CATF interim managing director Amy Wratchford, left, stands beside fellow new hire Hope Gundlah, who has filled a recently developed grant writer position for CATF. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — The Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF) has welcomed new leadership over the past couple of months.

Its first managing director, Jeff Griffin, left CATF in Feb. 2024. He was finally replaced four months ago by Amy Wratchford, who comes to the position with significant experience in theater management.

“I love it here!” Wratchford said. “The team is phenomenal.”

Wratchford has been hired on a temporary basis, to fill the position for the next two years.

“The momentum of this organization is so positive and so strong right now! It’s just a really wonderful time to be here,” Wratchford said. “We’ve got five new world premieres being performed at the festival this year. Within the industry, that is almost unheard of! There are very few professional theaters left in the nation that do a full season of new work, much less a full season of world premieres.”

She herself has a bachelor’s degree in acting from New York University and a master’s degree in performing arts management from Brooklyn College. Over her past two decades of working in the nonprofit theater world, she has developed her skills in finance and and organizational structure. Some of the theaters for which she has served as managing director include: Synchronicity Theatre in Atlanta, Ga.; Virginia Repertory Theatre; and the American Shakespeare Center.

At CATF, Wratchford hopes to set it up for success, even after her time there comes to an end.

“Nonprofit does not mean you have to lose money!” Wratchford said. “My focus is building a model of longterm sustainability.”

That sustainability will be further ensured by the work of CATF’s other new hire, Hope Gundlah, who stepped into a newly created grant writing position in February.

“I knew some actors and directors who had worked with CATF before and had great things to say [about it]. When I found the job listing online, I applied, and the rest is history!” Gundlah said.

Gundlah is a recent graduate from the University of Chicago, with a double major in English and theater. During and immediately after her graduation, she served as a grant writer for two theaters in the Chicago, Ill. area — Perceptions Theatre and Red Orchid Theatre.

Prior to her hiring, CATF director of development Vicki Willman had to manage all of the grant writing work, along with her many other obligations. Willman has been thrilled to be able to hand over many of her grant writing responsibilities to a capable individual.

“Hiring a grant writer had been long discussed here at CATF,” Willman said. “We have a research tool that Hope’s been using to find potential funders for general operating and projects and our education programs. She’s already found a new potential funder for us — a grant that we had never applied to before.”