Greg Kotis,
Stick Fly by Lydia R. Diamond,
A View of the Harbor by Richard Dresser
*,
WRECKS by Neil LaBute
2007 Festival
1001 by Jason Grote,
Lonesome Hollow by Lee Blessing
*,
The Pursuit of Happiness by Richard Dresser,
My Name is Rachel Corrie from the writings of Rachel Corrie, edited by Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner
2006 Festival
Augusta by Richard Dresser
*,
Jazzland by Keith Glover
**,
Mr. Marmalade by Noah Haidle,
Sex, Death, and the Beach Baby by Kim Merrill
*
2005 Festival
The God of Hell by Sam Shepard,
American Tet by Lydia Stryk
*,
Sonia Flew by Melinda Lopez,
Father Joy by Sheri Wilner
*,
Augusta by Richard Dresser
+,
Jazzland by Keith Glover
++,
On the Verge or
The Geography of Yearning by Eric Overmyer
~
2004 Festival
Homeland Security by Stuart Flack,
Flag Day by Lee Blessing
*,
Rounding Third by Richard Dresser,
The Rose of Corazon: A Texas Songplay by Keith Glover**,
Amazing by Brooke Berman
~,
Father Joy by Sheri Wilner
+
2003 Festival
Whores by Lee Blessing
*,
The Last Schwartz by Deborah Zoe Laufer,
Bright Ideas by Eric Coble,
Wilder by Erin Cressida Wilson,
Flag Day by Lee Blessing
+,
The Clandestine Crossing by Keith Glover
+
2002 Festival
Thief River by Lee Blessing,
Silence of God by Catherine Filloux
**,
The Late Henry Moss by Sam Shepard,
Orange Flower Water by Craig Wright*,
Rounding Third by Richard Dresser
+,
Melissa Arctic by Craig Wright
+
2001 Festival
Tape by Stephen Belber,
The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa by John Olive
*,
The Occupation" by Harry Newman*, The Pavilion
by Craig Wright, Carol Mulroney
by Stephen Belber+, Orange Flower Water
by Craig Wright+, Silence of God
by Catherine Filloux++
2000 Festival
Hunger by Sheri Wilner*,
Mary and Myra by Catherine Filloux
*,
Miss Golden Dreams, A Play Cycle by Joyce Carol Oates*,
Something in the Air by Richard Dresser
1999 Festival
Compleat Female Stage Beauty by Jeffrey Hatcher
**,
Coyote on a Fence by Bruce Graham,
Tatjana in Color by Julia Jordan*,
The Water Children by Wendy MacLeod,
Flo's Ho's by Julia Jordan
++
1998 Festival
BAFO by Tom Strelich,
Carry the Tiger to the Mountain by Cherylene Lee
**,
Gun-Shy by Richard Dresser,
Interesting Times by Preston Foerder
**
1997 Festival
Below the Belt by Richard Dresser,
Demonology by Kelley Stuart,
Lighting Up the Two Year Old by Benjie Aerenson, CATF Dance Ensemble
1996 Festival
Bad Girls by Joyce Carol Oates
*,
Octopus by Jon Klein
*,
The Nina Variations by Steven Dietz,
The Nose by Elizabeth Egloff,
Tough Choices for the New Century by Jane Anderson
1995 Festival
Beti the Yeti by Jon Klein,
Maggie's Riff by Jon Lipsky,
Psyche Was Here by Lynne Martin
*,
Voir Dire by Joe Sutton
1994 Festival
Forgiving Typhoid Mary by Mark St. Germain,
Shooting Simone by Lynne Kaufman,
Spike Heels by Theresa Rebeck,
What are Tuesdays Like? by Victor Bumbalo
*,
1993 Festival
A Contemporary Masque by Stephen Bennet,
Alabama Rain by Heather McCutchen,
Black by Joyce Carol Oates,
Dream House by Darrah Cloud
1992 Festival
Static by Ben Siegler,
Still Waters by Lynn Martin*,
The Baby Dance by Jane Anderson,
The Swan by Elizabeth Egloff
1991 Festival
Accelerando by Lisa Loomer,
Welcome to the Moon by John Patrick Shanley
Production Notes
