FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE....April 2, 2007
Contact David Turner, 518-798-7479
ADIRONDACK THEATRE FESTIVAL 13th SEASON TO FEATURE
Tick…Tick…BOOM!
A pop-rock musical from the composer of RENT.
2.5 MINUTE RIDE
A return to ATF by Tony-Nominated playwright and actress Lisa Kron
BEHAVE YOURSELF
A world premiere comedy by award-winning playwright Leslie Ayvazian
A work-in-progress solo
musical by Susan Bernfield
365 DAYS/365 PLAYS
A national project featuring short plays being written daily by Pulitzer
Prize-winning playwright Suzanne Lori Parks. Admission is free.
ATF’s first 12 seasons come
full circle this summer as the last season programmed by ATF Founder and
Artistic Director Martha Banta features PULITZER-winning and
TONY-nominated theater artists who were part of ATF’s early years
(Jonathan Larson, Lisa Kron) as well as world premieres and
works-in-progress by contemporary writers, all at the Charles Wood
Theater in Glens Falls, NY, June 27 – July 28.
Tickets now on sale
exclusively to renewing subscribers. Tickets go on sale to the general
public April 23. Call 518-798-7479 or go to
www.ATFestival.org for more information or to receive a brochure.
The Adirondack
Theatre Festival’s thirteenth season of new and contemporary
professional theater will take a look back at artists who were part of
ATF’s first season and have now become some of the biggest names in
American Theater, as well as continue to premiere plays which are
already creating a buzz in the Off Broadway theater scene.
At a January
Benefit in 1996 which has now become legendary to longtime ATF
supporters, the audience heard two songs by an unknown composer who had
suddenly passed away three days earlier, from his unknown musical RENT.
ATF had just commissioned Jonathan Larson, who won a posthumous Pulitzer
for RENT, to write a new musical for its 1997 season. But now Larson’s
work will finally come to ATF in the form of his musical Tick…Tick…BOOM,
a work he wrote in 1990 about his struggle as an artist facing his 30th
birthday. “I saw Tick…Tick…BOOM performed by Jonathan alone at a
keyboard at a small Off Broadway theater in 1990” says ATF Artistic
Director Martha Banta. “It was raw, emotional, and extremely personal.
But it rocked. And when the story was re-written by David Auburn
(PROOF) for a New York production after Jonathan died, they found a way
to make these great songs tell a universal story about the personal
struggles we all face as we reach milestone birthdays. After the
overwhelming response to our hip-hop musical BOMB-ITTY OF ERRORS last
summer, I’m excited to be presenting another show featuring a pop music
score which both young and old will appreciate” Tick…Tick…BOOM! will be
directed by Gabriel Barre who directed JOHN & JEN for ATF in 1996.
Among his numerous directing credits are THE WILD PARTY at Manhattan
Theatre Club and ALMOST, MAINE and SUMMER OF ’42 Off Broadway.
Tick…Tick…BOOM! will run July 19-28.
Also marking a
return from ATF’s first season will be Lisa Kron who received a Tony
nomination for her Broadway play WELL last season. This time Lisa will
perform 2.5 MINUTE RIDE, a comedic and dramatic solo performance as she
tells her stories of the heart. Kron performed her early solo
performance 101 HUMILIATING STORIES as part of ATF’s first season, and
it was a performance she and the audience will never forget. “To this
day I tell the story of doing that show in an RV Park in Lake George”
says Kron, referring to ATF’s first home at the French Mountain
Playhouse in Lake George, one of 18 venues ATF used before the
construction of the Charles Wood Theater. “It was an experience I will
never forget, and over the years as Martha Banta has told me about all
that has been accomplished up there, I wonder if I will miss the RV
Park…but seriously, I can’t wait to get back there and do 2.5 MINUTE
RIDE.” 2.5 MINUTE RIDE was called “wonderfully evocative and seriously
funny” by the New York Times and has played all around the country,
juxtaposing Kron’s family trips to an amusement park in Ohio with a trip
she took with her father to the camps in Poland where her grandparents
perished. 2.5 MINUTE RIDE runs for one week only July 9 –14.
ATF’s season
opens with the world premiere of BEHAVE YOURSELF, a comedy by Leslie
Ayvazian which was developed last summer by ATF and the Cape Cod Theater
Project. Ayvazian returns to ATF after performing her solo show HIGH
DIVE in 2005, and ATF is pleased to have received a grant from the
National Endowment for the Arts for this production. BEHAVE YOURELF has
already generated interest from several theaters in New York City, and
is a comedy about a suburban mom looking to break out of the roles of
her marriage. Leslie Ayvazian is best known for her play NINE
ARMENIANS which has been produced around the country. As an actress she
recently premiered in A NAKED GIRL ON THE APPIAN WAY on Broadway.
BEHAVE YOURSELF will be directed by ATF Artistic Director Martha Banta.
On June 27th, this play will also mark a first-time Book Club
Night with the playwright. Members of area Book Clubs will see this
performance after having read the play in May. BEHAVE YOURSELF runs
June 27 – July 7.
The season will be rounded out with a two night work-in-progress
presentation of TINY FEATS OF COWARDICE on July 1 & 2, a
work-in-progress musical solo show by Susan Bernfield. Susan is afraid
of planes, vacation, cars, fire, heights, scuba gear, toasters and so
much more. In this show she is brave enough to sing to us about how
much of a scaredy cat she is.
ATF is also pleased to have been asked to take part in 365PLAYS/365
DAYS, a national project to present short plays being written daily by
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzanne Lori Parks. These short plays
will be presented every evening July 9-14 following the performance of
2.5 MINUTE RIDE and will be free. They will be directed by ATF Artistic
Associate Brenny Rabine. For more information see
www.365days365plays.com. ATF’s season will include other special
evenings, including a wine tasting themed to the evening’s show,
post-Show discussions and Children’s Workshops. ATF’s popular $9 rush
tickets for all patrons age 23 and under will also return in 2007.
The Adirondack
Theatre Festival’s 13th season will run June 27 – July 28 at
the Charles R. Wood Theater, 207 Glen St. in downtown Glens Falls.
Subscription Packages are $66 for 3 shows or $82 for four shows, and
are now available exclusively to returning subscribers. Subscription
packages and the full season brochure will be available to the general
public the week of April 23. For more information or to join the
mailing list call 518-798-7479 or go to
www.ATFestival.org.
High-Resolution
Photos of Lisa Kron and the original Off-Broadway production of
Tick…Tick…BOOM! are now available at www.ATFestival.org/press.
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE....April 2, 2007
Contact David
King, Board President, 518-792-3775 x206
UPDATE ON ATF LEADERSHIP TRANSITION
In addition to
featuring a pop-rock musical by the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer of
RENT, the return of Tony-nominated actress/playwright Lisa Kron to ATF,
and a world premiere comedy, ATF”S 2007 season is also planning to
feature the announcement of the new Producing Artistic Director who will
lead ATF into the next chapter in our region’s development.
As announced
in January, 2007, this summer will be the last season for ATF’s founders
Martha Banta and David Turner. Regional audiences won’t want to miss
this wonderful season they have programmed as well as an opportunity to
thank them for all they have done for our region over the last 15 years.
ATF Board
Member Kate Broderick, who is heading up the Search Committee for ATF’s
new leadership, reports that over 130 applications were received from
theater professionals nationwide. The Committee has just finished
preliminary interviews with over 50 candidates, and will be holding a
second round of interviews in April before bringing a slate of finalists
to the ATF Board of Directors.
Longtime ATF
supporters Elise and Woody Widlund of North Creek, NY report a
successful first meeting of the Transition Advisory Committee which
consists of regional leaders, community members, and ATF audience
members past and present who will advise ATF’s Board on many issues
raised by this crucial leadership transition. “We had a great first
meeting with the TAC to hear thoughts on all that this wonderful
organization has done over the last 15 years, and where it might go from
here” says Elise Widlund. “Now we will bring the TAC together with
ATF’s Board and continue this conversation in the coming weeks and
months.”
Finally, the
ATF
2010 campaign which
was launched in January with the goal of obtaining
pledges of $30,000/year for 3 years reports
that $20,000/year (a total of $60,000) has currently been pledged.
ATF2010 funds will be used to cover the annual salary of a new Producing
Artisitic Director for al least 3 years beginning in 2008.
