OUR HISTORY

Albany Civic Theater got its start in February 1955 when Marion Karczmar directed Blithe Spirit just nine months after the group’s first organizational meeting. The organizers filled the void left when Malcolm Atterbury closed The Playhouse, a professional theater on Lodge Street.

The Ilium Players of Troy united with the Albany Dramatic Group to form Albany Civic Theater after a chance meeting on Lodge Street in downtown Albany of Sally Wallenstein (later Mrs. Louis Fiordilino) of the Troy group and Martha J. Downey of the Albany group.

In 1957, A.C.T. moved to 115 Beaver Street and began using the second-floor space for storage and rehearsals. After months of work, the second floor was transformed to make a theater with 125 seats.

Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller’s plan for an impressive series of office buildings south of the Capitol threatened to end A.C.T. abruptly, but then-President Jean Hoyt contacted City Hall. Council President Dick Conners, with the approval of Mayor Erastus Coming II, suggested we take a look at an old firehouse on Second Avenue.

The building did not inspire hope. Most people thought it was totally inappropriate, but a theater architect from the New York State Council on the Arts examined the building and made suggestions.

Louis Urbano built the stage, while Maureen “Mo” Dumas had a raked concrete floor installed. The seats came from the old abandoned Paramount Theater. The upstairs became dressing rooms, makeup area, wardrobe and an area for set construction. The coal bin became the box office.

The Man Who Came to Dinner, with A.C.T. veteran Lloyd Symansky directing, was the first play in our current home. It opened our1964-65 season and ran for eight nights. The runs were later extended to three weekends. Seating was expanded to 99 and later to the current 126.

OUR MISSION

It is the intent of Albany Civic Theater to provide education and training in acting, directing, writing, speech, staging, producing, reviewing, and other aspects of the dramatic arts.

We aim to encourage and foster community interest and participation in the dramatic arts through the non-profit sponsorship of plays, lectures, publications, workshops, study groups, drama libraries and related activities.

BOX OFFICE INFORMATION

Show times are as follows:

Thursday previews and Friday and Saturday shows begin at 7:30pm.

Sunday matinees begin at 3pm.

Our box office opens a half-hour prior to curtain. When the box office isn’t open, we have a voice mail system in place.

Reservations are encouraged. To reserve a seat, you can use our online reservation system, you will receive a confirmation email.Online reservations close two hours before curtain. You can also call our box office at (518) 462-1297. We do also take walk-ins, butto guarantee we will have a seat for you, please reserve in advance.

Regular tickets are $18. Student tickets (with a valid ID) are $10.

Non-paid reservations not picked up by 15 minutes before curtain may be released for sale upon discretion of the box officemanager.

Groups of 13 or more get a 20% discount. All group tickets must be paid for in advance.

Not-for-profit groups may purchase a special performance of any of our plays – usually Sunday evenings at 7:00 pm. The group buysthe full 122 seats for $1000.00 ($8.20 per seat), and then re-sells the tickets for whatever price it sets. Groups can also buy 80 seats toa regular performance for $875.00, (if the number of subscriber seats permit it), and then re-sell them. Please make thesearrangements at least 2 months in advance.

Please consider subscribing to Albany Civic Theater. Subscriptions for all four shows are only $54 – you see 4 shows for the price of 3.Subscribers can also exchange their tickets for any other performance and guarantee their seats for each performance. Please callthe box office for more information or to subscribe for the season.

Please consider donating to Albany Civic Theater. Your donations help us continue to entertain and educate the Capital District!Donors of $10 or more a year become voting members at the annual meeting and get their names in the programs as well.

Albany Civic Theater has available a number of headsets for the hearing impaired. Please inquire at the box office for moreinformation.

PRODUCTION HISTORY

1954 – 1955

Bessie or Life on the Farm

Blithe Spirit

The Orator: His First Case and Shanghai

Who Killed George Spelvin?

Uncle Harry

1955 – 1956

Mooney’s Kid Don’t Cry

Light Up the Sky

The Old Lady Shows Her Medals

The Happy Journey to Camden and Trenton

Macbeth (scenes)

The Little Foxes

The Common Clay Courtroom Burlesque

The Constant Wife (Act I)

The Marriage Proposal

1956 – 1957

Strange Bedfellows

The Man Who Courted January

The Gioconda Smile

Anniversary Waltz

1957 – 1958

Detective Story

Rope

Box and Cox (Act I)

Bell, Book and Candle (scene)

The Heiress

A Streetcar Named Desire (two scenes)

Ah, Wilderness

The Matchmaker

1958 – 1959

Boy Meets Girl

Season in the Sun

Pygmalion

The Corn is Green

Under Milk Wood (Act I)

1959 – 1960

The Teahouse of the August Moon

Summer and Smoke

The Devil and Daniel Webster

Ethan Frome

Hay Fever

1960 – 1961

Separate Tables

Auntie Mame

The Dancing Princesses

The Villain Still Pursued Her

Under the Gaslight

1961 – 1962

The Riddle

Oh, Men! Oh, Women!

Come Back, Little Sheba

The Human Voice

1962 – 1963

Sounds of Love

Archie and Mehitabel & Who Killed George Spelvin?

The Madwoman of Chaillot

A Majority of One

A Thurber Carnival

The Escape of Mr. TeeVey

A Resounding Tinkle & The Lesson

Broken Circle

Bells Are Ringing

The Twelve-Pound Look

Save Me a Place at Forest Lawn

1963 – 1964

Who Was That Lady I Saw You With?

A Hatful of Rain

Do a Revue

Boys at Large

The Visit

1964 – 1965

The Man Who Came to Dinner

Save Me a Place at Forest Lawn

Sorry, Wrong Number

The Rose Tattoo

Shakespeare’s Ages of Man

The Red Shoes

Gypsy

No Exit

The Anniversary

The Elephant Calf

1965 – 1966

Giovanni Bernadone

Caught in the A.C.T.

Come Blow Your Horn

Gin and Bitterness

The Imaginary Invalid

Don Juan in Hell

Becket

The Ugly Somethings

1966 – 1967

A Pound on Demand

An Italian Straw Hat

The Country Girl

Jack and the Beanstalk

The Pajama Game

1967 – 1968

Impromptu

The Zoo Story/The Bald Soprano

The Plain Princess

Little Mary Sunshine

Goodnight…Sweet Dreams

The Odd Couple

1968 – 1969

Infinite Deal of Nothing

The Boys from Syracuse

The Valiant & The World of Sholom Aleichem

All My Sons

Any Wednesday

The Wizard of Oz

1969 – 1970

Suddenly Last Summer

Catch Me if You Can

Who Killed George Spelvin?

Rashomon

Lovers – Losers & Winners

Guys and Dolls

1970 – 1971

The Importance of Being Earnest

The Emperor’s New Clothes

The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window

The Little Match Girl

Don’t Drink the Water

Riverwind

The Glass Menagerie

1971 – 1972

Line

Little Me

The Happy Time

The Browning Version

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown

When in the Course of Human Events We Elect a President

1972 – 1973

The Best Man

A Message from Cougar

Wait Until Dark

What the Butler Saw

Stop the World I Want to Get Off

The Land of the Dragon

1973 – 1974

Fumed Oak

And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little

Gertrude Stein’s First Reader

The Gazebo

Ladies in Retirement

Where’s Charley?

Feifferisms

1974 – 1975

Toys in the Attic

Alice in Wonderland

The Secret Affairs of Mildred Wild

Slam the Door Softly

The Rope Dancers

Sunday in New York

1975 – 1976

The Worlds of Shakespeare

Kiss Me Kate

Twigs

The Golden Days of Radio

Anne of the Thousand Days

A Streetcar Named Desire

A Touch of Rodgers

1976 – 1977

Next

A Case of Libel

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

A Touch of Rodgers

The Hostage

Lady on the Rocks

Cabaret

1977 – 1978

The Visitor from Forest Hills (from Plaza Suite)

Dial M for Murder

Cinderella

Anastasia

I Do! I Do!

The Belle of Amherst

1978 – 1979

The Bad Seed

Pinocchio

The Fantasticks

Absurd Person Singular

The Shadow Box

1979 – 1980

A.C.T. Re-Discovered

Follies

The Price

Beauty and the Beast

The Guardsman

Play Without Words

1980 – 1981

110 in the Shade

Tom Sawyer

Night Must Fall

Ladyhouse Blues

The Good Doctor

1981 – 1982

The Fourth Day

Da

Women of Ireland

Mr. Scrooge

Who Killed George Spelvin?

Ninotchka

Something Left Behind

The Color Scheme

Three Blind Mice

Only the Female Bites

Emissary

On Golden Pond

Exit, Pursued By a Bear

Double Vision

Emma – Portrait of a Rebel

1982 – 1983

Fanny

Scenes from a Marriage

The Abdication

The House of Blue Leaves

Heaven Can Wait

1983 – 1984

Once in a Lifetime

Awake and Sing

The Deadly Game

Romantic Comedy

1984 – 1985

Man of La Mancha

Crimes of the Heart

Veronica’s Room

A Tribute to Hank Maloy

The Lady’s Not for Burning

F.M.

Aria Da Capo

The Real Thing (scene)

1985 – 1986

Theatre Row

Knickerbocker Holiday

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Deathtrap

Home Free

A Separate Peace

The Exercise

1986 – 1987

Doonesbury

‘Night, Mother

The Dresser

The Foreigner

Prison Fare

MacKAY

Shear Heaven

1987 – 1988

Biloxi Blues

5th of July

Born Yesterday

Equus

Finders Keepers

Spoon River (selections)

Lone Star

1988 – 1989

Private Lives

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

A Life in the Theatre

The Passion of Dracula

Laundry and Bourbon

Talking With… (selections)

1989 – 1990

Loot

Bus Stop

The Actor’s Nightmare & Sister Mary Ignatius Explains it All for You

California Suite

A…My Name is Alice (Act I)

Black Comedy

1990 – 1991

The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940

The Lion in Winter

Getting Out

Tribute

White Lies

The Shock of Recognition

1991 – 1992

Broadway Bound

Terra Nova

Eastern Standard

The Glass Menagerie

A Chance Meeting

Elegy for a Lady

The Marriage Proposal

1992 – 1993

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Where in the World is the Seventh Dwarf?

The Heidi Chronicles

Pajama Tops

The Lison Traviata

On Tidy Endings

At Home

The Happy Journey to Camden and Trenton

Dead

1993 – 1994

The Women

The Wiz

Bent

The Incredible Jungle Journey of Fenda Maria

I Hate Hamlet

Black History Celebration

A Piece of My Heart

Crossing Delancey

The Valentine Fairy

Haiku

The Little Foxes (Act I)

1994 – 1995

Oliver

The Empire Builder

Popeye Cantfield

Timber

Anonymous

Bets Booze and Lobotomies

Dam at Passion River

Angel Street

The Women

Hackshaw’s Dog

Fools

The Calendar Club Convention

Talk Radio

It’s Only a Play

Trifles

Sure Thing

Job Interview

1995 – 1996

Pippin

Prisoners of Destiny

Unmentionables

Chock Full of Nuts

Anton and Olga

Hopeless Romantics

Sly Fox

The Fifteen-Minute Hamlet

Jeffrey

A Bright Room Called Day

You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown

The Sisters Rosensweig

Goodbye, Howard

The Sandbox

Noon

1996 – 1997

Guys and Dolls

Stuck

Mequessat by the Sea

Unexpected Company

All in the Timing

Catch-22

The Fifteen-Minute Hamlet

Prelude to a Kiss

The Art of Dining

Love Letters

The Fear of Heaven

The Other Five Percent

The Eye of the Beholder

1997 – 1998

Impassioned Embraces

Saul’s Play

Good Fences

Ghost Dancers

The Wishing Game

Judas

Don Juan in Chicago

Lend Me a Tenor

Nellie Bly

The Little Foxes

And All That Jazz

Love! Valour! Compassion!

New York Actor

‘dentity Crisis

1998 – 1999

And All that Jazz

Weekend Hunting

The Next Thing I Knew

The Buddha in the Bear

Lonely Planet

The Cemetery Club

Kindertransport

The Pope and the Witch

Nellie Bly

1999 – 2000

Accused

God’s Image

Terminal Travel

A Scene of Margiolds

Video Games

American Dream

Six Degrees of Separation

The Public Eye & the Lover

Rainmaker

Medicine

Rash

The Recovering Male

A Gaggle of Saints

Woman and Wallace

2000 – 2001

Turn of the Screw

Nuncrackers

American Dream

Gross Indecency

P.S. Your Cat is Dead

Who Am I This Time

2001 – 2002

Working

The Snow Queen

Royal Gambit

Flesh and Blood

Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean

2002 – 2003

Betty’s Summer Vacation

The Halloran Treatment

Good

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

The Beauty Queen of Leenane

Criminal Hearts

A Betrothal

Nuts (Act I)

Lover’s Leap

2003 – 2004

Zombie Prom

Seeing Stars

Speaking in Tongues

Revelation

Marge and Melvin

Picnic

Cloud Nine

Escape by Night

Two Rooms

The Andersonville Trial

2004 – 2005

Test Drive

Blithe Spirit

The Mousetrap

A Streetcar Named Desire

Great Americans of the Twentieth Century

Barefoot in the Park

Sure Thing

The Philadelphia

Variations on the Death of Trotsky

Dolly Madison: Hostess to History

The Greatest Americans of the Twentieth Century

2005 – 2006

Naked from the Wrist Down

Lily and the Goddess

Sherlock Holmes and the West End Horror

Bell, Book and Candle

Suddenly Last Summer

The Taming of the Shrew

The Thirteen Colonies

Waiting for Philip Glass

Boy Meets Girl

2006 – 2007

Bella Sera

Habit

Sherlock Solo

Murder by Poe

Last of the Red Hot Lovers

Frumpled Fairy Tales

The Cripple of Inishmaan

Of Mice and Men

The Return of Spacebird

2007 – 2008

And Then There Were None

Three Viewings

Hay Fever

Inherit the Wind

Wanda’s Visit

2008-2009

Cruising

Worlds of Shakespeare

Time After Time

Keely and Du

A Man for All Seasons

The Hot L Baltimore

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged (Act II)

2009-2010

On the Winsome

The Hollow

Five Women Wearing the Same Dress

The Merchant of Venice

Our Town

Fool for Love

Disappearing Act

2010-2011

The Complete History of America (Abridged)

Plaza Suite

Proof

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

I’m Herbert

2011-2012

The Happiest Place on Earth

Mrs. Warren’s Profession

Faith Healer

Rumors

The Farnsworth Invention

No Shoulder

Finger Foods

2012-2013

Kids, No Pets, Maybe Whores

Twelfth Night

The Shape of Things

The Laramie Project

The Oldest Profession

Who Murdered Who?

2013-2014

Perspective III – Cantata for Two Voices and Horn

Single Room Occupancy

Big Maggie

‘Night Mother

All My Sons

Boeing, Boeing

Not Any Little Girl

2014-2015

Another Day in Paradise

The Residue

Man From Nebraska

The 39 Steps

Proposals

60th Anniversary Cabaret

The Night of the Iguana

Colored Museum

2015-2016

The Air

Godmother

Angel Street

Looking for Normal

Ain’t Misbehavin’

Laughter on the 23rd Floor

2016-2017

Thirsty Elephants

This Card Crosses the Questioner

Americana

Unplugged

The Best Man

Spirits, Spooks and Spells with Jeffrey Jene

Wonderful World

Grand Concourse

A Shot in the Dark

2017-2018

The Register

Peter and the Starcatcher

Dead Man’s Cell Phone

Hedda Gabler

Appropriate

The Dumb Waiter

2018-2019

Strange Times Down the Line

The Dropout

The Gingerbread Lady

Gloria

Altar Boyz

4,000 Miles

Grand Illusions with Jeffrey Jene

Trestle at Pope Lick Creek

2019-2020

The Heiress

Alabama Story

American Soldiers

Deathtrap (Postponed due to Covid Pandemic)

2020-2021

Season Canceled due to Covid Pandemic

2021-2022

Art

Seminar

Deathtrap

2022-2023

How I Learned to Drive

Perfect Arrangement

Jump

American Buffalo

2023-2024

Buried Child

The Half-Life of Marie Curie

The Minutes

Driving Miss Daisy