CATF presents a first reading of Our Shepherdstown, a new play by Jeffrey Lieber. Read the Full Story >>
Contemporary American Theater Festival
2023 Appalachian Chamber Music Festival Notes Places That Inspire
This year’s Appalachian Chamber Music Festival will feature sixteen musicians in twelve performances taking place between August 17 and 27. Read the Full Story >>
New Story Takes Flight at Theater Festival
“The Heron’s Journey” is coming to Shepherdstown! You won’t want to miss world-renowned story artist Adam Booth’s original program brought to you by Speak Story Series, in partnership with the Contemporary American Theater Festival. “The Heron’s Journey” uses spoken storytelling, quilting, and paper sculpture to tell an allegory filled with magic, challenges to opposition, and transformation. Meet the title character in various forms of self-discovery and take part in giving the story wings. Read the Full Story >>
New Artistic Director Debuts At Contemporary American Theater Festival
July 2023 marks McKowen’s debut in her new role in which she’ll select and shape five plays to premier at CATF, considered one of the country’s top festivals for new plays. Starting in 2006, McKowen worked with Ed Herendeen, CATF’s now retired founder, as costume designer and later Associate Producing Director, to present first-class theater productions and related programs. Now, she intends to uphold CATF’s traditions and pursue new ones. Read the Full Story >>
Creating Connections in Our Community
The word angel was used more than once. Even if you had never met Sara Lueck, you could feel her kindness and positivity in the tributes offered during a recent vigil. She made a career as a librarian at Jefferson County Schools and a vocation of serving the community. And those connections live on. Read the Full Story >>
Cyber Thriller Debuts at Theater Festival
It took only 20 years for the number of Internet users to grow from a few hundred million to 5 billion people. Today, cyberattacks are constant. And because the United States was an early adopter of connected technologies, we are particularly vulnerable. Read the Full Story >>
The 2022 Contemporary American Theater Festival – A Quick Guide
This year’s Contemporary American Theater Festival festival kicks off on July 3 with four days of previews (pay-what-you-can) followed by a packed schedule of opening weekend plays and events on July 8, 9 & 10. Six plays will be presented on a changing schedule Tuesday through Sunday during the following three weeks through July 31. Read the Full Story >>
Both New & Familiar At The 2022 Contemporary American Theater Festival
The Observer put Peggy McKowen, Producing Artistic Director of the Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF), in the spotlight to answer some questions about this year’s festival, presented this July in Shepherdstown. Read the Full Story >>
2 Plays, 2 Parties, 2 Podcast Series
CATF comes to downtown Shepherdstown in July with a hybrid of two audio plays and two street parties, plus a series of podcasts structured around the two plays. Read the Full Story >>
CATF Shares Highlights of New Theater Online
The discussion and development of new theater goes on, even if the stages are dark. With the continued presence of COVID-19, the theater community continues to create and explore new avenues for sharing and collaborating online — offering the public glimpses into the process that would normally not be so visible. The Contemporary American Theater Read the Full Story >>
CATF UnMuted: A New American Theater Experience for 2020
If the CATF team found themselves lost in the woods, they wouldn’t just look for the signs to get back on the old road -- they’d figure out how to blaze a new trail. We’ve all learned a lot over the past four months, enough to know that the CATF organization made the right decision to postpone the summer season. While the community has been mourning the loss, the team got to work at what they do best -- being creative. Read the Full Story >>
CATF Designers Inspired by Rare Visit to Einstein Home
Attendees for the world premiere of My Lord, What a Night, by Deborah Brevoort, at the Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF) this month will be able to boast that they are as close as they can come to seeing the dwellings and dressings of a true genius—Albert Einstein. In preparation for this production, set designer David Barber and costume designer Therese Bruck joined director Ed Herendeen on a journey to discover the authentic characteristics of the world-famous scholar in his Princeton, New Jersey, home. Read the Full Story >>
CATF Continues to Address and Confront in 2018
The Contemporary American Theater Festival is entering its 27th year and promises to deliver another round of fresh, cutting-edge performances undeniably relevant to the times. Read the Full Story >>
Theater Selections Tackle Timeless Ideas with Contemporary Ferocity
Ed Herendeen, director of the Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF), was listening to readings of this year’s six chosen plays when he realized something. Read the Full Story >>
Designing the Diverse Worlds of CATF
In early June, the area where Shepherdstown’s annual Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF) takes place is calm—so calm, in fact, that if you were to sit at one of the tables in the “copper canyon”—the valley between Shepherd University’s two contemporary art buildings—you’d be surprised to learn just how much is actually going on around you amid the stillness. Read the Full Story >>