Fred Alley

Fred Alley (1962-2001) was the co-founder and Artist in Residence at American Folklore Theatre (now Northern Sky Theatre) in Door County, Wisconsin, a populist theatre with a seasonal audience of 50,000 where he collaborated on over 20 original shows. It was at Northern Sky that Mr. Alley first collaborated with James Valcq on The Passage. His second collaboration with Mr. Valcq, The Spitfire Grill, won the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ prestigious Richard Rodgers Production Award for 2001. Premiered at the George Street Playhouse in New Jersey and produced off-Broadway by Playwrights Horizons, it received Best Musical nominations from the Outer Critics Circle and Drama League, as well as two Drama Desk nominations.

Mr. Alley was also the librettist and lyricist of the musicals Guys on Ice, Lumberjacks in Love and The Bachelors, all of which set box office records at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, and continue to win new fans at regional theatres all across the country. Fred Alley died unexpectedly in May 2001. In 2002, he was posthumously honored with the Mark R. Sumner Award for Distinguished Achievement, presented by the National Conference on Outdoor Drama.