<p> This is the first volume of <I>Plays from New River</I>, showcasing a place where gifted writers of plays and screenplays are paid and nurtured to write whatever they most want to write. These three very different plays are among the results. Wendy Hammond's <I>Absence</I> considers the American mindset of the Cold War by focusing on the intensely human story of a Mormon couple suffering the damage wreaked upon those involved in intelligence during that era. <I>American Girls</I> by Hilary Bettis shows us the hilariously terrifying results when teenage girls grow up in a culture that simultaneously reveres Christian ideals and celebrity. And M.Z. Ribalow's <I>Masterpiece</I>, by considering forged paintings in World War II Europe, raises timeless questions about the nature of creativity, the relation of reality to illusion, and how we judge art. Each play has a distinctive voice, subject and style; all were developed in the unique setting of New River Dramatists in Ashe County, North Carolina.</p>