CATF Managing Director Jeff Griffin (left) and CATF Board of Trustees President Marellen Aherne (right) chat with SAIL members in Trinity Episcopal Church's fellowship hall on Friday. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — “Buy your tickets! Buy multiple tickets!” said Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF) Board of Trustees President Marellen Aherne to her fellow members of Shepherdstown Area Independent Living (SAIL) at Friday’s monthly brown bag luncheon.

“And, when you’re buying the tickets, if you’re feeling generous that day, there’s a button you can press that will provide us with some additional funds,” Aherne said. “We would love you all to do that, as well!”

According to Aherne, this coming festival season, which will run from July 7-30, will be the first season curated by CATF’s new artistic director, Peggy McKowen. The last few years have been spent focused on plays selected for 2020’s festival by CATF founder Ed Herendeen, which were delayed in production until last summer, due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

McKowen’s co-leader, CATF Managing Director Jeff Griffin, shared a number of changes in the festival with the luncheon attendees. One of the most notable developments, will be the production of one less play than the customary six.

“We’re doing five plays this year, but they’re going to be big plays!” Griffin said. “This new arrangement will give people more time to spend visiting restaurants and businesses in Shepherdstown.”

All of the plays in the festival’s lineup will be world premieres, including: “Redeemed” by Chisa Hutchinson and directed by Marcus D. Harvey; “Fever Dreams (of Animals on the Verge of Extinction)” by Jeffrey Lieber and directed by Susan V. Booth; “Spiritus/Virgil’s Dance” written and performed by Dael Orlandersmith and directed by Neel Keller, a co-production with Merrimack Repertory Theatre; “Your Name Means Dream” written and directed by Jose Rivera; and “The Overview Effect” by Lynn Rosen and directed by Courtney Sale.

“Our new kind of mantra is that ‘American theater begins here. It is born here,'” Griffin said, noting the development of new plays in America has already been lessened by the pandemic-related dissolution of play production events like the Humana Festival and Sundance Theater Lab. “That’s what drew me to CATF — the opportunity to do new, interesting theater, not just the same plays that have already been done.

“A lot of companies commission new plays, but very few of them produce those new plays. In four years’ time, I’d like to have all new work we’ve commissioned here be produced here and then be sold on to other theaters,” Griffin said. “That’s our goal — things start here, but then they do go on to Chicago or New York or Boston, and other leaders of the theater industry.”

Further changes Griffin mentioned, will be the expansion of the 33-year-old festival’s talk theater series into a variety of events connecting with themes from the festival’s plays, including a stargazing night at a planetarium. And, due to the pandemic-related loss of two of Shepherdstown’s hotels — the Clarion Inn and Quality Inn — one of Shepherd University’s dorms will be opened for festival goers to board in, he said.

To purchase tickets, visit https://catf.org/.