Dorset Theatre Festival’s Season Continues Strong

Hello, Friends! I recently had the pleasure of seeing Dorset Theatre Festival’s (DTF’s) The Book Club Play, written by Karen Zacarias and directed by Jackson Gay. What a treat! It was especially meaningful for me because I was in a production of The Book Club Play back in 2017 at Hubbard Hall in Cambridge, NY. 

Christopher Lowell and Kerry Bishé star in Satellites, opening August 6

As I sat in the Dorset Playhouse with my fellow spectators watching the story unfold, all the dialogue and action started flooding back. I knew exactly what was going to happen, yet I still got lost in the performance, as if it was all brand new to me. That’s the power of good theatre. The ensemble did a stellar job keeping up the comedic pace with excellent timing and energy. I absolutely loved the set by Riw Rakkulchon. Show after show, DTF’s sets are consistently innovative. It was a lovely night that started with drinks and snacks at the Barrows House with two of my favorite theatre artists and ended with all three of us thoroughly enjoying a play that is dear to my heart. I recommend following a similar model for a wonderful evening out in Dorset!

And you can believe - DTF is only half-way through its summer season! Next up at the Playhouse is Satellites written by Erin Breznitsky and directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt, running August 6 through August 16. Other Desert Cities, written by Jon Robin Baitz, directed by Robert Egan, and starring Jayne Atkinson, will close out the season from August 22 through September 6. 

But wait…there’s more! THIS Saturday, August 2 is DTF’s annual dance party ball fundraiser at the Old Gray Barn. Mix & mingle with very special guests and friends. It’s your FINAL CHANCE to get tickets, so don’t delay! Scroll down to The Arts section to read more about it.

About the Play

Girl meets Boy, Girl marries Boy, Girl moves on after Boy goes missing in outer space...Until Boy mysteriously reappears on Earth 7 years later. Astronaut Mike and climate scientist Katherine awkwardly meet again for the first time in a NASA waiting room. While he has been lost in the far reaches of the cosmos, she has forged ahead on her own, grounded in the earthbound reality of career and motherhood. Memories of the couple’s romantic past converge with an impossible reunion in the present as they attempt to bridge the astronomical gap between then and now. Intimate, charming, and beautiful, Satellites is about time, space, and two people with great ambitions searching for connection.

About the Playwright

Erin Breznitsky is a Brooklyn-based playwright whose work has been seen in NYC and abroad. Most recently, her play Satellites was named the winner of Premiere Stages’ Play Festival and has been workshopped with Cape Cod Theatre Project and Colt Coeur. Her other plays have been performed at FringeNYC, Rogue & Peasant Players, Six Part Productions' "Love Drunk" series, New York Madness, and English Theatre of Rome in Italy. Erin has been a finalist for Shakespeare's New Contemporaries, a semi-finalist for the O’Neill Theatre Center National Playwright’s Conference and the Princess Grace Playwriting Award. She has also received the Lipkin Prize for Playwriting and a full scholarship to La MaMa's International Playwrights Retreat in Spoleto, Italy. She holds an MFA in Theatre from Sarah Lawrence College and is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild.

About the Director

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". 

Visit HERE for tickets!

For more on the Dorset Theatre Festival, read Benjamin Lerner’s article, “Play by Play,” in the Summer/Fall issue of Manchester Life Magazine.