Playwright Lauren Yee Featured in New Play Reading Series at Dorset Theatre Festival

Dorset Theatre Festival incubates new works for the American stage through its New Play Reading series, which continues with Lauren Yee, playwright of King of the Yees and past Dramatist Guild Fellow.

A public reading of Yee's newest developing work will take place on Tuesday, August 8 at 7 pm. The reading will be held in the Dorset Playhouse, located at 104 Cheney Rd, Dorset, VT. General admission tickets start at $20 and may be purchased online at dorsettheatrefestival.org or by calling the box office at (802) 867-2223 ext. 2.

"I first met Lauren in 2016 at the Colorado New Play Summit, and I had the pleasure at this year's summit of seeing a reading of her Manford From Half Court, or The Great Leap, which will be produced next year at both Denver Center and Seattle Rep. Lauren's plays are full of humor and heartbreak, and we're excited to partner with a playwright whose work runs the full range of the human experience," says Artistic Director Dina Janis.

Yee will spend five days in residence at Dorset Theatre Festival developing a brand new in-progress work. She will be joined by director/composer Marshall Pailet (Baghdaddy, Triassic Parq) and actors Emily Gardner Xu Hall (The Light Princess at Arden Theatre Company) and Pomme Koch (Netflix's House of Cards), who will present her play on August 8.

"I love being able to bring in smart directors and actors in my process much sooner than I feel comfortable with. For me, workshop opportunities like this one allow me to try out big, messy ideas in real time. Dorset Theatre Festival's New Play Reading Series is a great gift," says Playwright Lauren Yee.

Lauren Yee's play King of the Yees is enjoying its premiere this season at The Goodman Theatre and Center Theatre Group, followed by a production at ACT Theatre. Other plays include Ching Chong Chinaman (Pan Asian, Mu Performing Arts), The Hatmaker's Wife (Playwrights Realm, Moxie, PlayPenn), Hookman (Encore, Company One), In a Word (SF Playhouse, Cleveland Public, Strawdog), Samsara (Victory Gardens, O'Neill? ?Conference, Bay Area Playwrights Festival), and The Tiger Among Us (MAP Fund, Mu). Member of the Ma-Yi Writers' Lab. Commissions: Denver Center, Lincoln Center/LCT3, Mixed Blood, Portland Center Stage, South Coast Rep, and Trinity Rep. BA: Yale. MFA: UCSD. For more, go to Laurenyee.com.

Dorset Theatre Festival's final featured playwright of the season is Paola Lazaro (Tell Hector I Miss Him). Lazaro's reading will take place on Tuesday, August 15 at 7pm.

Dorset Theatre Festival's New Play Reading Series is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Shubert Foundation, Harold and Mimi Steinberg Trust, and the Rogers Family Foundation.

Dorset Theatre Festival, sponsored for its 40th season by Manchester Designer Outlets, 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.

Dorset Theatre Festival's 2017 mainstage summer season includes Downstairs by Theresa Rebeck, running June 22-July 8; Ken Ludwig's Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, running July 13-29; The Legend of Georgia McBride by Matthew Lopez, running August 3-19; and American Buffalo by David Mamet, running August 24-September 2. All performances take place at the Dorset Playhouse, 104 Cheney Road, Dorset, VT.

Single tickets and subscriptions for the 2017 Summer Season are on sale. The box office may be reached by calling (802) 867-2223 ex. 2 Tuesday through Saturday 12-6pm (8pm on performance days). For more information, or to purchase tickets and subscriptions online, visit Dorset Theatre Festival's website at dorsettheatrefestival.org.

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