Locally Engaged.
Nationally Relevant.

Support Dorset Theatre Festival with a tax-deductable donation and enrich the work onstage, behind-the-scenes, and in the community.

Dorset Theatre Festival's mission is to create bold, innovative, and authentic theatre that engages a diverse, multi-generational community, and economically diverse region: enlightening, entertaining, and inspiring our audience through the celebration of great plays. We aim to redefine the landscape of theatre by presenting thought-provoking productions drawn from the new and classic canon. We are dedicated to the development of new plays, new audiences, and new artists for the future of American theater. We produce theatre that matters.

Tickets

"a season of smart and thought-provoking plays" - Broadway World

Dorset Theatre Festival is inspiring, innovative, and excellent.

Join us for our 2019 season, to be announced soon…

See Last season

New Play Development

Congrats to Martyna Majok!

Winner of The 2018 Pulitzer Prize in Drama for her play, Cost of Living,
which opened Dorset Theatre Festival's 2015 New Play Reading Series.

Did you know that only 22% of American regional theatre productions are written by female playwrights? (The Lilly Awards & The Dramatists Guild 2015 Study)

Through the Women Artists Writing Group, Dorset Theatre Festival cultivates female voices for the new American theatre canon.

> Click here to learn more about the Women Artists Writing Group.

If you thought you knew everything about Dorset Theatre Festival, we invite you to think again by exploring one of our nationally-renowned new play development programs. New plays begin their lives at the Festival, and budding playwrights test their voices here before having their plays produced on Broadway and beyond. We are extremely proud to have hosted over 70 playwrights in the past 6 years, developing over 90 new works, 18 of which have gone on to receive full productions or further development at some of the most prestigious venues in the country. Dorset Theatre Festival is redefining the landscape of regional theatre. We invite you to join us in growing new plays!

> Click here to read an exclusive interview with 2017 New Play Reading Series Playwrights Mona Mansour, Lauren Yee, and Paola Lazaro.

Past Season Archives

From June to September, Dorset Theatre Festival mounts 4 main stage productions with some of this country’s most talented playwrights, actors, and directors. Each season, thousands of theatergoers make the Festival part of their summer arts experience.

Interested in Dorset Theatre Festival’s work?
> Take a look at the Festival’s production history

Education

From the Young Playwrights Program that brings professional playwrights into Vermont classrooms to our Apprentice Program that mentors 18 - 20 young theatre professionals every summer, the Dorset Theatre Festival is committed to artistic education across the spectrum.

Dorset Theatre Festival’s new play development programs work with playwrights from conception to production, serving as an incubator to nurture new voices that speak from their own experience, exploring ideas that come from and return to diverse communities.

> View all of our education programs and series

Locally Engaged.Nationally Relevant.