As The Festival Packs Up, so are the Summer Seasons of our Lives.

Come in. Come in! We promise we’ve turned down the AC. Yes, take off your coats, we promise that the theatre is warming up! But, the shift in temperature also means the end of another season at the the Dorset Theatre Festival. It’s okay to miss us, but before we say our goodbyes, let’s remember the good times we had. Now, don’t cry. Take the Festival’s kerchief. It’ll be alright! There’s always next summer. (We’ll announce our 2010 season in the spring!) We don’t want to dwell on how much we’ll miss Dorset! Right? Dry your eyes and let the Festival tell you a story. We promise it will make you feel better. Alright then. Just take a moment, indulge our dear Festival, gather round the Festival’s favorite recliner, and listen to some old stories about the fun we’ve had in 2009.

At the start of the season, the DTF brought vampires to Vermont! Yes, Connor McPherson’s ST. NICHOLAS was our first show of the season, and the DTF world was turned upside down when the audience actually sat on the stage! Bob Rose put it best, that “this fast-moving production continues artistic director Carl Forsman’s pledge to include entertaining one-person shows in DTF’s lineup each season.” We laughed as, Jack Gilpin who played the narrator, slapped his “fat bastard” belly, we got goosebumps as the we saw the lights in the garden, and we were all left stunned as we wondered “Where are you?”

For the second show in the season, George S. Kaufman’s MERTON OF THE MOVIES, we packed our bags for HOLLYWOODLAND! The world of the silent screen came alive and was played out before the audience with great comical voice. And as we met the zany as well as the harsh critics of Merton, we cheered him on until curtain. And when the curtain came down? We only cheered louder for Merton, played by Mark Emerson, as he bowed.

The third show of the season proved to be the triumphant return of Agatha Christie to Dorset, Vermont. THE HOLLOW ran to sold out performances during its limited run and received high praise from our audiences. And that’s what the Festival wants most of all, your happiness, though we were also pleases that our critics didn’t hate the show either! Peter Bergman wrote, “Director Carl Forsman has just the right touch for this material. He keeps things well paced and understandable and as tensions mount and suspicions are tossed from one set of hands to another he lets us see without pointing a finger how it is both easy and possible to misunderstand motives, to make decisions without facts, to come to conclusions that do not end at the stopping point. He has done a beautiful job with Christie’s play, and in doing so, has created a few new bright stars among his current resident company.” When the Festival scrunches up our eyes and thinks back on THE HOLLOW, we see those vivid greens (and reds!) and can’t help but be proud.

The fourth and final show of the DTF lineup, MARRY ME A LITTLE, brought stars and Sondheim to Vermont. Broadway starlet, Leah Horowitz, and CBS Guiding Light favorite, Paul Anthony Stewart, commanded the musical review as John Bell played the complicated score. The songs, originally discarded from Sondheim’s other musicals, COMPANY, THE FOLLIES, and others, were rescued and transformed into a story about two lonely hearts on a Saturday night. Though there were elements of reality, the musical review was also set in fantasy and allowed the audience to believe some impossibilities. (Like two people dancing together in different apartments!)

Other projects at the theatre this summer were the DTF Family Programming production, ALICE, and our collaboration with the Lark Play Development Summer. ALICE directed and adapted by Tracy Bersley was not only a hit with our targeted twelve and under crowd, but their parents as well. The company comprised of our four non-equity and three intern actors played over 30 different characters!

Our non-equity actors also helped bring life to the characters of seven in-progress and freshly completed plays written by the Theresa Rebeck Writer’s Retreat. The audience heard everything from frat-boy banter to a grieving father acting as Ralph Waldo Emerson to Shakespeare in Las Vegas.

Gosh. The Festival needs its kerchief back. All this talk of the glory days has got us teary-eyed. But! If we start getting excited now, the next season will be even better! Right? Right! We can’t wait.

As our 2009 season is winding down..

DTF's two final shows, Marry Me a Little and Alice in Wonderland are getting rave reviews! Chances to see these two critically acclaimed shows are running out.

Marry Me a Little runs through August 29 and tickets are going fast! Only six more chances to see Paul Anthony Stewart and Leah Horowitz onstage in all their glory.

Alice in Wonderland has been a hit with children and adults alike, and only has two more performances!

Call the box office to reserve tickets now.

Because everyone loves Stephen Sondheim!

Come one, come all to the Dorset Theatre Festival's one and only musical of the season!

Marry Me a Little tells the tale of two lonelyhearts, each alone on a Saturday night with their romantic dreams told through Stephen Sondheim songs. If you loved Into the Woods, Company or Follies, you'll love this show!

If you're not sold yet, Guiding Light's heartthrob, Paul Anthony Stewart stars in this production!

Marry Me a Little runs August 12-29. Seating is limited, so book your tickets now!