John Mabey is the 2022 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award winner with his play A Complicated Hope. Read on to find out more about John and the play we’ll be premiering this summer!

John Mabey (he/they) is a writer and storyteller whose plays have been produced on stage in 7 countries and throughout the United States. John lived internationally for a decade in London and Amsterdam before residing in Atlanta and continues to work with theatre companies around the globe both virtually and in- person. They are also a certified Mental Health Counselor and published author on the topics of sexual identity and spirituality in academic books and journals.

Continue reading →

We’re excited to be presenting our first playwriting class showcase of 2022 as part of Decatur Legacy Park’s Community Day on February 27 – come join us!

The showcase starts at 4, but before that, there will be activities with L’Arche Atlanta, Frank Hamilton School, Paint Love, the Wylde Center, Wild Nest Bird Rehab, The Decatur Education Foundation and The Object Group. It is going to be a GREAT day!!

Continue reading →

Registration is now open for Essential Theatre’s fall Intro to Playwriting course through the West End Performing Arts Center! This fall’s course will be all online, All Ages, and meet once a week on Tuesdays at 4:00 starting September 14.

The course will be led by Amina McIntyre, who has been a guest playwright for several of our previous courses and co-taught this summer’s classes with Emily McClain.

A six week introduction to the art and form of playwriting, led by acclaimed Atlanta playwright Amina McIntyre and featuring past Essential Theatre Playwriting Award Winners as special guests! 

Continue reading →

Find out more…

Come celebrate with us!

Essential Theatre Is Back! Join Us On August 28 For The Return Of Our Celebration Of Georgia Playwrights!

Meet The Newest Additions To The Essential Theatre Legacy, Erin Considine And Anthony Lamarr White, And Celebrate Essential’s – And Georgia’s – Rich Theatre Tradition And The Community In Which Our Playwrights Grow And Thrive.

At our Celebration of Georgia Playwrights Event, you’ll get to:

Hang out. With people. In person – still feels so good, right? And not just any people – people who, like you,

Continue reading →

Anthony Lamarr White is co-winner of the 2021 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award, along with Erin Considine. Read on to learn a little more about Anthony and the play we’ll be premiereing this fall!

Anthony Lamarr White is a playwright, novelist, and screenwriter from Crawford, GA. At age nine, a typewriter he received for Christmas and his passion for Bruce Lee films led him to write his first short screenplay, Two Against the Mob. Since then, his work has included novels, screenplays, and two full-length plays, Calming the Man and The Long Goodbye.

Continue reading →

Erin Considine is co-winner of the 2021 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award, along with Anthony Lamarr White. Read on to learn a little more about Erin and the play we’ll be premiereing this fall!

Erin K. Considine is an emerging Southern Playwright from the Atlanta Area. Her first full-length play, Pete & Wendy, was included in 2016’s Bare Essentials Play Reading Series. This collaboration led to the development of Riding Bicycles in the Rain (2017 Ethel Woolson Lab & 2018 Playwrights Voiced Festival),and Flaming Out (2018 First Light Reading Series). Her scripts Twenty-Two (2020 Dramaworkshop at Palmbeach Dramaworks,

Continue reading →

We’re delighted and proud to announce the two co-winners of the 2021 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award! They are: CALMING THE MAN by Anthony Lamarr White and RAISING THE DEAD by Erin Considine. Congratulations to the winners! They will each receive a cash prize of $750 and their plays will receive full productions in the 2021 Essential Theatre Play Festival, happening live in person this November at our home since 2014, the West End Performing Arts Center!

We can honestly say that this was the most difficult choice we’ve had to make in the contest’s 21-year history, because of the high quality of this year’s submissions.

Continue reading →

The Essential Theatre’s General Auditions will be via video submission only for 2021. Please submit your video audition (along with resume and headshot) to [email protected] by Thursday July 1, 2021. Auditions should consist of two contrasting monologues with a total length of no more than four minutes.

Please use subject line: [YOUR NAME] GENERAL AUDITION.

PLEASE NOTE:  This year, our two full productions (Anthony Lamarr White’s CALMING THE MAN and Erin Considine’s RAISING THE DEAD) will require a total of six actors: four African-American men and two women of any ethnicity in the 40-60 year old age range.

Continue reading →