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#11 in our accompanying 20 DAYS OF ESSENTIAL PLAYS series is SWIMMING WITH JELLYFISH, by Katie Grant Shalin.

Katie wrote and originally produced this play herself, also playing the lead in the initial production, at the school where she taught. We produced it the next summer, and our audiences loved it.

Katie has since passed away, in the fall of 2014. We are so thankful to have been able to bring Katie’s play to life for her and to have gotten to know this sweet,

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About the Project

Essential Theatre is the longest-running theatre dedicated exclusively to supporting the work of Georgia playwrights. Although we only produce plays during the festival, our year-round work continues to expand as we find new ways to give Georgia playwrights a voice. This fall, help us expand our boundaries and deepen our roots as we take the next steps to ensure that Georgia’s playwrights become recognized as significant new American playwrights, which is what they truly are.

What your donation will support:

Processing Playwriting Competition Submissions: We had another record-breaking year of submissions to our playwriting competition,

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#12 in our accompanying 20 DAYS OF ESSENTIAL PLAYS series is THE LOCAL. Curated by Ellen McQueen and produced by Essential in 2012, was actually comprised of dozens of short plays, songs, poems and personal stories about the City of Atlanta. Writers and contributors included Margaret Baldwin, Matthew Myers, Carlton Molette, Barbara Molette, Karla Jennings, Sarah Satola, Topher Payne, Peter Hardy, Stephanie Schrag, Chris Buechner, Jessica Bodiford, Ellen McQueen, vynnie Meli, Oliver Turner, Ashley McQueen, Dre Camacho, John Dull, Julia Dahlia, Robin Bloodworth,

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Jean Sterrett won the 2007 Playwriting Award with her play FIX ME SO I CAN STAND, a powerful fact-inspired story about injustice to African Americans in the South. One of the characters, a young lawyer, was based on a real man from Clayton County, now a judge. He came to see the play on his own — and then returned with friends and family in tow!
An Atlanta resident at the time the play was written, Jean originally hails from Australia. After Essential’s production of this play, she was named Creative Loafing’s Critics Pick for Best Local Playwright. “Sterrett showed such a vivid sense of place that Atlanta’s larger playhouses should give her work a look.” -Creative Loafing

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With the latest Star Wars having opened yesterday, an appropriate pick for #13 in our accompanying 20 DAYS OF ESSENTIAL PLAYS series is SALLY AND GLEN AT THE PALACE.

Penned by artistic director Peter Hardy, SALLY AND GLEN AT THE PALACE premiered as part of the 2010 Essential Theatre Play Festival, where it ended up on “Best of the Year” lists for both The Sunday Paper and Atlanta Theater Buzz, while Hardy was Creative Loafing’s Critic’s Pick for Best Atlanta Playwright.

Since that time,

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First award winner in 2001 with Parts They Call Deep. Won again in 2004 for Background. Very successful national career. ”The Essential Theatre has been fundamentally important for my career. When I was very young and unsure of how to sustain my work in theatre, they gave me strength. I speak from experience when I say that I will always credit them with my early success and confidence.”

“Parts They Call Deep” wasn’t “submitted” to the Essential Playwriting Contest – the young writer simply asked Peter Hardy if he would look at it,

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#16 in our accompanying 20 DAYS OF ESSENTIAL PLAYS series is WARTS, by Bill Gibson, won the 2002 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award and was produced as part of the 2002 Festival.

Since that time, Bill has had about 20 plays produced in Atlanta, New York and elsewhere. You’ve also seen his work read as part of the Bare Essentials the past two years, CHRIST, AMERICA in the summer of 2014 as well as our most recent Bare Essentials last month: THE CISCO KID WAS MY MOTHER’S BOYFRIEND.

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#17 – JIM CROW AND THE RHYTHM DARLINGS, by Vynnie Meli, was the winner of the 2009 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award, and its production in the 2009 Essential Theatre Festival was awarded Best Original Work from the Metropolitan Atlanta Theatre Awards.

Aside from her work with Essential, Meli is also quite successful in the world of musical theatre: you can read more about that from our Artistic Director, Peter Hardy, here: https://essentialtheatre.com/we-will-rock-you/

We’re proud to have helped to bring RHYTHM DARLINGS to life, and we hope YOU will consider supporting US:
18 days left to see your donation matched through our power2give campaign: https://www2.power2give.org/campaigns/210

‪#‎power2give ‪#‎GeorgiaPlaywright ‪#‎EssentialArtist

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#18 – LEAVING LIMBO, by Valetta Anderson, was a co-winner of the 2006 Essential Playwriting Award and was produced as part of the 2006 Essential Theatre Festival. Anderson’s full productions include Hallelujah Street Blues at Horizon Theatre, Leaving Limbo with Essential Theatre, Today (AT&T: Onstage Award) and She’ll Find Her Way Home with Jomandi Productions, Kuntu Repertory Theatre, and Fisk University.

“The Essential Theatre was the essential ingredient in furthering my career as a playwright and expanding my voice into film by providing the one thing that is missing from most new play development processes, namely a full production,”

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#19 in our 20 DAYS OF ESSENTIAL PLAYS is EVELYN IN PURGATORY, by today’s birthday boy, Topher Payne. Happy Birthday, Topher!

EVELYN IN PURGATORY was the winner of the 2012 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award, and it premiered as part of our 2012 Essential Theatre Play Festival.

In recent months-to-years, Topher has become a tremendously celebrated and produced Georgia playwright, having been produced from Alaska to Florida and earned his first off-Broadway production in New York this year as well. Throughout his success, he has been a passionate and steadfast advocate for the Atlanta theatre community as an excellent home for new plays and playwrights,

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