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Latest Stories

Two Commissioners Refuse To Meet

Local Woman Plays For USA Team In Amputee Soccer Tournament

Shepherdstown Day Care Center Celebrates 50 Years

Imaginary Horribles – An Artist’s Perspective

Local Residents Will Perform “The Anvil” At Courthouse In October

Friends Of Music Presents Poulenc Trio In October

Halloween Fun In Jefferson County

Events & Activities – October 2023

Comment On Air Permit Modification For Rockwool Factory In Ranson Due Oct 23

Jefferson County Planning Commission Takes Comments On Future Land Use

The Emotional Benefits Of Fishing

Stall Tactics On Jefferson County Commission

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In Print

Observer 2023-08 cover

Contemporary American Theater Festival

2023 Appalachian Chamber Music Festival Notes Places That Inspire

July, 2023 Tagged With: Appalachia, Appalachian Chamber Music Festival, Barns of Rose Hill, Contemporary American Theater Festival, In Print Aug 2023, music, Shepherdstown Opera House

chamber muscians

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

July, 2023 Tagged With: Adam Booth, Contemporary American Theater Festival, In Print July 2023, Speak Stories

“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

May, 2023 Tagged With: Contemporary American Theater Festival, In Print May 2023, Peggy McKowen

Peggy McKowen, Creative Director of 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

April, 2023 Tagged With: Contemporary American Theater Festival, editor's note, In Print May 2023, Jefferson County Commission, Needful Things Emporium, Shepherdstown Ministerial Association

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

July, 2022 Tagged With: Contemporary American Theater Festival, cybersecurity, In Print July 2022

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

June, 2022 Tagged With: Contemporary American Theater Festival, In Print June 2022, performance, theater

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

June, 2022 Tagged With: Contemporary American Theater Festival, In Print June 2022, Peggy McKowen, performance

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

July, 2021 Tagged With: Contemporary American Theater Festival, online, podcast, Sheepdog, Shepherd University events, street party, The House of the Negro Insane

The contemporary american film festival is hosting several playcast parties and street parties in 2021.

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

January, 2021 Tagged With: Contemporary American Theater Festival, COVID-19, online, theater

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

July, 2020 Tagged With: Contemporary American Theater Festival, COVID-19, TalkTheater, theater

logo for contemporary american film festival unmuted event.

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 >>

Behind the Scenes with CATF 2019

July, 2019 Tagged With: Contemporary American Theater Festival, Ed Herendeen, theater

Contemporary Ameican Theater Festival

Entering its 28th year, Shepherdstown’s renowned Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF) runs from July 5-28 and comprises six new plays by American playwrights—spotlighting contemporary issues that both challenge and entertain audiences. Read the Full Story >>

CATF Designers Inspired by Rare Visit to Einstein Home

July, 2019 Tagged With: Contemporary American Theater Festival

CATF

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

July, 2018 Tagged With: Contemporary American Theater Festival, theater

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

June, 2018 Tagged With: Contemporary American Theater Festival, theater

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

July, 2017 Tagged With: Contemporary American Theater Festival, Shepherd University, theater

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 >>

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