Join us at the West End Performing Arts Center for our next Bare Essentials Play Reading:

THE OUTRAGE MACHINE
Written by Daniel Carter Brown
Directed by Peter Hardy

“Is something that was supposed to bring us all together only driving us further apart?”

The Outrage Machine is a semi-comedic exploration of internet journalism, social media, and the culture of outrage. Twenty-something Rina Marsh gets a job writing headlines for The Centurion, an upstart website aiming to stand out for its integrity and responsibility. Rina finds that pushing people’s anger buttons results in more views,

Continue reading →

Essential Theatre is now accepting play script submissions for the 2020 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award competition!

Essential’s competition is free to enter, and any previously unproduced play by a Georgia playwright is eligible. There are no restrictions as to style, subject matter or length (though preference is given to plays with a running time of at least an hour). The winning playwright will receive a cash prize of $750, and the play will be given a full production as part of the 2020 Essential Theatre Play Festival. The script submission deadline is April 23, 2019.

Submit a Play

Continue reading →

Emily McClain is co-winner of the 2019 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award, along with Ben Thorpe. Emily is the co-director of theatre at Buford High School. She graduated from Berry College with a B.A. in Theatre. Her work has been performed by Out Of Box Theatre, Merely Players, Atlanta AppCo, and the Courtroom Drama Series. She is a member of Working Title Playwrights and Merely Writers. She is particularly passionate about playwriting in schools and spent 9 years working with Georgia Thespians to develop the PlayWorks program for high school theatre students. Slaying Holofernes is her first full-length play.

Continue reading →

Ben Thorpe is co-winner of the 2019 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award, along with Emily McClain. Join us as we get to know Ben a little bit better:

ET: Congratulations, Ben! We’ll be spending plenty of time together in the coming months, but for now, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

BT: I’m an actor and playwright, originally from Snellville, GA. I went to Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA and lived in New York City for years before moving back to Atlanta in 2015. I’ve been in productions around town at Actor’s Express,

Continue reading →

Join Essential Theatre on March 9 for a Celebration of Georgia Playwrights!
On Saturday, March 9, from 4 to 6pm at Manuel’s Tavern, meet the newest additions to the Essential Theatre legacy, Emily McClain and Ben Thorpe, 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 a bunch of great folks who, like you, are proud of the literary and dramatic heritage of the place we call home.
(Love Essential? Want to introduce a friend?

Continue reading →

Marilyn and Sharon are
the sister duo behind MEMORY LANE, (concert reading this Saturday at 7:30pm)

E: Hi Marilyn. Hi Sharon. We’re so excited to be presenting a concert reading of your musical this Saturday! We’d love to hear a little more about yourselves and the musical you’ve made together.

What inspired you to write Memory Lane?

M: The inspiration for the play was my niece, Annika Goldman (my sister Sharon Goldman’s daughter), who volunteered for two summers in high school at an adult day care facility for Alzheimer’s patients in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, and who is the model for the character,

Continue reading →