Adirondack Theatre Festival Reveals 30th Anniversary Season and Half-Million-Dollar “Stories Start Here” Campaign

Adirondack Theatre Festival (ATF) capped its 30th Anniversary “Pep Rally” Saturday with a surprise double announcement: the unveiling of its summer lineup plus “Stories Start Here,” the biggest independent fundraising campaign in the company’s history. 

ATF Producing Artistic Director Miriam Weisfeld explained, “The 2020 shutdown permanently altered the landscape of the professional theatre field. It’s going to take the biggest fundraising effort ATF has ever seen to invest in new art and new audiences and make sure ATF is here for the next generation. And we’re off to an astonishing start.” 

ATF Managing Director Tracey Sullivan added, “Thanks to leadership gifts from a coalition of visionary supporters, we have already received pledges to this three-year Campaign which total $350,000. We’ve raised 70% of our $500,000 goal, and we’re just getting started. We welcome our incredible community to join us and cross the finish line together!”

The festival’s 30th Anniversary Season will open with a world premiere musical comedy by the creators of Murder for Two, which began at ATF in 2010 and was then produced Off-Broadway and around the world. Composer Joe Kinosian and lyricist Kellen Blair, along with book writer Scott Rothman, will return with Todd vs the Titanic (running June 27 - July 3), which sees the sole survivor of an apocalyptic event in Schenectady frantically attempt to perform a large-cast “Titanic” musical by himself.

Next, ATF will stage a concert presentation of the new Broadway-bound pop musical The King’s Wife (running July 19 - 21). With music and lyrics by Grammy-nominated Nashville songwriter Jamie Floyd and book by Mêlisa Annis, the sweeping epic reveals the secret history of the first wives of Henry VIII. Produced by special arrangement with Jennifer Kranz.

The season Will Close with Jeffrey Hatcher’s edgy new adaptation of Dial “M” for Murder (running Aug. 1 - 7), the play by Frederick Knott which inspired the iconic Alfred Hitchcock film. Said Weisfeld, “This delicious season takes us on an epic journey from dazzling comedy, to breathtaking drama, to stylish thrills. And it reminds us that great stories start here at the Adirondack Theatre Festival.”

The “Stories Start Here” Campaign will support new audience development efforts as well as new plays and musicals. Among the plays ATF will commission are Worth: An Intimate Exhibition, an investigation of value and the art and artist, written and performed by Jessica Frances Dukes, who starred in the Netflix hit Ozark; and a stage adaptation of Ken Tingley’s book The Last American Newspaper, which documents his time as Editor of The Post Star. 

ATF was the inaugural recipient of Crandall Public Library’s John E. Herlihy Literary Fellowship to adapt Tingley’s tribute to local journalism and Glens Falls history. It marks the first time ATF will commission a local writer since The 5 and Dime Plays in 2000, which included work by conservative activist Robert Schulz and Glens Falls Chronicle Managing Editor Cathy Dede. 

Upcoming new musicals will be supported by the Sara and Larry Kass New Musicals Commissioning Program. Larry Kass is an Emmy-nominated composer who has recorded over twenty-nine albums. His late wife Sara was Founder and President of Cliffside Artists Collaborative. 

Weisfeld added, “ATF’s economic impact is approximately $690,000 per year, and its contribution to our region’s quality of life is immeasurable. The rest of the world takes notice of the brave new work nurtured here in Glens Falls. ATF shows have gone on to Broadway, Off-Broadway, national tours, and international productions. Since 1994, a whole generation has grown up nourished by the empathy, innovation, and hope that ATF shows inspire. Together, we continue to become a more welcoming, entrepreneurial, and resilient community. Everyone is welcome to make a pledge of any size and help ATF lay the groundwork for the next thirty years.” 

More information on pledging to the “Stories Start Here” Campaign and purchasing subscriptions to the 30th anniversary season may be found at www.atfestival.org

Three-show subscriptions are $130, or $75 for those age 25 and under, from now until May 1 and may be purchased at www.atfestival.org, or by calling the Wood Theater Box Office at 518-480-4878, or in-person at the Box Office at 207 Glen Street. The Box Office is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from noon to 5pm.

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