The Best Kept Entertainment Secret in Upstate New York

We are a generation nourished by brave and innovative work. Will the next generation be so lucky?

Thirty years ago, the Adirondack Theatre Festival (ATF) took the risk… They focused on creating new work. After being fed a steady diet of professional productions with top-level talent, the local audience began growing accustomed to the brilliance of this cultural delicacy over the next quarter century.

Then, the pandemic hit, and again, the risks loomed large, threatening to devour non-profit theater groups by forcing them to close their doors while competition from other forms of entertainment intensified.

Fortunately, this is not another pandemic heartache story. Rather than submitting to being swallowed up whole by mainstream commercialism, local theater is again punching above its weight class, beating the odds, and shouting ACTION! They are reintroducing the striking presence of inventive, fresh new plays and musicals to the next generation.

“The only way to succeed, in any endeavor worth trying, is to be willing to experiment, to try new things, to express ourselves, and to think big,” said Producing Artistic Director Miriam Weisfeld.

Birthing a Legend

The Adirondack Theatre Festival was founded by Producing Director David Turner and Artistic Director Martha Banta (a husband and wife team), along with Lake George RV Park owner David King. The year was 1994, and they would find success very shortly after teaming up.

After reading an article in the Glens Falls Chronicle puzzling over how to bring the city back to life, they peeked into the windows of the then-abandoned Woolworth’s Five-and-Dime store on Glen Street, wondering if the building could work as a performance space.

In 2004, that space would become the Charles R. Wood Theater, where the ATF now performs. Its opening changed the face of the city, and breathed fresh air into the region by attracting a diverse selection of people (who might not otherwise visit) to fill their beautiful 294-seat auditorium, eat in the city’s restaurants, visit their shops, and occupy their rooms.

“It has been hugely successful at bringing so much life, vitality, and energy downtown. It’s really moving to hear them talk about how the city sprang up as the theater came to life. It’s become legend now,” explained Weisfeld.

Raising Our Expectations

Folks have embraced the Adirondack Theatre Festival’s intense, vibrant experiences, calling it the ‘best kept entertainment secret in Upstate New York’,” said Weisfeld. By nurturing new work, including 30+ world premieres, educational workshops, and discussions, ATF became a trusted research and development laboratory, expanding the imagination’s boundaries and creating new sensibilities for an audience hungry to go on the ride with them.

“Theater magically incorporates every other art form; literature, art, dance, video. We already know young people embrace so many of those forms in different ways and have an appetite for participating in, and co-creating, that content,” stated Weisfeld, continuing, “There’s a striking appetite for musical theater in this region. We’re seeing such enthusiasm for live performance.”

Attracting students interested in connecting to audiences through storytelling, including from local colleges such as Skidmore, Middlebury, and Union, many of ATF’s works have gone on to enter the larger theatrical canon – Plays including Fully Committed, Murder for Two, Mystic Pizza, Pump Up the Volume, and The Life and Slimes of Marc Summers, among others, have reached larger off-Broadway, Broadway, national, and international audiences.

“Creating new work is what moves our entire art form forward, and it’s happening in the unlikeliest of places, in a smaller town in an area with a somewhat rural population,” said Weisfeld.

Increasing the Value of Creativity

During the pandemic, theaters across the US saw attendance decline by 40%. At ATF, the live subscription series went dormant for two seasons. Since Weisfeld came on in 2021, they’ve restored the subscription series alongside single ticket sales.

“We weren’t sure how people were going to respond, so it’s been astonishing to see admission recover by 38%,” she said. “Plus, it’s a fantastic value. People can reserve their favorite seats ahead of the regular season and save 12-13% on the price.”

They have also launched their most aggressive fundraising campaign in ATF history. This year, in addition to their anniversary celebrations and annual benefits, they are hosting the “Stories Start Here” Campaign, the first multi-year fundraiser since former Producing Artistic Director Mark Fleischer’s tenure in the mid-2000’s. By tapping into a dedicated coalition of visionary supporters, ATF has already raised $367,000 of the $500,000 goal they hope to reach by the end of 2026.

“The economic reality of coming out of the pandemic is that there’s more economic pressure than ever before to meet rising costs,” said Weisfeld.

The Show Must Go On

The Adirondack Theatre Festival’s dedication to paying a living wage while meeting union obligations to the talented actors, directors, designers, and those behind the scenes is evident in this season’s line-up, starting with a one man show from Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair, the creators behind the wildly popular Murder for Two (2010).

Todd vs the Titanic, running from June 27th- July 3rd, a musical comedy about one man’s struggle to play all the roles by himself after an apocalypse, will undoubtedly ring true to an observant audience.

In a new one-woman play written and performed by star Jessica Frances Dukes, Worth: An Intimate Exhibition, explores the relationship between the performer and the spectator during its July 12th-14th showing at LARAC’s Lapham Gallery.

Bringing on the heat July 19th- 21st, The King’s Wife is a lush pop musical about the searing bond between King Henry VII’s wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine of Aragon.

By reimagining the space from August 1st-7th, audiences can enjoy a fresh take on the deliciously suspenseful Alfred Hitchcock film noir that gives the steamy Dial “M” for Murder its unpredictable twist.

For tickets and more information, go to www.atfestival.org