Adirondack Theatre Festival

Festival Events:

Plays 2012:

• Black Tie
  Playwright: A.R. Gurney
  Director: Terry Rabine
  Performance Dates: June 26 – 30, 2012
  Opening Night: Wednesday, June 27 at 7:30pm
  Evening Performances at 7:30pm
  Matinee on Wednesday, June 27 at 2:00pm
  
  • The festival begins with a critically acclaimed comedy set on the shores of Lake George by one of America’s most prolific playwrights. The father of the groom simply wants to make a memorable toast. But before he is able to raise his glass, he must defend time-honored traditions of the past, including his formal attire. Cultures and generations clash when a surprise guest is announced, threatening to throw convention out the window. Balancing the standards of his late father and the needs of his future family may prove too messy for a black tie affair. Black Tie had its world premiere in 2011 at Primary Stages in NYC. This Off-Broadway run received a New York Times Critic’s Pick and was extended by popular demand. According to Board President Kathy Reed, A.R. Gurney is a writer who has always had a special place among ATF’s fans. “ATF was launched in 1995 by a production of Gurney’s Love Letters. People in our region are still talking about that production starring Elaine Stritch and Jason Robards. I’m thrilled Mark is sharing Gurney’s latest play with our audiences.”
• Next to Normal
  Book and lyrics: Brian Yorkey
  Music: Tom Kitt
  Director: Mark Fleischer
  Music Director: Matthew Aument
  Choreographer: Marc Kimelman
  Performances: July 5 – 14, 2012
  Opening Night: Friday, July 6 at 7:30pm
  Evening Performances at 7:30pm
  Matinee on Wednesday, July 11 at 2:00pm
  
  • 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Tony Award winner (nominated for 11, won 3 including best original score). ATF’s Producing Artistic Director Mark Fleischer will helm a new production of one of Broadway’s bravest and most talked about musicals. Featuring a compelling and surging pop-rock score, Next to Normal shatters the façade of a suburban family dealing with the direct and indirect effects of mental illness. This intense, emotional and ultimately hopeful musical makes a direct grab for the heart with its story of a family trying to take care of themselves and each other. Next to Normal was chosen as “one of the year’s ten best” in 2009 by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Time Out New York, New York Daily News, The Bergen Record, and NY1 – more than any other musical from that season. Ben Brantley of The New York Times aptly dubbed Next to Normal the “feel-everything musical” and Fleischer promises audiences an engaging theatre experience. “As both a director and audience member I am attracted to pieces that tell compelling stories driven by complex relationships. Next to Normal is a great choice for ATF, and I cannot wait to share it with our audience. I saw the show on Broadway and thought it was an incredibly moving, witty and surprising piece of theatre. This show, while challenging for some, is for all generations and will certainly launch many conversations – one of my prime goals as a producer and director.”
• Woody Sez: The Life and Music of Woody Guthrie
  Devised by David M. Lutken with Nick Corley
and Darcie Deaville, Helen J. Russell, and Andy Teirstein
  Director: Nick Corley
  Performance Dates: July 19 – 28, 2012
  Opening Night: Friday, July 20 at 7:30pm
  Evening Performances at 7:30pm
  Matinee on Wednesday, July 25 at 2:00pm
  
  • ATF presents a very special production in honor of the Woody Guthrie Centennial. Woody Guthrie transformed folk music into a vehicle for social protest and evoked the restless spirit of the Dust Bowl generation. Woody Sez is a joyous, toe-tapping, and moving theatrical event that uses Guthrie’s words, and over twenty-five of his songs, to tell the fascinating, beautiful and sometimes tragic story of this musical hero. Performed by four versatile actor/musicians playing 15 acoustic instruments, the ensemble brings to life the many people who form the fabric of Guthrie’s amazing story. Through a mix of his moving ballads and energetic foot-stompers, including “Bound for Glory” and “This Land is Your Land”, Woody Sez captures not only the heart and spirit of Woody Guthrie, but the story of America. Woody Sez is headed by two artists who have previously graced ATF’s stage. According to Fleischer, “David played guitar in our world premiere of Barbara’s Blue Kitchen (2000) and director Nick Corley headed up our acclaimed hip-hop musical Bomb-itty of Errors (2006). Outside ATF these men have very impressive resumes that speak to the level of talent ATF brings to our community each summer.” Lutken’s Broadway credits include the Broadway revival of Inherit the Wind, starring Christopher Plummer and Brian Dennehy, Ring of Fire: The Johnny Cash Musical, The Civil War and as another American legend, Will Rogers, in The Will Rogers Follies. As an actor Nick Corley appeared in Broadway’s Mary Poppins and She Loves Me. He has directed at such distinguished regional theatres as Houston’s Alley Theatre, Denver Theatre Center Company, and The Fulton Opera House. ATF Founder Matt Frey will be the show’s lighting designer.
• The More Things Change, ATF’s Second Act Cabaret
  Starring Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair
  June 28 – 30 at 9:30pm following select performances of Black Tie
  
  • Entering its 3rd year, ATF’s Second Act Cabaret brings the NYC cabaret experience to Glens Falls. This year Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair, the authors of ATF’s hit musical Murder for Two, will create an original cabaret featuring some of their latest songs and sketches. Blair and Kinosian are two of the nation’s hottest up and coming musical theatre writers. Their first major collaboration, Murder for Two, premiered at ATF in the summer of 2010. This inventive two person, comic, murder-mystery musical was met with both audience and critical acclaim. Following its ATF premiere, Murder for Two was produced in San Francisco and then Chicago where it was extended several times during what became a seven month run at the Tony Award-winning Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. Fleischer is thrilled to have the team back and says it demonstrates ATF’s ongoing commitment to its artists. “You might say Joe and Kellen are returning to the scene of the crime. ATF and its audience took a risk on this then unknown team and their show back in 2010. The result was a hit and the launching of two very promising careers. I am thrilled ATF can provide them with a venue in which to share their latest songs. And I know our audience will be enthusiastic about welcoming them back to ATF.”
• Filming O’Keeffe
  Playwright: Eric Lane
  Director: Martha Banta
  New Play Reading
  Saturday, July 21 at 2:00pm
  Sunday, July 22 at 7:30pm
  
  • Audiences can take a sneak peek at the creation of a new play. Award-winning playwright Eric Lane will share his latest play, Filming O’Keeffe, with ATF audiences in anticipation of its 2013 world premiere. The piece was commissioned by Adirondack Theatre Festival and is inspired by the time Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz spent at his family home on Lake George. Lane’s emotional, lyrical and funny play takes its inspiration and themes from this passionate and turbulent relationship. The echoes of O’Keefe and Stieglitz are alive in a modern artistic family residing on the former Stieglitz estate as they wrestle with choices made years ago. The piece will be presented as a script in hand reading. ATF invites the audience to provide feedback to the play’s writer and director via a post-show discussion and survey. Filming O’Keeffe is supported in part by the ATF Founders’ Fund for New Work. The fund, which was launched in 2011, raised over $16,000 in its first year from audience members and alumni artists. The Fund is dedicated to commissioning new plays and honoring the theatre’s founders who envisioned a company dedicated to producing new work. This project also marks the return of ATF’s founding artistic director, Martha Banta. Fleischer says he is thrilled to have Banta back at ATF. “When I was handed the reins of this amazing company, Martha and I immediately expressed our mutual desire for her continued involvement. She has served as an important sounding board and supportive artistic ally. Martha’s collaborative history with Eric Lane on two previous plays and her experience growing up in our region made Filming O’Keeffe the perfect project for her return.”

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Practical Info:

Tickets:

• Season Subscriptions as well as tickets to individual shows are now on sale and can be purchased by calling the box office at (518)874-0800 or on the website at http://www.atfestival.org or in person at the Box Office from 12:00pm – 6:00pm Monday through Saturday.

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