Showing September 12-14, 2025 at Parkway Playhouse. This festival will feature staged readings of new plays written by Appalachian Playwrights or plays that represent Appalachian Culture in some way. One script from this festival will be chosen to be produced in our 2026 Mainstage Season!
2025 SCRIPT SELECTIONS
CARSWELL HOLLER
BY TRAVIS LOWE
When a traveling EPA agent stops in for a bite at a greasy spoon café in southern West Virginia’s coal country, it sets off a series of dangerous events and menacing stories, both real and imagined, natural and supernatural. A comedically elegant and broodingly dark celebration of Appalachia and its ghosts.
Travis Lowe is a nationally recognized playwright, whose works include Oxalis, Sixteen Years Tried, Mixed Fandango, Six Knots, Some Notes On Dating During Outbreak, and Recycled Nuts. His plays have been developed and produced by The Magnetic Theatre, Different Strokes! Performing Arts Collective, Multiverse Theatre Collective, Haywood Arts Regional Theatre, Sublime Theatre and Press, and the Montford Park Players. Travis’s picaresque prequel to Twelfth Night, The Humourous Adventures of Sir Andrew Aguecheek, was shortlisted for the Shakespeare’s New Contemporaries Project, and his darkly comedic dive into immigration history, Glister Doves and Gopher Wood, was a finalist for the Princess Grace Foundation’s Playwriting Fellowship. He is a member of The Dramatists Guild of America and currently resides in Asheville, NC with his wife, two parrots, and an enviable collection of kitchen spices.
DEERA’S COUNTRY FUNERAL
BY NED DOUGHERTY
Ray Sally’s beloved tractor died and it’s time to have a funeral. But maybe it’s Ray Sally who is about to meet his maker since what good is an old farmer to the world if he can’t even keep a tractor running? On the surface, this is just a silly little play about a tractor, but underneath questions about destiny, rural masculinity, and the measure of a life well-lived face this tiny community caught at the height of their grief.
Ned Dougherty is an award-winning teacher and playwright whose plays have been developed with The Playwrights Workshop, The Greenbrier Valley Theatre, AboutFACE Ireland, ForgeNYC, the Taos Center for the Arts. He is a 2024 semifinalist for the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference and his work has been staged for festivals or independent productions from Albuquerque to Ireland. He is a two-time Fund For Teachers fellow and has facilitated writing workshops with the Taos Writers Conference and the Appalachian Studies Association. He is the founder of the Appalachian Ode Project which brings free community writing experiences to areas across the region to foster improved youth retention and ignite new artistic forms of civic rejuvenation. He teaches middle and high school students navigating the juvenile justice system and leads free creative writing classes for youth in Pocahontas County, WV where he lives with his family.
IN A MANOR OF SPEAKING
BY STEVEN D. MILLER
Spinster Florence Wren has fallen on hard times during the Great Depression and is renting her mansion, Wren Manor, to Raskin and Amelia Forbes, Northerners who are in town to scout locations for a textile mill and to repair their marriage. Into this situation comes Georgeanne Cash, a young woman hoping for elocution lessons so that she can snag a rich husband. Lives unravel and then find unanticipated resolutions.
Steven D. Miller studied playwriting at Dartmouth College under John Finch, a mentor to Frank Gilroy (“The Subject Was Roses”), and holds a post-graduate degree in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University in New York City. His short plays have been produced across the U.S., from Florida to Washington state, with some full-length plays produced in the Southeast.
2025 DIRECTORS
Dakota Mann
CARSWELL HOLLER DIRECTOR
Dakota Mann is a local theatre artist who’s done over one hundred productions in the WNC region, as well as performing overseas at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Past directorial experience includes: Life Sucks (Hendersonville Theatre), An Iliad (Haywood Arts Regional Theatre), and No More Waiting (The Magnetic Theatre). He has a B.A. in Drama from UNC-Asheville.
Erika Tyner
IN A MANOR OF SPEAKING DIRECTOR
Erika has been working in the public school arena as a 6th grade Language Arts teacher for 17 years. As an educator, Erika has been named Teacher of the Year for her county, awarded National Board Certification, participated in the NC Governor’s Teacher Network, and spent a year as an Educational Policy Fellow. Over the past few years, Erika has enjoyed directing shows for Parkway Playhouse and writing plays for her drama students to perform in showcases and summer camps.
Doug Savitt
DEERA'S COUNTRY FUNERAL DIRECTOR
Doug Savitt is an actor, director, writer, father, husband, cat daddy, lover of good books, jazz, and a cup of tea. Recent direction includes Death of a Salesman (Haywood Arts Regional Theatre) and The Frankenstein Rubrics (The Magnetic Theatre). Past favorite roles include Asch (Indecent), Charlie (The Foreigner), and Sir Robin (Spamalot).
2024 FESTIVAL WINNER
BLOODLETTING IN THESE HILLS
BY WALTER THINNES
More than 7,500 strikers walked out of more than 90 mines in the Paint Creek and Cabin Creek coal fields of West Virginia during the bloody 1912-1914 labor war. Bloodletting in These Hills is the story of one family caught in the crosshairs of that struggle.
Walter Thinnes is an emerging playwright whose thirty-plus plays have received more than 125 productions, readings, or awards in 26 states, and around the world, including The Kennedy Center, Eugene O’Neill Theatre Conference, and several Off-Off-Off-Broadway Theaters. He is currently located in Central Florida and you can find some of his scripts at www.newplayexchange.org. He is the recipient of the Colonial Players’ Promising Playwright Award, Annapolis, MD; Theatre Oxford L.W. Thomas Award, Oxford MS; Appalachian New Play Festival Judge’s Choice Award, Athens, OH; and winner of the Centre-Stage New Play Festival in Greenville, SC. You can discover more at www.walterthinnes.com.
OUR MISSION
When Parkway Playhouse was founded in 1947, it was founded out of a love of theater and dedication to education as college students joined together from around the nation here in our mountain town to produce high-quality productions each summer.
What they found here was not only the knowledge of how to create wonderful theater; but also, farmers harvesting crops at the end of each season, teaching them the value of hard work; potters, quilters, and cloggers showing them the power art can have on a community; and a town thriving in the Blue Ridge Mountains because of the people that cherish it and each other, teaching them how to be good neighbors.
Students from all those years ago and the audiences who pass through our doors today all found a special feeling of community here at Parkway Playhouse. The secret ingredient? Our home. The impact of our people and our location here in the Appalachian Mountains is keenly felt in our theater.
Appalachia is defined as a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the southern tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. It’s an area rich in tradition, ideals, and culture. The Appalachian Playwriting Festival is a celebration of Appalachian Culture. It is a preservation of the stories, people and traditions that make our community so wonderful. This festival is an opportunity to give back by offering a microphone to those voices telling the stories of our home and heart.
Each year submitted plays by Appalachian playwrights will be read by a committee of local community members and theater industry professionals, and the favorite select handful will be given staged readings. These previously unpublished works will all celebrate Appalachian Culture. The readings will be adjudicated and the winning script will be fully produced on our stage. Appalachian stories deserve to be told and we’re so excited to provide this opportunity for those with stories to tell.
DONATE
Your donations help us produce this event, pay artists, and connect with our community. Click here to donate today.
JOIN OUR TEAM
We’re looking for festival volunteers, musicians, readers, and more! Email us at [email protected] to get the conversation started!
BUY TICKETS
Your attendance at this event means we can produce more events like this in the future.
Showing September 12-14, 2025 at Parkway Playhouse. This festival will feature staged readings of new plays written by Appalachian Playwrights or plays that represent Appalachian Culture in some way. One script from this festival will be chosen to be produced in our 2026 Mainstage Season!
2025 SCRIPT SELECTIONS
CARSWELL HOLLER
BY TRAVIS LOWE
When a traveling EPA agent stops in for a bite at a greasy spoon café in southern West Virginia’s coal country, it sets off a series of dangerous events and menacing stories, both real and imagined, natural and supernatural. A comedically elegant and broodingly dark celebration of Appalachia and its ghosts.
Travis Lowe is a nationally recognized playwright, whose works include Oxalis, Sixteen Years Tried, Mixed Fandango, Six Knots, Some Notes On Dating During Outbreak, and Recycled Nuts. His plays have been developed and produced by The Magnetic Theatre, Different Strokes! Performing Arts Collective, Multiverse Theatre Collective, Haywood Arts Regional Theatre, Sublime Theatre and Press, and the Montford Park Players. Travis’s picaresque prequel to Twelfth Night, The Humourous Adventures of Sir Andrew Aguecheek, was shortlisted for the Shakespeare’s New Contemporaries Project, and his darkly comedic dive into immigration history, Glister Doves and Gopher Wood, was a finalist for the Princess Grace Foundation’s Playwriting Fellowship. He is a member of The Dramatists Guild of America and currently resides in Asheville, NC with his wife, two parrots, and an enviable collection of kitchen spices.
DEERA’S COUNTRY FUNERAL
BY NED DOUGHERTY
Ray Sally’s beloved tractor died and it’s time to have a funeral. But maybe it’s Ray Sally who is about to meet his maker since what good is an old farmer to the world if he can’t even keep a tractor running? On the surface, this is just a silly little play about a tractor, but underneath questions about destiny, rural masculinity, and the measure of a life well-lived face this tiny community caught at the height of their grief.
Ned Dougherty is an award-winning teacher and playwright whose plays have been developed with The Playwrights Workshop, The Greenbrier Valley Theatre, AboutFACE Ireland, ForgeNYC, the Taos Center for the Arts. He is a 2024 semifinalist for the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference and his work has been staged for festivals or independent productions from Albuquerque to Ireland. He is a two-time Fund For Teachers fellow and has facilitated writing workshops with the Taos Writers Conference and the Appalachian Studies Association. He is the founder of the Appalachian Ode Project which brings free community writing experiences to areas across the region to foster improved youth retention and ignite new artistic forms of civic rejuvenation. He teaches middle and high school students navigating the juvenile justice system and leads free creative writing classes for youth in Pocahontas County, WV where he lives with his family.
IN A MANOR OF SPEAKING
BY STEVEN D. MILLER
Spinster Florence Wren has fallen on hard times during the Great Depression and is renting her mansion, Wren Manor, to Raskin and Amelia Forbes, Northerners who are in town to scout locations for a textile mill and to repair their marriage. Into this situation comes Georgeanne Cash, a young woman hoping for elocution lessons so that she can snag a rich husband. Lives unravel and then find unanticipated resolutions.
Steven D. Miller studied playwriting at Dartmouth College under John Finch, a mentor to Frank Gilroy (“The Subject Was Roses”), and holds a post-graduate degree in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University in New York City. His short plays have been produced across the U.S., from Florida to Washington state, with some full-length plays produced in the Southeast.
2025 DIRECTORS
Dakota Mann
CARSWELL HOLLER DIRECTOR
Dakota Mann is a local theatre artist who’s done over one hundred productions in the WNC region, as well as performing overseas at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Past directorial experience includes: Life Sucks (Hendersonville Theatre), An Iliad (Haywood Arts Regional Theatre), and No More Waiting (The Magnetic Theatre). He has a B.A. in Drama from UNC-Asheville.
Erika Tyner
IN A MANOR OF SPEAKING DIRECTOR
Erika has been working in the public school arena as a 6th grade Language Arts teacher for 17 years. As an educator, Erika has been named Teacher of the Year for her county, awarded National Board Certification, participated in the NC Governor’s Teacher Network, and spent a year as an Educational Policy Fellow. Over the past few years, Erika has enjoyed directing shows for Parkway Playhouse and writing plays for her drama students to perform in showcases and summer camps.
Doug Savitt
DEERA'S COUNTRY FUNERAL DIRECTOR
Doug Savitt is an actor, director, writer, father, husband, cat daddy, lover of good books, jazz, and a cup of tea. Recent direction includes Death of a Salesman (Haywood Arts Regional Theatre) and The Frankenstein Rubrics (The Magnetic Theatre). Past favorite roles include Asch (Indecent), Charlie (The Foreigner), and Sir Robin (Spamalot).
2024 FESTIVAL WINNER
BLOODLETTING IN THESE HILLS
BY WALTER THINNES
More than 7,500 strikers walked out of more than 90 mines in the Paint Creek and Cabin Creek coal fields of West Virginia during the bloody 1912-1914 labor war. Bloodletting in These Hills is the story of one family caught in the crosshairs of that struggle.
Walter Thinnes is an emerging playwright whose thirty-plus plays have received more than 125 productions, readings, or awards in 26 states, and around the world, including The Kennedy Center, Eugene O’Neill Theatre Conference, and several Off-Off-Off-Broadway Theaters. He is currently located in Central Florida and you can find some of his scripts at www.newplayexchange.org. He is the recipient of the Colonial Players’ Promising Playwright Award, Annapolis, MD; Theatre Oxford L.W. Thomas Award, Oxford MS; Appalachian New Play Festival Judge’s Choice Award, Athens, OH; and winner of the Centre-Stage New Play Festival in Greenville, SC. You can discover more at www.walterthinnes.com.
OUR MISSION
When Parkway Playhouse was founded in 1947, it was founded out of a love of theater and dedication to education as college students joined together from around the nation here in our mountain town to produce high-quality productions each summer.
What they found here was not only the knowledge of how to create wonderful theater; but also, farmers harvesting crops at the end of each season, teaching them the value of hard work; potters, quilters, and cloggers showing them the power art can have on a community; and a town thriving in the Blue Ridge Mountains because of the people that cherish it and each other, teaching them how to be good neighbors.
Students from all those years ago and the audiences who pass through our doors today all found a special feeling of community here at Parkway Playhouse. The secret ingredient? Our home. The impact of our people and our location here in the Appalachian Mountains is keenly felt in our theater.
Appalachia is defined as a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the southern tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. It’s an area rich in tradition, ideals, and culture. The Appalachian Playwriting Festival is a celebration of Appalachian Culture. It is a preservation of the stories, people and traditions that make our community so wonderful. This festival is an opportunity to give back by offering a microphone to those voices telling the stories of our home and heart.
Each year submitted plays by Appalachian playwrights will be read by a committee of local community members and theater industry professionals, and the favorite select handful will be given staged readings. These previously unpublished works will all celebrate Appalachian Culture. The readings will be adjudicated and the winning script will be fully produced on our stage. Appalachian stories deserve to be told and we’re so excited to provide this opportunity for those with stories to tell.
SUPPORT APPALACHIAN STORIES
DONATE
Your donations help us produce this event, pay artists, and connect with our community. Click here to donate today.
JOIN OUR TEAM
We’re looking for festival volunteers, musicians, readers, and more! Email us at [email protected] to get the conversation started!
BUY TICKETS
Your attendance at this event means we can produce more events like this in the future. Grab your tickets here!
“I found the whole festival experience wonderful and am particularly grateful to Cheyenne, Marci, Jaquie, and Mara for your warm welcome and support of my play. Parkway Playhouse is a powerhouse.”
“I loved the people I worked with and how we talked in depth about the show.”
“I had such a blast this past weekend, and it was wonderful getting to meet all of you. I also fell quite in love with the town of Burnsville. Thank you again for making it such a fantastic experience.”
“It means a great deal to me to know that Minister of Sorrow has found a wonderful home away from home at Parkway Playhouse and will be produced.”
“I found the whole festival experience wonderful and am particularly grateful to Cheyenne, Marci, Jaquie, and Mara for your warm welcome and support of my play. Parkway Playhouse is a powerhouse.”
“I loved the people I worked with and how we talked in depth about the show.”
“I had such a blast this past weekend, and it was wonderful getting to meet all of you. I also fell quite in love with the town of Burnsville. Thank you again for making it such a fantastic experience.”
“It means a great deal to me to know that Minister of Sorrow has found a wonderful home away from home at Parkway Playhouse and will be produced.”