Carswell Holler

The winner of the 2026 Appalachian Playwriting Festival at the Parkway Playhouse. This was the first set built and designed for this riveting story. It is always enjoyable to work on original works, as we get to discover what the play looks like and tackle challenges that nobody else has ever tackled before. Taking place in an old diner, this play feels very liminal and psychological. An EPA agent gets locked in a freezer, and the door rolls back so that the audience can see him trapped in there. At the end of the first act, a mudslide of coal slag covers the diner. I rigged one of the exposed trusses to safely collapse during this scene.