Adirondack Theatre Festival obtains grant from NYS Council on the Arts to commission world premiere play from playwright
Melissa James Gibson

The Adirondack Theatre Festival has obtained a New Play Commission grant  from the New York State Council on the Arts for $7000 to commission a future world premiere play from Melissa James Gibson, an award-winning writer who previously contributed a 10-minute play to ATF’s The 5 & dime Plays  in 2000.

“We are thrilled to have obtained this funding which allows an established writer to work on a new play which will developed at ATF in future seasons” says ATF Artistic Director Martha Banta.  “While the money all goes to the writer and cannot be applied to any of our operating needs, it will result in a world premiere play from one of the country’s most exciting young playwrights.  In addition, it recognizes ATF as as one of the few summer theaters in the country with a track record for developing and producing new work of consistent quality.”

“Once again, ATF is bringing funding into our area which would otherwise be going elsewhere in the state” says ATF Producing Director David Turner.  “In 1998 we were the first organization in Warren County to receive funding from NYSCA’s Theater Program, and now we are the first in recent memory to be funded from their Individual Artist Program.”

Melissa James Gibson won a 2002 OBIE Award for her play [sic] for which the New York Times called her “the freshest new voice of the season”.   She has also received the 2002 Kesselring Prize and a National Endowment for the Arts/ Theatre Communications Group Playwriting Residency at New York City’s Soho Rep.  Previously commissioned plays include BROOKLYN BRIDGE at the Children’s Theater Company in Minneapolis and two commissions from Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater Company resulting in the plays GIVEN FISH and [sic]. [sic] is slated for production in 2003 at London’s Hampstead Theatre and Prague’s Theatre Dejvicke Divadlo. 

The Adirondack Theatre Festival’s ninth season of new and contemporary drama, comedy, musicals, and solo performers will be presented in the Glens Falls/Lake George region June 18 – July 27, 2003.  Season details will be announced in the coming months and discount season subscriptions go on sale in mid-April.  To join our mailing list and be among the first to hear about the season call 798-7479 or go to www.ATFestival.org.