DORSET THEATRE FESTIVAL

Professional Summer Theatre in Southern Vermont Since 1976

Dorset Theatre Festival presents a professional Main Stage season at the historic Dorset Playhouse in Dorset, VT, highlighting both new plays and classic works. Enlightening, entertaining, and inspiring audiences since 1976, the Festival’s annual celebration of great plays runs June through September and features top theatre-makers from around the country. Increasingly known for high-quality world and regional premiere productions, in 2017 the Boston Globe dubbed the Festival, “Just north of the Berkshires, a new destination for playwrights.”

  The 2025 season was our third year at the helm of the Dorset Theatre Festival, and we are proud to say it was the most financially successful box office to date, and the second highest in attendance with more than 10,400 patrons filling the house.

We greatly appreciate your enthusiasm for what we do and with your support, we continue to deliver on our mission to foster new works. Two of last season’s four productions were World Premieres, breathing air for the first time on our Dorset stage. We capped the season with a staged reading from our creative Pipeline, another program we fund to cultivate fresh work. And, we piloted the first, of what we hope becomes our annual, “Playoffs” retreat, a five-day writing intensive for emerging playwrights.

As we look ahead to our 49th season, we dream of a vibrant, never-ending future for the Dorset Theatre Festival. The dream itself feels like a brave act, as our neighboring community theaters take a pause or re-imagine their capacity in an ever-shrinking cultural climate. We prefer to imagine a world where theaters like ours have enough. Enough patrons to fill our seats; enough resources to stage world-class performances; and enough sponsors to sustain the professional Theatre Festival you have come to trust for thought-provoking entertainment each and every summer season.

The word is out. Dorset is the place to be for world-class theater. We tell unique, bold and universal stories. Our reputation attracts gifted actors from stage, television and film, led by first-rate directors who hone their craft on transformational sets designed by award-winning professionals.

However you discovered us, we’re thankful you’re here and we hope you’ll help us continue to spread the word. Something special is happening in our own backyard, so come join us as we “Play in Vermont.”

Gratefully,

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