CATF Announces 2012 Repertory -- New Plays by Johnna Adams, Bob Clyman, Neil Labute, Evan M. Wiener, and Bess Wohl -- 22nd Season to be Held July 6 29, 2012

Shepherdstown, WV (PRWEB) April 30, 2012

The Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF) at Shepherd University has announced the 2012 five-play repertory for its 22nd season of producing and developing new American theater. The season will feature new plays from Johnna Adams, Bob Clyman, Neil LaBute, Evan M. Wiener, and Bess Wohl. The four-week festival, consisting of 94 performances and other programming, will be held July 6 29 in Shepherdstown, WV.

In addition to the plays produced in rotating repertory, which allows audience members to see all five shows in just two days the 2012 Season will also feature free lectures, stage readings, panels, and an art exhibition. Plus, patrons have the opportunity to purchase tickets to audience immersion events including lunches and workshops with artists, and breakfast with the Theater Festivals producing director.

The Contemporary American Theater Festival is the summer home of fearless, irreverent, brave, and provocative new plays, said Founder and Producing Director Ed Herendeen. We collaborate with some of the most important theater artists working today and discover the foremost artists of tomorrow. We push at the boundaries of what theater can be. We launch rigorous, adventurous, and passionate new works for the contemporary stage. The 2012 repertory continues the vibrant and electrifying conversation between our artists and our audiences that began 22 years ago. These five playsfilled with humor, anger, love, and lustexplore, examine, and celebrate the ethical, moral, and dangerous choices we face every day.

The 2012 repertory includes two world premieres, two second productions, and a new play from one of the most well-known and daring writers for the stage and film. The plays are:

Gidions Knot by Johnna Adams. World Premiere. Directed by Ed Herendeen

Over the course of an unexpected parent/teacher conference in a 5th grade classroom, a mother and her sons teacher have a volatile conversation about Gidion. Was he a bully? A victim? A protector? Or, was his imagination too powerful a tool for the adults around him? As his story is uncovered, the women try to construct an explanation for his behavior and come to terms with who, or what, is at fault. Gidions Knot is a heart-wrenching, devastatingly beautiful work about the power of words and freedom of expression. It explores the dangerous, emotional, and often painful world of elementary school.

Johnna Adams is the 2011 recipient of the prestigious Princess Grace Award for playwriting and was a finalist (with Gidions Knot) for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Her plays include Sans Merci, Cockfighters, and The Secret Geometry of S&M Porn; she is currently pursuing her M.F.A. from Hunter College, studying with playwright Tina Howe.

The Exceptionals by Bob Clyman. Directed by Tracy Brigden

Five years after participating in a fertility program experiment, two mothers, with distinctly different backgrounds, are faced with complicated choices surrounding their extraordinarily gifted children. Set in the near future, this wonderfully smart play of high-stakes social experimentation sheds light upon the competitive sport of parenting and raises the question: how far would you go to provide your child every possible opportunity? Gwen and Allie battle over their childrens and their own lots in life while learning that, perhaps, they need each other more than they realize to successfully raise their super babies.

Bob Clyman is a playwright and clinical psychologist. His work has appeared Off-Broadway and at Denver Center Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Laguna Playhouse, and elsewhere. The Exceptionals premiered at Merrimack Repertory Theatre in 2011.

In A Forest, Dark and Deep by Neil LaBute. Directed by Ed Herendeen

In this compelling new play by the dark prince of the American stage and indie cinema, all Bobby thinks he is doing is helping his sister, a university dean, clear out her cottage in the woods. But in this cabin of lies, nothing is as it seems and the truth refuses to be packed away. Love, lust, and sibling rivalry escalate into a psychological thriller that bursts with savage conflict and insight into human relationships and moral failings. On this dark and stormy night, what is Betty hiding? And what will Bobby do when he finds out?

Neil LaButes plays include The Shape of Things, reasons to be pretty, Fat Pig, and Wrecks (CATF 08). His films include In the Company of Men, Your Friends and Neighbors, and Possession. In A Forest, Dark and Deep premiered on Londons West End in 2011.

Captors by Evan M. Wiener. Directed by Ed Herendeen

For 10 days in Buenos Aires in 1960, covert Israeli agents held captive the worlds most wanted war criminal and Hitlers architect of the Holocaust Adolf Eichmann. In a hidden safe house, a thrilling battle of wills unfolds in this historical first-person account of the fight against Fascism. Captors is a portrait of two men: the Mossad agent burdened with bringing evil to justice, and Eichmann, the self-declared Good German, who is ready to utilize his every last ounce of charm, intelligence, and humanity in hopes of surviving and escaping his final interrogation. On the 50th anniversary of Eichmanns conviction and execution, this absorbing new play is a haunting reminder of the consequences and complexity of closing societys darkest chapter.

Inspired by Eichmann In My Hands by Peter Z. Malkin and Harry Stein.

Evan M. Wiener is an emerging American voice for stage and film and a graduate of Columbia University; his screenplay Monogamy won top honors at the Tribeca Film Festival. Captors premiered at the Huntington Theatre and was a critics pick of The Boston Globe.

Barcelona by Bess Wohl.

In the shadows of Gaudis Sagrada Familia, Barcelonas famous cathedral, an American woman drunkenly goes home with a Spanish stranger. In what begins as a wine-drenched, carefree one-night-stand of cross-cultural lust and libation, soon embarks a dangerous lesson in consequence, truth, and moving on. In this funny, sensual, and elegant work, there unfolds a surprising story that tears down the artificial borders of a global world, while proving the universal struggle of healing the human heart.

Barcelona is produced as part of a rolling world premiere agreement between the Contemporary American Theater Festival and Peoples Light & Theatre in Malvern, PA.

Bess Wohl writes for theater, film, and television. Her play Touched was recently produced at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and other work has been seen at The Vineyard Theater, Pittsburgh Public Theater, and Northlight Theater. Also an actor, she received her M.F.A. from the Yale School of Drama.

Matinee and evening performances are held Wednesday Sunday throughout the Festival. Single ticket prices to the 2012 repertory are $ 55. Four-show and five-show ticket packages (Rep Passes) are available, ranging from $ 100-$ 230. All performances take place at various venues on the Shepherd University campus.

In addition to the production schedule, the Theater Festival will again return with numerous ancillary events for audiences and community members. For purchase, patrons can attend:

---

Orignal From: CATF Announces 2012 Repertory -- New Plays by Johnna Adams, Bob Clyman, Neil Labute, Evan M. Wiener, and Bess Wohl -- 22nd Season to be Held July 6 29, 2012