For Immediate Release April 25, 2005
Contact David Turner/Lisa Janssen 518-798-7479, ATF@ATFestival.org


Adirondack Theatre Festival to launch second decade with new romantic musical comedy THE GIRL IN THE FRAME, solo performance with regional roots HIGH DIVE, award-winning drama MADAGASCAR,
and work-in-progress play LOST June 22 – July 30.

Four shows, four authors!
ATF season has authors in residence for all shows.

The Adirondack Theatre Festival will start its second decade with a season featuring a variety of plays and musicals with something to offer for all. “This season really represents so much of what ATF is all about,” says ATF Artistic Director Martha Banta. “The GIRL IN THE FRAME is a romantic, funny, and contemporary musical which follows in the footsteps of past shows like MIMI LE DUCK, GUYS ON ICE, and even HEARTBEATS in our very first season. MADAGASCAR is an award-winning new play which is quickly attracting a lot of attention around the country and will feature a very impressive cast – one of the best we have ever had at ATF, and HIGH DIVE is a very funny and touching solo show which reminds me of so many great solo performances we’ve done in the past such as FULLY COMMITTED and IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING. As well, we will give our audience a sneak peak at a new play titled LOST, which we commissioned from an Obie Award-winning playwright. This season truly has a show for everyone.”

The season will kick off with a new musical, GIRL IN THE FRAME, which wowed audiences in the Boston area last year. It’s a story of Lanie and Alex, a young couple who are too busy or distracted to get around to consummating their three-year engagement. When Alex’s idealized woman, in the form of a stock photo which comes in a new picture frame, comes to life, the story really gets interesting and hysterical. Jeremy Desmon, the author and composer of GIRL IN THE FRAME, is a recent graduate of New York University’s musical theater writing program, where ATF’s 2004 musical MIMI LE DUCK also originated. GIRL IN THE FRAME will be directed by Thomas Caruso who returns after directing MIMI LE DUCK last summer.

Next up will be a funny and touching solo performance called HIGH DIVE by the award-winning playwright and actress Leslie Ayvazian. HIGH DIVE was produced Off-Broadway in 2001 and has also been produced around the country where it has been praised for doing what may seem impossible: making a one-person play with a very large cast. HIGH DIVE begins with Ayvazian standing on a diving board being egged on by her 11 year-old son, and continues with her multiple experiences taking risks on vacations around the world. Ayvazian is the author of many plays and grew up in Saranac Lake, NY in the heart of the Adirondacks. One of the scenes in HIGH DIVE takes place in Saranac Lake and ATF is currently hoping to have the actual characters play themselves at a performance of HIGH DIVE. Audiences won’t want to miss this unique and funny experience!




ATF Season Announcement
4/25/05
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The season will conclude July 20-30 with an award-winning drama MADAGASCAR by J.T. Rogers (no relation to the forthcoming Pixar/Disney film). MADAGASCAR is an intricate puzzle of a play where a mysterious disappearance changes three lives and a family who are brought together in a hotel room overlooking Rome’s Spanish Steps. This drama will feature the return to ATF of actress Mary Beth Peil (ATF’s WIT 2000), as well as the actor Robert Lupone (original cast of Broadway’s A CHORUS LINE, HBO’s THE SOPRANOS) and the actress Sheri Parker Lee (Broadway’s NOT ABOUT NIGHTINGALES). As this release goes out MADAGASCAR has also just been awarded a slot in the 2nd Annual Summer Play Festival in New York City (www.spfnyc.com) where ATF’s production will have five performances immediately prior to its Glens Falls production. Madagascar will be directed by Gus Reyes.

One of the most exciting slots in ATF’s season is always the “work-in-progress” where audiences get to see a new work prior to its full production elsewhere or at ATF. Previous work in this slot has included COAST TO COAST by Marc Wolf (2004) and IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING by Bill Bowers (2002). This year ATF will provide audiences a first glimpse of LOST, a new play commissioned by ATF from the Obie Award-winning playwright Melissa James Gibson (ATF’s THE 5 & DIME PLAYS 2000, Off-Broadway’s [sic] 2002). This play, written specifically for ATF with support form the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, will have a two-night workshop presentation June 27-28 featuring a cast of New York based actors under the direction of ATF Artistic Director Martha Banta.

Other parts of the 2005 Adirondack Theatre Festival include a new “Date Night for Moms and Dads”, Friday July 1 when ATF will provide on-site childcare for kids age 3-10 so parents can see the romantic musical comedy GIRL IN THE FRAME. ATF’s Children’s Workshops which have been held on Saturdays during the Festival for 10 years will be revamped this year into a more intensive week of theater exploration July 18-22 from 10-11:30am each day, for children entering grades 1-3 this fall. As well, ATF will once again have a Black Box Dinner on July 14 when audience members can share an informal meal with ATF staff prior to that evening’s performance of HIGH DIVE.

The Adirondack Theatre Festival’s 11th season will run June 22 – July 30 at the Charles R. Wood Theater in Downtown Glens Falls. Discount season subscriptions for $60 (three shows) and $75 (entire Festival) are now on sale and can be purchased by calling 798-7479 or visiting ATF’s office at 50 Elm St. in Glens Falls MON-THU 1-5pm. To join the Festival’s mailing list and receive a season brochure call 798-7479 or email boxoffice@ATFestival.org.



ATTENTION MEMBERS OF THE PRESS!
High-quality digital images of the authors of all four of ATF’s 2005 shows may be downloaded at our website at www.ATFestival.org/press