The Adirondack Theatre Festival Sara and Larry Kass New Musicals Commissioning Program

ATF gratefully acknowledges the visionary support of Larry Kass and his late wife Sara.

Their gift will allow us to commission and develop of a slate of new musicals in 2024 and 2025.

Read more about Sara's and Larry's artistry and philanthropy below.

Sara Kass

Sara Kass was born in Detroit, Michigan and spent many Saturdays viewing masterpieces at the Detroit Institute of Art. Sara obtained a B.S. in Design from the College of Architecture and Design from the University of Michigan and taught middle and high school art in Ann Arbor, Michigan for many years. Sara also attained a B.S. in Occupational Therapy from Eastern Michigan University and used the training in art to design appliances for handicapped patients. In 2004 Sara became Founder and President of the Cliffside Artists Collaborative (CAC), a 501 (c)(3) foundation located in Hinckley, Ohio. Cliffside is dedicated to the preservation and promotion of works of art by Northern Ohio artists. Sara was awarded the 2015 Distinguished Citizen of the Year Award for Art Education and most recently awarded the Service to the Arts Award from the Medina County Arts Council. In 2016 and 2017, Sara is a Signature Member of the Ohio Watercolor Society and was honored to have her watercolors selected for exhibition at the Ohio Watercolor Society Exhibition in Columbus, Ohio for three consecutive years. Sara is also the wife of Larry Kass.

Larry was born in Toledo, OH, and was trained as a classical pianist beginning at a young age. Since age 5, he has performed regularly in public.  As an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, he wrote, directed, and produced two prize winning musicals. He has recorded 29 albums of solo piano and theater pipe organ music, comprising over 1000 different songs by composers like Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern and Richard Rodgers to name only a few. He also recorded 160 different popular songs on 7 separate albums for QRS Music Technologies utilizing their Pianomation technology for automated pianos.  Since 2004, he has recorded more than 150 original songs in 8 separate albums featuring professional musical theater and cabaret singers.  Starting in 1993, he has been pianist and organist on the Mighty Wurlitzer Radio Hour, a live musical variety show that recreates the era of radio’s Golden Age. Beginning in 2001, Larry has been producer, scriptwriter, musical director, vocal arranger, pianist, and organist on this program, broadcast on WCLV 104.9 FM, Cleveland’s award winning fine arts radio station.  The show celebrates the Great American Songbook, is a full scale musical variety show with 13 performing professionals and is broadcast 4 times a year, coast to coast and around the world.   Larry began writing songs in high school, and since 2002 has been encouraged to compose more songs by Robert Conrad, president of WCLV and the radio voice of the Cleveland Orchestra. As As a result, Larry has written music and lyrics for more than 4000 songs including ballads, blues, duets. show tunes, cabaret songs, anthems, holiday songs, arias, operetta numbers, and theme songs for local television programs. He is an Emmy nominated composer, and a proud member of ASCAP.