The Contemporary American Theater Festival of Shepherdstown, WV, will premiere four new American plays during its 1998 season. The works -- two of which were commissioned by the theatre -- will run in rotating repertory.

The commissioned dramas are Cherylene Lee's Carry the Tiger to the Mountain and puppeteer Preston Foerder's Interesting Times. Mountain follows the true story of Lily Chin from postwar bride to civil rights activist following the racially charged beating death of her son in 1982. Producing Director Ed Herendeen said he commissioned Lee after President Bill Clinton's 1997 call for a national dialogue on race.

Interesting Times, directed and performed by Foerder, explores the workings of chaos theory in the life of an everyman. This is the Festival's first full production of a puppet theatre piece.

The other two works of the Festival's 1998 season are Tom Strelich's satire BAFO (Best and Final Offer) and Richard Dresser's divorce comedy Gun-Shy, which were recently produced Off-Broadway by, respectively, the American Place Theatre and Playwrights Horizons. The season will run from July 10-26. For more information, call (304) 876-3473.

-- By Robert Simonson