If all the world is a stage, then the wings must be overflowing with storytellers eager for the chance to bring their imagination to life in front of an audience – and they can get that opportunity at Barter Theatre.
Founded in 2001to give an authentic voice to the stories of Appalachia and the writers who tell them, the Appalachian Festival of Plays and Playwrights is the flagstone of Barter’s new play development program.
The AFPP event for 2024 will take place Thursday Feb. 22-Sunday Feb. 25 inside Barter’s Smith Theatre.
“Each year, we receive hundreds of submissions of new Appalachian plays from playwrights hoping to develop their work. Six of these plays are chosen to be read at the AFPP,” said Nick Piper, associate director of New Play Development at Barter. “The playwrights are brought in for a week and provided with housing, travel and a stipend so they can attend rehearsals with our company and continue to work on their plays before they are read to the public over the course of a long weekend.”
Piper added that over the past two decades, the AFPP has read more than 130 new plays with nearly one-third of these plays going into full production at Barter. That is an unprecedented amount of new work being developed in a theatre the size of Barter.
“Many of these plays have gone on to production in theatres across the country. One of the great success stories from the AFPP is a play called Keep on the Sunny Side: The Songs and Stories of the Carter Family. This play was written by a local doctor named Doug Pote who happened to see the artistic director in the lobby after a show one night and said, ‘You should do a story on the Carter Family,’ and our artistic director said, ‘You should write it.’” Piper explained. “Doug said, ‘I’m not a writer, I’m a doctor.’ But he had a passion for this story and this music, and with the help of Barter’s artistic staff, the play was developed through the AFPP and has gone on to become the No. 1 requested play at Barter, and has been seen by nearly 200,000 people in 23 states and produced in dozens of theatres across the country. It is a play that truly celebrates this region.”
It’s stories like this that make the AFPP an important part of Barter’s mission, according to Piper.
“One of the most unique and important aspects of the festival is that it is centered around the audience being a part of the development process. Each year hundreds of people come from all over the region and beyond to attend these free play readings to be a part of the process,” he said. “After each reading, there is a moderated discussion with the audience so that the playwright has an opportunity to get feedback from the very people whose stories are being told–the Appalachian people.”
The festival continues to grow in popularity and national recognition, Piper noted. In 2023, PBS News Hour came to do a piece on the festival and there have been articles published in numerous magazines and newspapers across the south. Last year, Barter had more first-time attendees than ever before–a sure sign that the word is getting out about the AFPP.
“We’re proud of our festival and the work that has come out of it and, most importantly, the relationship we continue to build with our audience as we encourage them to be a part of the process of shaping the stories that matter to them,” said Piper.
Plays and playwrights chose for this year include:
“Snakeroot,” by Brooklyn, New York,-based playwright Levi Shrader.
“Snakeroot” tell the tale of Sissy, who was orphaned in the 1967 collapse of the Silver Bridge in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. She scrapes together a living wildcrafting while her dysfunctional brother searches for the elusive Mothman. When an agent from the National Park Service arrives with information about a rare plant, Sissy sees a path forward.
Shrader is pursuing a master of fine arts in playwriting from Hunter College. His plays have been produced by (re)discover theatre co., The Barrens Theatre Co., AstonRep, The George Washington Foundation and numerous plays by the Chicago Public Library.
“Snakeroot” will be read Thursday, Feb. 22, at 7 p.m.
On Friday, Feb. 23, “Girl On A Hill,” by Cris Eli Blak, will be read at 11 a.m.
The story follows Deana Wakefield, an African American woman living in a motel with her musician boyfriend and struggling with a substance use disorder. Her life changes when a reporter turns up and uncovers that she is a former child math prodigy. “Girl On A Hill” is the 2024 Black Stories/Black Voices selection.
Blak is a Black playwright who has seen his work performed around the world and has won the Black Broadway Men Playwriting Initiative, the Atlanta Shakespeare Company’s Muse of Fire BIPOC Playwriting Festival and the Emerging Playwrights Fellowship from the Scoundrel & Scamp Theatre.
Also on Friday, Feb. 23, at 3 p.m., “The Bad Guy,” by Jen Diamond, will be read.
“The Bad Guy” tells the story of Finn and Deirdre inheriting Finn’s childhood home and moving in, hoping to repair their marriage and lives. The modern, folk-horror adaptation of “the Bacchae” is about all the ways we are capable of transforming ourselves and those we love.
Based in Brooklyn, Diamond has had work presented at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Baltimore Center Stage, Dixon Place, American Lives Theatre, The Tank and others. In 2021, her original comedy pilot “A Whole Production” was winner of the Austin Film Festival’s Warner Bros. Entertainment Award. She is pursuing an MFA in playwrighting at Hunter College.
“Mountain Mamas” by Daryl Lisa Fazio will have a reading on Saturday, Feb. 24, at 11 a.m.
The story tells the tale of coal miner Patsy Armstrong involved in a mining accident that left her unable to move or communicate. Patsy is plagued by nightmares and revelations that she is only able to share with us.
Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Fazio is a playwright, actor, producer and graphic designer. She has had off-Broadway productions at the New York Musical Theatre Festival, Greyhounds, and more.
Also on Saturday, Feb. 24, Gage Tarlton’s “Sons That Wear Dresses and Mothers That Love Sweet Potatoes” will be read at 3 p.m.
The play follows Malcom returning home to Durham, North Carolina, for Thanksgiving to find his mother moving out of her bookshop home to make room for new apartment. The play is described as a play about gentrification, the price of love and learning to move forward.
Now living in Brooklyn, Tarlton has been featured in The New York Times, Variety, Deadline, Playbill, TheaterMania, The Brooklyn Rail, Out Magazine, LGBTQ Nation and others. His work has been developed with Arterial Projects, La MaMa ETC, Victory Gardens Theater, The Kennedy Center and more.
Closing out the festival, on Sunday, Feb. 25, at 1 p.m., Catherine Bush’s “Go Tell It On The Mountain” will have a reading.
The new play by the Barter Theatre’s playwright-in-residence follows Appalachians as they celebrate the Christmas season.
Bush’s Barter plays include “The Other Side of the Mountain,” “The Quiltmaker,” “Coming Up A Storm,” Wooden Snowflakes,” “Tradin’ Paint,” “Where Trouble Sleeps,” “the Road to Appomattox,” “Walking Across Egypt” and “It’s a Wonderful Live,” among others.
