Contact:
Gabriel Zucker, Managing Director
304.876.5240 | [email protected]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 2, 2015
CATF seeks child actor for 25th season
Shepherdstown, West Virginia: The Contemporary American Theater Festival at Shepherd
University is seeking a male child actor to play the role of ROBBIE WILSON in the world
premiere of THE FULL CATASTOPHE by Michael Weller, directed by Ed Herendeen.
ROBBIE WILSON: Age range: 12-15 to play a 12 year-old boy. ROBBIE is a smart, curious, and a
little dreamy. He zigzags between sociable, and preoccupied. He is worried about his parents
splitting up.
Auditions will be held from 9AM - Noon and from 2PM – 5PM on Thursday, April 16 in
the Center for the Contemporary Arts Building I on the campus of Shepherd University: 92 West
Campus Dr., Shepherdstown, WV 25443. For further information or to sign up for an audition,
please email Peggy McKowen at [email protected]. Those interested should prepare a short
poem or monologue no longer than one minute and be prepared to read from the script. Rehearsals
will begin in early June and performances run from the beginning of July to August.
The Contemporary American Theater Festival is a professional, LORT D theater dedicated
to producing new plays. It was founded by Ed Herendeen in 1991 and is hosted on the campus of
Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. To date, it has produced 100 new works for
the stage, including 37 world premieres, by 74 different writers, including Sam Shepard, Jane Martin,
Joyce Carol Oates, David Mamet, Lee Blessing, Lucy Thurber, Mark St. Germain, Keith Glover, and
Lydia R. Diamond. Its plays have gone on to be produced on Broadway, Off-Broadway, regionally,
and internationally, and adapted into blockbuster films. Its four-week festival of five plays and
ancillary programming is presented before an audience of over 13,000, generating over two million
dollars in economic impact to the region.
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THE PLAY
THE FULL CATASTROPHE
A Comedy by Michael Weller │ Based on the novel by David Carkeet │ WORLD PREMIERE
Sponsored by Lynn & Dolores Shirley, Mina Goodrich, and Lawrence Dean
Dr. Jeremy Cook has a problem. While he is a linguist (of moderate renown), he is
also unemployed, broke, and haunted by the words of an old friend who says that basically, ‘his
timing sucks majorly.’ In desperation, Cook accepts an offer from the enigmatic Roy Pillow to
serve as part of a research experiment, living with a married couple as their relationship
counsellor. However, Cook’s lack of: a) experience b) understanding of love c) history of
successful relationships d) common sense and e) instinct – guides this couple from a
dysfunctional marriage toward the hilarious “full catastrophe.”
Michael Weller is best known for his plays Moonchildren, Loose Ends, and Spoils
of War. He also wrote the book for the musical Dr. Zhivago which recently
opened on Broadway. He is the recipient of an Academy Award nomination,
the N.A.A.C.P. Outstanding Contribution Award, the Critics Outer Circle
Award, the Rockefeller Foundation Grant, as well as the Kennedy Center
Fund for New American Plays Award. He serves as Supervising Mentor of
The Mentor Project at Cherry Lane Theatre. He returns to CATF after the
2009 production of Fifty Words which also played at the MCC Theater
starring Elizabeth Marvel and Norbert Leo Butz.
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