Greenbrier Valley Theatre (GVT), the State Professional Theatre of West Virginia, proudly presents GVT Play Fest, a community theatre festival.

This exciting event will be held Feb. 7 through Feb. 9 at 7 p.m. with a Pay-What-You-Can-Preview performance on Feb. 6 at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $16 for general adult admission, $13 for seniors (60+) and $10 for children/students. For more information, call the GVT Box Office at 304-645-3838 or visit www.gvtheatre.org.

For this year’s Play Fest, GVT is offering a free ticket to the government employees and their families who suffered during the recent government shutdown. A valid government employee ID needs to be present at the time of purchase.

“Play Fest is an incredible opportunity to showcase the talents and passions of people within the community. When you have six different plays, it gives the audience a chance to see a heartfelt drama as well as a farcical comedy all in one night,” said GVT’s Teaching Artist and Play Fest director Brianna Duckworth.

Audience members will be entertained by the work of Jonathan Joy, who is returning for his third year in GVT’s Play Festival. Joy’s work has been staged in 17 US states, and his play, Don’t Drink the Jet Fuel, won the University of Illinois 2018 Inner Voices Social Issues Theatre writing contest. His other work, Beans and Franks Never Tasted So Good, won him a West Virginia Writers award. Joy is an Associate Professor of English at Ashland Community and Technical College in Ashland, KY. His play Don’t Drink the Jet Fuel is about family relationships, the disappearing rural landscape, and water quality are at the heart of this play, a meditation on past, present and future West Virginia. In his second play, Beans and Franks Never Tasted So Good, an elderly couple share disagreements, as well as recollections on an unusual first date meal.

James Froemel, the author of Thayerbee Dragons, is the winner of the 2015 and 2017 West Virginia Biggest Liar competition and his stories have been published in Goldenseal. Through the West Virginia Humanities Council’s History Alive! Program, James can be seen portraying Charles Schulz, the creator of Peanuts, in his one man show Charles Schulz: A Life in the Funny Papers. He has previously worked as an actor and educator with Greenbrier Valley Theatre, and is a graduate of WVU College of Creative Arts where he received a BFA in Acting. Thayerbee Dragons is the story of Julia, a newlywed, who visits the remote town of Thayerbee where her husband’s grandparents have lived their whole lives. Over Hank Williams, sweet tea and flying dragons Julia learns about her new family and the unique traditions of Thayerbee.

The program is presented with financial assistance from the WV Division of Arts, Culture & History, and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the WV Commission on the Arts.