Dorset Theatre Festival to Present WHEN JOHNNY COMES HOME Local Play Reading

Dorset Theatre Festival completes their Local First Festival of New Plays with WHEN JOHNNY COMES HOME by playwright, Robert Sugarman.

The third installment in their Local First Series, this reading will be presented at the Left Bank Gallery in Bennington, Vermont on Saturday, April 23rd, at 12:30 pm. Admission is free and all are welcome.

With a commitment to New Play Development, the Dorset Theatre Festival is excited to be able to showcase playwrights who come from our region inviting local audiences to participate in the growing of a new play.

WHEN JOHNNY COMES HOME

World War II is over! Syracuse University is expanding to accommodate returning soldiers taking advantage of the GI Bill. On a bare stage with minimal props, scenes shift rapidly as five characters become involved in each other's lives. Sam, a student painter, and his sister Susan, a voice student; Hank, a journalism student, and his British wife, Marge; and Clarice who sings in a Negro club.

Support for the Local First Festival of New Plays is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Shubert Foundation, and the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust. "We are thrilled to celebrate the amazing writing talents that exist within our own region. A new play depends upon the early feedback from audiences that it receives. We hope regional audiences will take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to see new work in its earliest stages, while also supporting the amazing talent of one of our own local writers. It's a real two for one for us," says Molly Hennighausen, Dorset Theatre Festival's new managing director.

For more information on Dorset Theatre Festival and its New Play Development Program, visit us at www.dorsettheatrefestival.org or call 802-867-2223.

Founded in 1976, the Dorset Theatre Festival creates bold and innovative theatre that engages a diverse, multi-generational community, enlightening, entertaining, and inspiring its audience through the celebration of great plays produced with the highest degree of artistry. DTF seeks authentic voices in presenting thought-provoking productions drawn from the contemporary and classic canon, striving to redefine the American theatrical landscape through the development of new plays, new audiences and new artists, all working together to produce theatre that matters.

Every summer, Dorset Theatre Festival welcomes patrons at The Playhouse, an intimate theatre built from two pre-revolutionary barns. From June through September, the organization produces five main stage productions with some of this country's most talented playwrights, actors, and directors. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Dina Janis, the Festival is changing the landscape of regional theatre. Bold and innovative, Dorset Theatre Festival is garnering accolades for its commitment to new play development. The organization is proud to encourage a new generation of playwrights to test their voices and launch plays that go on to national acclaim. Dorset Theatre Festival also mounts regional premieres of Tony Award-winning plays to bring the best of Off Broadway to Vermont.

The Dorset Theatre Festival leadership believes in the power of the shared intimate experience that theatre provides. The audience becomes like family, and by inviting them in, they are given a sense of ownership in what is built, together. DTF wants to serve as a catalyst for ongoing, meaningful discussion and engagement within its audiences and community, beginning conversations that enhance lives and foster personal growth.

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