ATF looking to the future
The Front Page
Morning Update
Wednesday, September 22, 2021
By Ken Tingley
Before my first show at the Adirondack Theater Festival this summer, I was discouraged that the Wood Theater in downtown Glens Falls was only half full.
Longtime Producing Artistic Director Chad Rabinovitz had left earlier in the year and Martha Banta, one of the original founders of the festival, had rushed to the rescue to save the summer season.
The fact that there was theater at all this summer in Glens Falls is a minor miracle, but I still have concerns about the future.
In early August, I got an email from Miriam Weisfeld. She had just been named the new producing artistic director at ATF. She thanked me for being a loyal supporter of the festival and suggested we meet for coffee or lunch after she got into town She said she wanted to know what made ATF important to the Glens Falls community.
Weisfeld was chosen over 90 other candidates. That tells you something about the reputation of the Adirondack Theater Festival and this community. What I found especially startling was that 44 of those applicants were interviewed for the job. That’s a lot of talent to sort through.
Weisfeld had some experience working in the region with the Lake George Theater Lab in Bolton Landing. When it was announced she was coming to ATF, the Lake George Theater Lab posted on its Facebook page, “Get ready #upstatenewyork because she is the real deal.”
I hope so, because the theater festival may have a bit of a rebuilding job ahead of it because of the pandemic.
About a week after starting the new job, I got another email from Miriam suggesting we meet the next week. On Monday, I sat down with Miriam and ATF’s managing director Tracey Sullivan to chat about Glens Falls, theater and the future over some cold beverages.
What I found was a couple of good listeners.
I tried to give them an overview of the media landscape and the challenges of promoting their product with diminished print products throughout the region. I also tried to give them a summary of what this community is about and the strength of its arts community.
I suspect the chat with me will be part of an ongoing fact-finding mission by Miriam and Tracey in the weeks and months to come as they seek the best way forward for the Adirondack Theater Festival.
In a couple weeks, the Adirondack Film Festival will be here. Attending that would be one way for out community to welcome Miriam and let her know we are behind her.
I believe, despite its success, the Adirondack Theater Festival is still one of the best kept secrets in our community. I suspect Miriam and Tracey will be able to deliver the product, but finding the right formula to bring it to more people across the region will be the real challenge.
Big events
It will be interesting to see how many people turn out this weekend to two of the biggest events in the region - Americade and the Adirondack Balloon Festival. We were all hoping this fall would be a return to normalcy, but an uptick in Covid cases slowed down that recovery.
Here is one statistics from Glens Falls Hospital that I hope every citizen around the region pays attention to.
Ray Agnew, the hospital spokesman, told The Post-Star that 90 percent of those hospitalized have not been vaccinated. That should tell you everything you need to know.
Radio interview
If you are reading this early enough, I urge you to tune into WAMC-FM (90.3) this morning at 11:30 to noon. Joe Donohue, the veteran broadcaster, will be interviewing me about my new book, The Last American Editor.
Book signing
You also might want to mark your calendar for Saturday, October 2 when I will be holding my first book-signing at the Book Warehouse at the Route 9 outlets in Queensbury. I hope to see you there.
Tweet of the Day
Listened to your very good interview on WAMC this morning.
Saw production of “Slow Food” this summer. Was very funny. But Senior Citizens like Matinees and they haven’t much parking.