ATF artistic director Martha Banta stages Anton Dudley's work on the lip of Lake George; the play is set on the edge of Lake Como in Italy.
This is the first play in ATF's nine-year history to be staged outdoors, though unconventional spaces are not new to the troupe: Their recent home was a former five and dime store. A new 300-seat theatre is being built out of that old Woolworth's space in Glens Falls, NY, and the company will be the anchor tenant in summers. The target for opening is 2004. In nine years, some 18 spaces have been used by the troupe.
The Lake's End plays June 18-28 and "is set in pre-World War II Italy as a group of expatriate English try and navigate romance, beauty and passion as fascist clouds descend on Europe," according to production information.
Dudley is a playwright fellow at Manhattan Theater Club in New York City and penned the Off-Broadway play, Slag Heap, seen at the Cherry Lane Theater.
ATF presents The Lake's End outdoors at the Lake George Recreation Center, "with a dramatic view of Lake George as a backdrop," according to the company. "A special weather-related ticket policy will be in effect for all performances, allowing patrons to re-schedule or receive a voucher good for future ATF performances if a performance is cancelled due to inclement weather. While The Lake's End is running in Lake George, ATF will present the first of two engagements of It Goes Without Saying, a world premiere solo performance by mime artist Bill Bowers, who has appeared on Broadway in The Lion King. Presented as a reading last summer at ATF with the title My Life in Tights, "this funny and touching solo show tells Bowers' story of coming from a small town in Montana to be a professional mime in New York City, and the unique role silence plays in life. Martha Banta directs at the Hyde Collection in Glens Falls, June 26-28, as well as an engagement at the Tannery Pond Community Center in North Creek, NY, July 9-11.
This will be the first professional Actors' Equity Association performance at this new theatre, which opened in 2002 in North Creek.
As previously reported by Playbill On-Line, ATF will present the East Coast premiere of Bingo, a musical comedy by Michael Heitzman, Ilene Reid, and David Holcenberg, July 2-13. The musical comedy "reveals the dreams, obsessions, and rivalries of a group of bingo crazed women and the one man who tries to keep the game under control." Glenn Casale directs. The show, which includes a live bingo game, will be presented in the Parish House at The Church of the Messiah on Glen Street in Glens Falls.
ATF will also stage Yazmina Reza's The Unexpected Man July 17-27 in a converted warehouse owned by Adirondack Scenic, Inc. at 20 Elm St. in Glens Falls.
ATF's mission is contemporary works. By doing adventurous work rather than typical summer fare, the troupe has earned attention from the same critics who cover Williamstown Theatre Festival and the Berkshire Theatre Festival, said producing director David Turner. Albany is the troupe's media market and closest major city. ATF staged the world premiere of Fully Committed in 1998 prior to it becoming an Off-Broadway and regional smash. Philip Shneidman directed.
For ticket information, call (518) 798-7479 or visit www.ATFestival.org.
