A small West Virginia town is home to the only remaining U.S. summer festival dedicated exclusively to producing new, fully staged American plays. Shepherdstown, just a 90-minute drive from NoVA, hosts the annual Contemporary American Theater Festival. It runs July 10–August 2 at Shepherd University.
The festival is designed so that guests can see all five plays over two days, making it ideal for a weekend getaway. We spoke with artistic director Peggy McKowen about what to expect at this year’s festival.
What defines the identity of the Contemporary American Theater Festival?
CATF is the only professional theater company that is fully producing a whole season of new plays in repertory. We are unique in the fact that we are creating this world in which new plays have a devoted audience and have the opportunity to be seen, grow, and develop to then move on to other theaters.
What makes Shepherdstown the right home for this festival?
When you’re working on new plays, you really want to build a community of trust and belief in the process of developing new plays. And this community enables us to do that, because it’s small enough that everyone understands what’s happening when CATF is here. And everybody supports the work that is here, and the culture that we bring, and the economic impact that we bring, And so the artists, when they come here, really feel like they have been embraced in a unique way.
What do you look for in a new play when you’re considering what to include?
There are several factors that go into which plays make it into the season. One of them is that we’re really looking for contemporary diverse narratives. So if art is the mirror that reflects society, these new plays reflect an immediacy about society. And I want to make sure that we looking at that through a lens that represents diverse stories, different narratives, stories we haven’t seen on stage before — stories that might be a little uncomfortable because they deal with issues that are challenging to discuss or to reflect upon. I look for something that I feel really touches the way we’re living today. And I also want to find something that I hope will help the audience connect to each other.
Walk us through the plays this season and what drew you to those.
The Smoker by Lisa D’Amour is about five people in the same apartment building — four of them go outside to smoke and have become a real community. What drew me to it is the way it balances slice-of-life reality with theatrical magic and magical realism. There’s a real poetry to how the story is told.
In repertory with that is Best Line Wins: The Improvised Lives of Elaine May and Mike Nichols by Beth Kander. It’s really Elaine May’s story of carving a place for herself as a comedian, director, and writer in an industry that wasn’t friendly to women. It’s about her desire to leave a legacy for women who want to make the kind of work she made.
¡VOS! by Christina Pumariega follows a woman on an IVF journey who discovers her late mother left her an apartment in Argentina, and that her mother was an activist during the Dirty War. The play shifts between her contemporary life and that history, and it’s ultimately about the survival and power of the women who fought for the disappeared.
In repertory with that is My Favorite Sociopath by Aurin Squire, a sharp comedy about three journalism grad students competing to break the first big story, set during the Clinton administration — a pointed look at ethics, truth, and media.
Finally, in Studio 112, Refugee Rhapsody by Yussef El Guindi follows two Syrians navigating life in the U.S., weaving dark comedy and magical realism into a story about who gets to frame your narrative.
You’ve been with the festival for more than 18 years. What is it about it that is still exciting to you?
There is something inexplicable about the fact that a small town in West Virginia is doing some of the newest plays in America. And whatever that quality and magic is makes the experience special and unique from other kinds of theater experiences. It’s an extraordinary group of artists who entrust us with their work.
Do you have recommendations for other things to do in Shepherdstown?
Shepherdstown is located in the center of Civil War history, so it’s a great place for people who are Civil War enthusiasts and historians. There’s great hiking and biking and whitewater rafting, and just a beautiful landscape to enjoy the outdoors. Many of our patrons, if they’re seeing a couple plays in a day, will bring a lunch to sit outside and enjoy the weather and the beauty of the world around us. There’s great Appalachian and bluegrass music here, and storytelling. There’s the Speak Stories Series and the Appalachian Chamber Music Festival.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Feature image of Marinoff Theater at Shepherd University by Seth Freeman
