Last weekend, Hallmark rolled out its latest holiday movie, A Gift to Remember by none other than our beloved Topher Payne. Check here (top right corner of the page) for repeat showtimes throughout the holiday season!

Topher’s thoughts on seeing his words on the small screen again this holiday season?

Four million people watched A Gift to Remember on Sunday. We were second only to The Walking Dead.
My playwright brain still can’t fathom a story reaching that many people at once.
TV is so neat.

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Opening at the end of this month at Onion Man in Chamblee and also directed by Julie Skrzypek is the world premiere production of A LITTLE ROOM AT THE INN by Atlanta playwright and long-time Essential supporter and friend, Hank Kimmel. Billed as “a lighthearted Christmas play for adults,” this play tells the story of Bill Greenwalt, a successful CEO who’s nearing retirement, his protege Julie Schaffer, and a host of colorful characters who are all caught in an inn during a snowstorm.

Kimmel offers the following observation about his latest play:
“On the surface,

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This December 8-31, catch long-time Essential company member Alex Van as the Grandfather in Synchronicity Theatre’s production of Heidi The Musical,directed by another frequent Essential collaborator,  Julie Skrzypek!

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So many of the people (including critics) who came to see Essential’s East Coast Premiere of Lauren Gunderson’s ADA AND THE MEMORY ENGINE this past summer,came out into the lobby afterwards wanting to know “Who is this Ashley Anderson????”  Well, she’s continuing to light up the Atlanta theater scene, opening this week In CARDBOARD PIANO at Actor’s Express, while during the day she’s been performing at middle schools with the Alliance Theatre’s Young Audiences project ALICE BETWEEN.

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November 9-18, check out 7 Stages’ revamping of their Home Brew series, the first Home Brew Festival.

The festival runs for two weeks and is comprised of new play readings and guest artist workshops. Featured playwrights include Essential vets Theroun Patterson, Topher Payne, Pam Joyce and Daryl Fazio.

All events in the Home Brew Festival are free of charge, so you have no excuse – see you there!

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Continuing our look back at the past 19 years of Essential Theatre festivals, today we take a look back at the ninth Essential Theatre Festival, in 2007.

In 2007, we moved to a summer production schedule, and celebrated it in style with Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge by Christopher Durang. This rolicking comedy performed alongside Fix Me So I Can Stand, the Playwriting Award Winner by Jean Sterrett, and an ensemble-developed piece, Night Travels, both created by local theatre artists.

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Continuing our look back at the past 19 years of Essential Theatre festivals, today we take a look back at the eighth Essential Theatre Festival, in 2006.

“thanks to Book of Liz, I’m back in love with theatre again.”

I have to be honest, I have no idea who said this, but it was in my show report from opening night, and as much as Fuddy Meers was a game changer for me as a person in theater, Book of Liz was a game changer for me with regard to Essential.

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Continuing our look back at the past 19 years of Essential Theatre festivals, today we take a look back at the seventh Essential Theatre Festival, in 2005.

2005 found us back in the 7Stages black box. All three productions were a success, both well done and well attended. Karen Wurl, who won the Playwriting Award that year, was chosen Creative Loafing Atlanta‘s Best Local Playwright for her world premiere of MISS MACBETH in the Essential Play Festival that year.

“The pitch-perfect backstage satire mingled so cleverly with homages to ‘the Scottish play’ that the only tragedy of MISS MACBETH is that it needed to be longer — and how often can you say that about any play,

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Continuing our look back at the past 19 years of Essential Theatre festivals, today we take a look back at the sixth Essential Theatre Festival, in 2004.

In 2004, the Festival was in the Top Shelf space at Dad’s Garage on Elizabeth Street. The 2004 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award winner was Lauren Gunderson’s Background, and the Essential Festival got a fair amount of publicity that year, particularly The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, which appeared in the local Atlanta publications David Magazine and Southern Voice, and a lovely article by Curt Holman in the Creative Loafing about Lauren.

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Continuing our look back at the past 19 years of Essential Theatre festivals, today we take a look back at the fifth Essential Theatre Festival, in 2003.

Karen Page’s play, Speaking Nazi, was the winner of the 2003 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award and premiered alongside David Lindsay-Abaire’s Fuddy Meers and Gregory Murphy’s The Countess.

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