Play About Elaine May and Mike Nichols Will Debut in West Virginia

The Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF) announced its 2026 season, featuring five new plays.

The season includes the world premiere of The Smoker by Lisa D’Amour, a Pulitzer Prize finalist for Detroit. The Smoker is about the possibility for community-building under unlikely circumstances. In the case of a cohort of under-employed, under-insured dreamers on a New York street corner, their need for a cigarette brings them together.

Best Line Wins: A Play Inspired by the Improvised Lives of Elaine May & Mike Nichols, by Beth Kander, is a world premiere play about comedy duo Nichols & May. When they parted ways, Mike Nichols’s career took off while Elaine May struggled. Decades later, when Nichols approaches May with a new opportunity, she must wrestle with what matters more, succeeding on her own, or reuniting with the partner who knows her true worth.

The other plays in the season are the world premiere of Yussef El Guindi’s Refugee Rhapsody, presented in partnership with the Keegan Theatre in Washington, DC; ¡VOS! by Christina Pumariega; and the world premiere of My Favorite Sociopath by Aurin Squire.

The festival, running July 10-August 2 in three venues on the Shepherd University campus, will also host more than 30 events, adding context to the experience, including discussions, lectures, and social opportunities. As of 2026, CATF remains the only summer festival in the US dedicated to producing new, fully staged American plays.

Click here for more information about the season and schedule.