Directors Notes

Audience Feedback

"Congrats on the Great Falls emotional roller coaster, it's an intense ride, the actors did a wonderful job and the directing and scene design really capture the glorious melancholy of vast spaces and journeys into the past." Karla Jennings

"Another incredibly strong performance of the Essential Theatre Festival. Great Falls is a lovely play that is directed and performed beautifully. Kudos to Mr. Hardy and the entire production team and cast. The Essential Theatre Festival has become one of my favorite events of the summer. I can't wait to see the rest of the plays!" Amanda Cucher

"People! Go see GREAT FALLS and all the wonderful plays at Essential Theatre! GREAT FALLS is amazing! Ashleigh Hoppe rocked it!" Bree Dawn Shannon

"Saw Great Falls tonight. Not to be missed. Great story great characters wonderful performances and as usual inspired directing. See it. " Jayson Smith

"So enjoyed Great Falls last night. Ellen McQueen's superb direction led two very talented, "new on the Atlanta scene" actors down the road to discovery. Thanks for the trip! Great work!" Paul Holly

Notes by Michael Evenden, Dramaturg
The human relationship to nature—that great American drama—is frequently reimagined on our national stage as a struggle of self-determination: a humbling, soul-opening battle of the aspiring, ambitious, autonomous individual against the irresistible claims of forces beyond his or her control--imperfect families, the unalterable past, the unbidden progress of illness, aging, and affliction that undermine the will and mark both body and mind. Yet these are the battles that, by humbling the will, can open the way to revelation.  This year’s Essential Theatre Festival’s plays return, comically, absurdly, compassionately, restlessly, to these essential themes.  If there were an American Job, his journey to a divine vision (through the loss of control over his life) would bear a resemblance to these plays and their unexpected, imperfect epiphanies.

• In Great Falls, Lee Blessing contrasts the great American West with all of its promises of adventure, wonder, and epic exploration, to the less-heroic journey of a writer and his alienated stepdaughter and their battle to overcome their own unwise and only half-intentional betrayals of self and of those they love. These characters discover a modest, but piercing wonder in imperfect reconciliation. 

To contemplate the special lessons of disappointment, of the failure of grand narratives, of the reassertion of nature against all our best-laid plans--and to find in their wake new, unanticipated truths and tougher, imperfect joys--may be particularly apt for our chastened nation in 2011.  The Essential Theatre invites you to listen and feel with these American characters as they abandon their original plans and go exploring.

Cast & Crew