News from ATF - Contact:
518-798-7478 or atf@atfestival.org
July 24, 2000 -
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ATF’S
2000 SEASON
BREAKS
ALL ATTENDANCE AND
BOX
OFFICE RECORDS!
All but four performances sold
out in best season ever for
six year-old professional summer theatre.
Just under 5000 people attended the Adirondack
Theatre Festival’s 2000 season in Downtown Glens Falls which closed with
a sold out performance of BARBARA’S BLUE KITCHEN Saturday night.
“When we founded the Festival all of our market
research and friendly advice told us that five years was a threshold”
says ATF Producing Director David Turner.
“A combination of some really great plays and a decision to shift
the season later in the summer seems to have taken us to a new level of
awareness in the region this year.”
ATF’s earned income at the Box Office was up over 40%, with
single tickets sales up 80% and subscription sales up 10%.
“Only half our income comes from the box office” Turner adds
“so we still need to meet our contributed income goals this year, and
hopefully we’ll see a big uptick in subscriptions next year”
While ATF’s sold-out production of WIT provided the
expected kick-off to the season, Artistic Director Martha Banta points to
other ingredients in the successful year.
“There are so many factors which go into our programming, it’s
a real balancing act to have the results come out as well as they did this
year. We were lucky to have
an excellent one-person world premiere musical to present which
simultaneously satisfied three needs: to keep doing musicals, keep
developing and supporting new work, and keep our cast size small.
Shows like BARBARA’S BLUE KITCHEN don’t come along every day,
and when they do they need to be balanced by something more dramatic like
WIT. Also, the locally
written FIVE & DIME PLAYS was a real gamble which could easily have
been less successful if any one of the elements - writing, acting, or
directing weren’t top-notch.”
ATF will once again be working hard in the off-season to
determine where next season will be taking place. “Hopefully the Woolworths will be midway through a
renovation next summer” says Turner.
“For each of the last four years we’ve started out assuming we
couldn’t use it again, so that’s starting to feel normal!”
The
Adirondack Theatre Festival’s seventh season will run June 20 – July
21, 2001. Season
subscriptions go on sale in mid-April. Call 798-7479 or go to
www.ATFestival.org to join the mailing list or receive more information.
ATTENTION MEMBERS OF THE PRESS!
Group photo of ATF’s 2000 staff and artists in front of the Former
Woolworths Store is available to accompany this release at
www.ATFestival.org/press
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