GLENS FALLS — After an extensive national search, Adirondack Theatre Festival has named Miriam Weisfeld as its fourth producing artistic director.
Weisfeld most recently served as Director of Artistic Development for the Tony-winning Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis. She assumes the position on Sept. 1 and has been in Glens Falls Aug. 1-15 observing production of ATF’s final show of the season, “Traffic and Weather.”
“Miriam emerged from a great field of candidates partially because of her command of the contemporary issues in American theater around inclusion, audience development and innovation,” said Nancy Fuller, ATF board president, in a statement. “And she also presented the board a clear vision for producing work that is a continuation of ATF’s rich history of entertaining audiences with original stories created and performed by superlative talent.”
Weisfeld was one of 91 candidates who applied and 44 who were interviewed for the position according to Kate Broderick, an ATF emeritus board member who coordinated the search for the organization.
There have been only three artistic directors in ATF’s history prior to this appointment: Banta (1995-2007, 2021), Mark Fleischer (2007-2014) and Rabinovitz (2014-2020).
Weisfeld helped to develop Generation Now, a $1.5 million co-commissioning project for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) playwrights funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, at Children’s Theatre Company, and spearheaded the stage adaptation by Cheryl L. West of “Something Happened in Our Town,” a multigenerational story about racial justice which will be produced in partnership with CBS Twin Cities affiliate WCCO in March 2022.
The Adirondack Theatre Festival was created in 1993 and presented its first 18-day season of new and contemporary theatre at the French Mountain Playhouse within the Lake George RV Park in 1995. Today ATF is the leading professional theatre in New York’s Capital Region dedicated to emerging artists, new plays, and new musicals. Each summer ATF produces a nine-week season at the Wood Theater in Glens Falls.
