Court Dorsey

Court Dorsey has been writing songs, poems, short stories and works for the theater for 50 years. Currently he is completing work on Can of Worms: A Half-Encountered Memoir (working title), a second collection of poems, and finalizing edits on a collection of short stories. Many of his original songs and writings have been performed on stage; readings of his original work come alive with an actor’s instinct honed by years of experience.

Court lives and works in Western Massachusetts. He is an associate artist with Pilgrim Theater Collaborative, a resident company of the Boston Center for the Arts (BCA), including Project Unspeakable (playwright), Faust 2002 (Miphistopheles - BCA, Malta Theater Festival in Poznan, Poland) and Guys Dreamin’ (co-created with Jean-Claude van Itallie and Kermit Dunkelberg, La Mama E.T.C.  (“Top Ten Shows of the 1997-8 Season”, New York Theater Wire)), The House Not Touched by Death, and two productions of The Tibetan Book of the Dead.  

He portrayed William Cullen Bryant at Bryant’s homestead in Cummington MA, for The Trustees of Reservations and Enchanted Circle Theater, and Tycho Brahe in the Talking Band’s original musical Star Messengers (La Mama E.T.C. NYC). He has been a long-time collaborator with Wendy Woodson and Present Company, Inc., including their award-winning solo movement theater work Dudes in Suits (Amherst College, Jacob’s Pillow, Dance Place in Washington DC, BACA Downtown in NYC, Emerson Majestic Theater in Boston). 

He has written, acted, or directed in over 30 performance ensembles, including Serious Play Theater Ensemble (Milosevic at the Hague, Joakim Interfest, Serbia). He has been a frequent guest artist at Amherst College and has been Artistic Director at the Maezumi Institute for Zen Studies in Montague, MA.  He has appeared in the film Voices of Belarus, an international activist theater project.  He is Brother Wilf in Elyria Pictures’ Bridge of Names and Des Plains in Anniversary.  In 2010, he co-created, directed and performed in Ambush on T Street with collaborators John Sheldon and Al Miller.  He has just completed writing a new play Swamped, which is heading for production. He also performs selections of his original songs, poems and short writings as a solo performer.

Court is a mediator, facilitator, circle keeper, non-violence and conflict resolution trainer, who has developed Conflict Resolution Theater, a process he has used in many settings, including World Learning Center’s School for International Training Graduate Institute, the Kahn Institute and the School of Education at Smith College, as well as in schools, community centers, juvenile detention facilities and with street mediation teams. He is currently piloting a program in Re-entry Mediation for Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration (MOPC) and Collaborative Resolutions Group (CRG), conducting mediations behind bars for pre-release incarcerated adults. 

He is a founding member of Bright Morning Star, a folk cabaret ensemble (Rounder) that toured for sixteen years, including tours with Pete Seeger and Odetta.  He is Board President of the Friends of the Wendell Meetinghouse and is a frequent presenter/performer in that venue.

And from Tiger Stripes: Poems of Shadow and Light:

“He toured with Pete Seeger and Odetta. He practiced Vipassana with Joseph Goldstein in Bodh Gaya. He sat in India, eye to eye with Swami Ashish, disciple of the silent Ramana Maharsi. He performed Hindu songs with Allen Ginsberg, taught him the blues progression. He learned the wisdom of the Twelve Steps, studied the works of Christian mystics, and sat silent Zen sesshins.

All along the way Court wrote poems, with an actor’s love of drama and an activist’s love of nature.

Oh, and did we mention? Tigers swoon at his Lover’s feet …