ADVICE
July 31 - August 15
A LIVELY & IRREVERENT NEW COMEDY OF BAD MANNERS
By Brent Askari
Directed by Adrienne Campbell- Holt
Starring film, television, and stage stars, Katie Lowes (ABC’s Scandal) and Adam Shapiro (The Bear)
ABOUT THE PLAY
NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE! This play just completed its National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere
What happens when a wildly unqualified man writes a self-help book… and then shows up to test it on his friends?
Ron and Joy’s anniversary dinner goes spectacularly off the rails when Gary — recently divorced, chronically chaotic, and newly self-declared life coach — shows up with a surprise: a self-help book he’s written called How To Maximize The Most Successful You. The problem? His life is a mess.
As Ron and Joy attempt a well-meaning intervention to stop Gary from quitting his day job, the wine starts flowing, the “team-building” exercises begin, and the questions get a little too real. What starts as friendly concern spirals into confessions, accusations, and revelations no one planned to serve with dinner.
Fast, sharp, and wickedly funny, ADVICE skewers friendship, marriage, and the danger of asking the wrong question at exactly the right time. Brent Askari’s witty new comedy is an uncomfortably relatable look at ambition, insecurity, and the chaos of trying to fix someone else’s life — and will have you howling with laughter.
“A lively and irreverent look at friendship, ambition and the messy fallout of giving (and getting) well-intentioned but ill-fated life-advice.”
“‘Advice’ is a powerful work of art that will linger in your thoughts for days after the curtain falls.”
SCHEDULE
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FRIDAY, JULY 31 - 7:30 PM (PREVIEW)
SATURDAY, AUGUST 1 - 7:30 PM (OPENING NIGHT)
SUNDAY, AUGUST 2 - 2:00 PM
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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5 - 2:00 PM
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5 - 7:30 PM
THURSDAY, AUGUST 6 - 7:30 PM
FRIDAY, AUGUST 7 - 7:30 PM
SATURDAY, AUGUST 8 - 2:00 PM
SATURDAY, AUGUST 8 - 7:30 PM
SUNDAY, AUGUST 9 - 2:00 PM
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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12 - 2:00 PM
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12 - 7:30 PM
THURSDAY, AUGUST 13 - 7:30 PM
FRIDAY, AUGUST 14 - 7:30 PM
SATURDAY, AUGUST 15 - 2:00 PM (CLOSING)
MEET THE CAST
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Katie Lowes is best known for playing Quinn Perkins on ABC’s Scandal, Rachel on Netflix’s Inventing Anna, and Jill on The Hunting Wives. She’s appeared in shows including Grey’s Anatomy and Law & Order, as well as in films including Transformers 2, Super 8, Wreck It Ralph, and Zootopia. Katie made her Broadway debut opposite her husband as Dawn in Waitress and she’s psyched to be back on stage with Adam here in Vermont! She is a cofounder of IAMA Theatre Company in Los Angeles, where she has appeared in numerous stage productions and helped develop new plays and artists. She would like to thank her Mom and Dad for watching the kids every night of this run! Love you Albee & Vera!
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Adam Shapiro is best known for his role as “Dad” of Albee and Vera and “Trophy Husband” of Katie Lowes, with whom he made his Broadway debut in Waitress, as well his Dorset debut literally happening right now. Adam’s credits include somewhat memorable roles in The Bear, Never Have I Ever, The Affair, The Continental: From the World of John Wick, The Lincoln Lawyer, Grace & Frankie, Scandal, and Grey’s Anatomy. Film credits include She Said, Mank, Steve Jobs, Short Term 12, Now You See Me, A Single Man, and believe it or not, three different films called Hacked. Adam is a co-founder of IAMA Theatre company in Los Angeles, founder of Shappy Pretzel Co., and an Amazon Prime member.
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Dorset Theatre Festival debut. Theatre Includes: Ensemble in Shakespeare in the Park’s Coriolanus, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at Hartford Stage, A Raisin in the Sun and Twelfth Night at People’s Light. Understudied Belize in Angels in America Parts I & II at Actors Theatre of Louisville. TV and Film includes: Marvel’s “Jessica Jones” and Hulu’s “Not Okay.” Training: MFA from Juilliard and BA in Psychology from Penn State University.
ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM
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Coming Soon…
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Adrienne is an award-winning NYC-based director and choreographer and the Founding Artistic Director of Colt Coeur. Recent world premieres: Still (Sheen Center, Colt Coeur at DR2, NYC & Dorset Theatre Festival, VT), Finn by Chris Dimond, Michael Kooman and Chris Nee (Kennedy Center), Dodi & Diana by Kareem Fahmy (Colt Coeur at HERE), Afterwords, by Emily Kaczmarek, music & lyrics by Zoe Sarnak, choreographed by Ebony Williams (5th Avenue Theater, Heileman & Haver Award for Best New Musical), NY premiere of Eureka Day by Jonathan Spector (Colt Coeur), Other World, by Hunter Bell, Jeff Bowen & Ann McNamee, choreography by Karla Puno Garcia (Delaware Theatre Company, BroadwayWorld Award for Best New Musical), We Are Among Us by Stephen Belber (City Theater, Pittsburgh), Hatef**k, by Rehana Lew Mirza (WP/Colt Coeur), Joan by Stephen Belber (Colt Coeur), Downstairs by Theresa Rebeck starring Tyne and Tim Daly (Primary Stages), Dry Land by Ruby Rae Spiegel (Colt Coeur), Seven Minutes in Heaven by Steven Levenson (Colt Coeur). Currently developing work with Jaclyn Backhaus & Jonatha Brooke (Tempus). Associate Director of Dear Evan Hansen (OBC). Lucille Lortel Visionary Director Award, "25 Women to Watch on Broadway". AdrienneCampbellHolt.com.
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Krit is an award-winning designer, artist. Select design credits include: Complications in Sue (Opera Philadelphia), Rheology (Playwrights Horizons), Hilma (Wilma Theatre), Drinking in America (Audible Theater), Don Giovanni (Wolftrap Opera), Heather Christian’s Oratorio for Living Things (Ars Nova & Signature Theatre), graveyard shift (Goodman Theatre), Familiar (Steppenwolf Theatre Company), and In the Green (LCT3). Krit is co-founder and principal designer of Queens Lighting Collective - which creates multidisciplinary community oriented art in the public realm, A Princess Grace Fellow, holds an MFA from Yale University, and is a proud member of USA 829. @obstacle_vessel @queenslightingcollective
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Phương (loosely pronounced fuh-ONG nwin) (she/they) is thrilled to come back to Dorset Theatre Festival. She is a New York and Southeast Asia based costume designer. Recent theatre credits include Titans, Usus (Clubbed Thumb), Soft Target (Detroit Public), A Complicated Woman (Goodspeed), The Slow Dance (59E59), Private Jones (Signature DC & Goodspeed), The Good John Proctor (Bedlam); Once Upon a Korean Time (Ma-Yi); Queen (NAATCO & Long Wharf). Film: Grandma Nai Who Played Favorites by Chheangkea Leng (Sundance 2025 Short Film Jury Award for International Fiction). phuongtlnguyen.com. @nguyencostumes
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Dorset: Satellites. Off Broadway: Animal Wisdom (Signature); There's No Singing in the Navy, Rheology, Practice, Staff Meal (Playwrights Horizons); Cold War Choir Practice (MCC); Coriolanus (TFANA); Six Characters (LCT3); Coach Coach, Grief Hotel (Clubbed Thumb); Sad Boys in Harpy Land (Playwrights Horizons/Abrons Art Center). Regional: Primary Trust (CTG, La Jolla Playhouse); the aves (Berkeley Rep); The Inspector (Yale Rep). Dance/Opera: Friday Night Rat Catchers (New York Live Arts); Reflections, Plenum/Anima (LA Dance Project); Giulio Cesare, Rodelinda (Hudson Hall); morning/mourning, Terce (Prototype); MFA: Yale School of Drama. More info at www.mashald.com.
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DTF: Ten productions, including Private Lives, Baskerville, and True Art. Off-Broadway: Archduke (Roundabout), Music City (Bedlam), Henry IV, Prosperous Fools (Theatre for a New Audience), Zack (The Mint), Women's Project, MTC, NYTW, Rattlestick, Playwrights Horizons. Regional: Billie Jean (Chicago Shakespeare), A Doll's House (Guthrie), Leopoldstadt (Huntington, Shakespeare Theatre Company), Rope (Hartford Stage), Emma (Everyman), Ken Ludwig's Sherwood (Alabama Shakespeare), Amadeus (Pasadena Playhouse), Mousetrap (Gulfshore Playhouse), and productions with Theatre Aspen, Cleveland Play House, Long Wharf, Capital Rep, Arena, Studio Theatre, and The Alley. Recognition: Drama Desk, Connecticut Critics Circle, Henry Award, Bessie Award, Premios ACE 2012, NEA/TCG Career Development Grant, Meet the Composer Grant, and several Lortel nominations. Education: Harvard University, Yale School of Drama. Member: TSDCA (Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association) and USA Local 829. www.janeshaw.com
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Joe Gery has worked extensively in theater with Caparelliotis Casting since 2014, as well as with Meredith Tucker Casting in film & television. His most recent theater credits include the Broadway productions of Good Night and Good Luck, Grey House, Ohio State Murders, Sam Gold's Macbeth, and The Minutes, as well as off-broadway productions at Signature Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, The Vineyard, and Ars Nova. Television credits include all three seasons of The White Lotus (HBO), Godfather of Harlem (EPIX), Ray Donovan (Showtime), and the final season of The Bold Type (Freeform).
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Broadway: Les Liaisons Dangereuses; Off-Broadway: Ibsen’s Ghost, Dig, The Confession of Lily Dare (Primary Stages); Belfast Girls (Irish Repertory Theater); Hangmen, On the Shore of the Wide World (Atlantic Theater Company); Privacy, Julius Caesar (Public Theater); By the Way Meet Vera Stark (Signature Theatre); Eureka Day (Colt Coeur); Superstitions, The Ding Dongs, Is Edward Snowden Single? (The Pool Plays) Select Regional: Hartford Stage Company, Bucks County Playhouse, Dorset Theatre Festival, Oklahoma City Rep, George Street Playhouse, Hudson Valley Shakespeare, Yale Repertory Theatre; Avery holds an MFA from Yale School of Drama, and a BFA from Hofstra University.
ADVISORY: TBA
RUNTIME: 90 minutes, no intermission
ADVICE is produced by Dorset Theatre Festival.
CLICK HERE to become a Season Sponsor.
Support for the 49th season is provided by Legacy Donors, the Rodgers Family Foundation, The James H. & Irene M. Hunter Charitable Trust, The Shubert Foundation, and the members of the Festival’s World Premiere Circle.
Advice was first produced as a National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere by Florida Studio Theatre (Sarasota, FL), B Street Theatre (Sacramento, CA) and Florida Repertory Theatre (Fort Myers, FL). For more information, please visit nnpn.org. Advice was a Finalist in the 2024 New Comedies Festival at the B Street Theatre in Sacramento, CA. CEO/Executive Director Lyndsay Burch. Advice was part of Florida Studio Theatre’s New Play Festival.
NEWSROOM
Coming Soon….
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