Appalachian Festival of Plays and Playwrights

2008 Festival

 

For Immediate Release
August 21, 2008

Winners of Barter Theatre’s 2008
Appalachian Festival of Plays and Playwrights Announced

Abingdon, Va. —Barter Theatre is proud to announce the winners of its Eighth Annual Appalachian Festival of Plays and Playwrights (AFPP) that was held July 28 – August 9 during the Virginia Highlands Festival.

This year’s top honors went to Kenley S. Smith’s Devil Sedan, an intriguing thriller that deals with questions of faith and duty.

Second place was awarded to Elaine Smith's Angels and Ministers of Grace Defend Us, and third place was awarded to The Controversial Rescue of Fatty the Pig by Catherine Bush. Both the second and third place winners will receive a mini-production in next year’s festival.

Other finalists include American Made by Frank Higgins, Raising Peacocks by Mark Witteveen, and The Unholy Ghost by Ron Osborne.

Barter’s Appalachian Festival of Plays and Playwrights provides not only an avenue for Barter to develop shows for it upcoming season, but platform for new plays and playwrights to receive the recognition they deserve. Playwrights Ron Osborne and Catherine Bush have had great success with Barter’s AFPP through their festival-winning plays, including First Baptist of Ivy Gap and The Other Side of the Mountain which were fully produced by Barter and have gone on to enjoy successful productions at various theatres around the country.

Perhaps the most successful and recognizable shows to emerge from Barter’s AFPP are Keep on the Sunny Side: the Songs and Story of the Original Carter Family and Man of Constant Sorrow, the show that pays tribute to the careers of the Stanley brothers, both written by local physician Douglas Pote. Both plays have toured nationally and have been produced at theatres around the country. Barter’s original cast recordings, which have been distributed internationally, have brought the attention of these works to countless others.

Barter’s AFPP is an annual event at Barter Theatre held concurrently with the Virginia Highlands Festival during the first two weeks in August. For more information on submitting plays, please contact Festival Director Nick Piper at (276) 619-3316 or visit our website at www.bartertheatre.com/festival.

2008 Festival

Barter Stage II

Mini - Productions

Appalachian Reality by Don LaPlant

Two native Southerners, transplanted to L.A. to pursue show biz careers, return to central Appalachia charged by their elitist producer to find locations, premises and talent for a new reality television show. Christopher, who never fit in back home, is eager to exploit the stereotypical “rednecks" who drove him away, while Nicole seeks positive stories to tell about the decent people of her hometown. Will she be able to out-maneuver Christopher and the executives, or will her efforts cost her the job she left home to pursue?

Heaven Sent by Rick Whelan

Recluse Samuel Langley, living far removed from the people of Raveloe County, Kentucky, is forced to re-enter society when a young orphan finds her way to his doorstep in the middle of the night. Heaven Sent is the story of a bitter man's redemption through the simple need of an innocent child.

Readings

READING #1—FRIDAY, 8/1/08, 2 p.m.

The Unholy Ghost by Ron Osborne

For forty years, Reverend Rufus Benjamin Day was “The Voice of God,” not only in the mountains of his native Virginia, but throughout America. That is, until his career was cut short in an accident. On the heels of his death, his daughter Faith has begun to turn his country estate into a shrine dedicated to his memory. Here, in Rufus’ beloved study, she carries on a love-hate relationship with his ghost, while defending his legacy against her sister Lydia – an ambitious evangelist with her own dark secret – and Joe Markham, an investigative reporter seeking the truth. The UNHOLY GHOST questions the cost of betrayal,
deception and self-interest, as well as the importance of truth.

READING #2—MONDAY, 8/4/08, 1 p.m.

Angels and Ministers of Grace Defend Us by Elaine Smith

    How do you wrestle with the present when the past comes calling?
    On the anniversary of an event she’d just as soon forget, staring down the barrel of an uncertain future, Miriam is driven to unravel her eccentric family’s tangled problems.  Her sister’s been making angels for seven years, and now they're threatening to take over the house.  Her brother is dragging down the family finances, and her ex-husband can't make up his mind.  Does he really want the sisters to sell the family farm, or does he want to move back to it?  Miriam finds that unsettled business has a way of creeping up, whether you try to push it away, laugh it away, or flat-out knock it on the head—and maybe you can’t move forward until you’re brave enough to look back.

READING #3—MONDAY, 8/4/08, 4 p.m.

American Made by Frank Higgins

In the hope of winning a new car plant to save her town in east Tennessee, a woman attempts an act that will win national publicity, and maybe win a particular man's love--if it doesn't kill her. A sweet and funny play about the struggle to maintain the American Dream while looking for love.

READING #4—TUESDAY, 8/5/08, 1 p.m.

The Controversial Rescue of Fatty the Pig by Catherine Bush

Cherry Blevins’ house has burned down—her second house in five years. While trying to help save Cherry’s 300 pound pet pig “Fatty” from the flames, Cherry’s brother Floyd and his wife Connie are arrested for assault by local law enforcement officer Deputy Dwight Omunundro. As these four characters tell their version of what happened that night and why, they begin to reveal not only the events leading up to the fire, but all the lost hopes and dreams that make them what they are today. In doing so, they realize that the disappointments of the past don’t necessarily dictate the relationships of the future and by attempting to rescue Fatty the Pig, they may have miraculously saved themselves.

 

READING #5—TUESDAY 8/5/08, 4 p.m.

Devil Sedan by Kenley Smith

One shotgun blast.  Two young women.  Two brothers.  Four lives fatally intertwined.  A community at odds with itself.  With each vignette, "Devil Sedan" unfolds as a tale of defied expectation, a journey into the deepest mysteries of faith and duty.

READING #6—FRIDAY, 8/8/08, 2 p.m.

Raising Peacocks by Mark Witteveen

Trevor, a budding writer, returns home to the hills of Appalachia after a failed year in Chicago. He tries to re-connect to his family but brother Mitch was glad to be rid of him, and wants him gone--back to Chicago, to Florida, or dead if necessary. The brothers do rollicking battle over property rights, golf, women, whiskey, even peacocks, as Trevor looks to his mother and grandfather for inspiration and solace.

 

Visit the Festival Information page for submission details.