MISSION

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, as well as through the development of new plays, new audiences, and new artists for the future of American theater. We produce theatre that matters.

ABOUT

Each year from June to September, audiences in Southern Vermont and the surrounding region have a unique opportunity to see world-class theatre in their own backyards. The Dorset Theatre Festival, currently in its 48th season, is a regionally and nationally-renowned organization playing a crucial role in the greater ecosystem of the American theatre. With seasons comprised of new plays in conversation with celebrated staples from the great playwrights of our time, the Festival is known to host Oscar, Emmy, Tony, and Golden Globe-winning actors at the historic Dorset Playhouse, starring in productions that have a history of transferring to play Broadway and off-Broadway houses.

What is now known as Dorset Theatre Festival began in June 1976 when John Nassivera and Jill Charles rented the historic Dorset Playhouse for the summer (still currently owned and operated fulltime by the Dorset Players, Inc. who have been there since 1929: More than just amateurs on the stage: The Dorset Players approach century milestone) and presented a professional season under the name of Harlequin, Ltd. Throughout its rich history, artistic leaders of the Festival have established an organizational commitment to presenting both new plays and existing classics in tandem throughout the summer season. 

Early works by playwrights like Beth Henley, Leslie Ayvasian, and John Patrick Shanley made regional premieres at the Festival throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, close on the heels of successful world premieres or off-Broadway productions. This gave the Festival’s rural audiences a glimpse into the pulse of the industry in New York. In the 1990s, the Festival began to produce unpublished works as world premiere productions. In 1992, a young Cynthia Nixon starred in a new play called The Country Club by Douglas Carter Beane (VARIETY - The Country Club / Dorset Playhouse Database). By 1999, The Country Club received its first production in New York, and Nixon was joined by actor Amy Sedaris for its acclaimed off-Broadway premiere that garnered two Drama Desk award nominations in 2000.

The Festival’s commitment to new play development gained momentum in 2009 when incoming artistic director, Dina Janis (DTF names Dina Janis as its new artistic director) teamed up with Theresa Rebeck, who has since become the most Broadway-produced female playwright of our time, to enhance the Festival’s commitment to producing new work on a professional level. Spring 2010 marked the first season in which the Festival would host a playwriting retreat started by Rebeck and The Lark Playwriting Center in 2007, and the first season the Festival would produce a New Play Reading Series of plays developed during that retreat (DTF hosts annual retreat for writers). In that same season, the Festival mounted the world première of Rebeck’s Pulitzer Prize finalist, The Novelist. 

The success of the New Play Reading Series helped to attract high-level talent to the Festival to partake in both readings and Main Stage productions. In 2012, the Festival staged the World Première of Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Christofer’s The Whore and Mr. Moore, starring Oscar nominee Judd Hirsch (Dina Janis, Theater: Reaching for the stars. By Allison Teague). By 2015, playwright Martyna Majok held a reading of her brand new play The Cost of Living as part of the 6th annual Reading Series. Just 2 years later, The Cost of Living played to New York audiences at New York City Center, and in 2018, the play was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, one of the highest honors in American theatre.

Increasingly, the Main Stage season became a performance venue for new plays, and Theresa Rebeck became the Festival’s resident playwright. Rebeck’s The Way of the World premiered at Dorset in 2016, starring Obie Award-winner and Tony Nominee Kristine Nielsen. The Festival's 2017 World Premiere of Rebeck's Downstairs, starring Tim and Tyne Daly, transferred to New York City the following fall, produced by Primary Stages. In 2018, the Festival was highlighted in American Theatre magazine for being one of the first theaters to present the groundbreaking new play Cry It Out by Molly Smith Metzler before it became one of the most-produced plays in the country.  The New Play Reading Series became the Pipeline Series, taking readings of new plays to the next level with week-long retreats for each play featuring union actors and directors from NYC.  

Now, the tradition continues. Entering its 48th Season, Executive Artistic Director Will Rucker and Managing Creative Director Ryan Koss, who have been part of the Festival’s full-time staff since 2017, are committed to keeping the Festival’s professional legacy and tradition of producing new plays alive. The 2023 world premiere production of Still by Lia Romeo made its New York City premiere in April 2024 in a production by Colt Coeur. Tony Nominee Jayne Atkinson and Emmy Nominee Tim Daly starred as Helen and Mark, respectively, reprising their roles from the play's acclaimed run at Dorset the previous summer. The 2024 Season concluded with the World Premiere production of True Art by the playwright behind the recent hit play Boca, Jessica Provenz, directed by Michelle Joyner. Tony Nominee and acclaimed star of film and television, Jayne Atkinson, returned to lead the cast.