Essential Theatre seeks a talented graphics designer who enjoys theatre and is able to work for a small stipend and tickets.

The Essential Theatre has long been the leading champion of Georgia playwrights, producing and developing many new plays by local writers.  Coming up in 2012, we’ll be celebrating the 25th year of our existence by presenting our first-ever ALL GEORGIA PLAY FESTIVAL!
 
EVELYN IN PURGATORY by Topher Payne
World Premiere!
Five public school teachers are caught in the limbo of the disciplinary “Rubber Room”, waiting for their cases to be heard and their fates decided. 

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The Essential Theatre invites Georgia writers to submit short plays to be considered for THE LOCAL, a collaborative theatre project about the City of Atlanta to be developed and directed by Ellen McQueen, for production in the next Essential Theatre Play Festival (coming up in the summer of 2012).  A similar project is currently in development by Stagewrights, a company in Tampa, Florida.

All plays must be set at a specific location in the Metropolitan Atlanta area, and all of them must, in some way, touch upon the subject of homelessness.  The scripts do not have to be about the homeless (although they can be) and do not have to have homeless characters onstage (although they can). 

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We’re proud and happy to announce that the Essential Theatre’s production of Rita Dove’s THE DARKER FACE OF THE EARTH, directed by Betty Hart, has won the Metropolitan Atlanta Theater Award for Best Ensemble In A Play.  This is the thirteenth MAT Award that the Essential Theatre was won in the past four years.

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SALLY AND GLEN AT THE PALACE, written by Essential’s Artistic Director Peter Hardy, will be given a staged reading at the Tallapoosa Theatre Festival (located west of Atlanta) on August 27.  For more information
SALLY AND GLEN was a big hit with both critics and audiences when it was produced as part of the 2010 Essential Theatre Play Festival, ending 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.

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The 2011 Essential Theatre Play Festival has one more week!  We close July 31.  Visit www.EssentialTheatre.com for tickets.
 
“I wish everyone in the Atlanta theatre scene would come out and see Essential’s fine work.”
Yolanda Asher (Founding Member of the Suzi Awards)

“I am so impressed with the amazing season you have put together.”
Paul Holly (Founding Member of the Suzi Awards)

“Congratulations on assembling another three diverse, thought-provoking and entertaining plays, wonderfully directed and acted by some of Atlanta’s best talent.”
Bill Murphey (Suzi Award-Winning Actor)

Monday,

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“Confessions are good for the soul – so they say. For many people, and families, bringing a secret into the light of day is a healing process. Like any family, the one in Essential Theatre’s Great Falls, holds its share of baggage and secrets.”
 
“The play takes the audience on a parallel emotional journey to the characters’ own trip through the scenic west. A play this emotional requires a talented cast and well-crafted dialogue. If a play is poorly written, great acting can save it and vice-versa. Audiences seeing Great Falls don’t have any worry; it excels in both.”

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There are a limited number of performances remainging to see Essential Theatre’s world premiere production of Theroun Patterson’s prize winning play, “A Thousand Circlets”. You don’t want to miss this one. 

“Essential Theatre’s production of Theroun Patterson’s A THOUSAND CIRCLETS is wonderful. Theroun Patterson’s writing is smart, funny, tender, painful, and absolutely real.”
Jo Howarth Noonan

“A Thousand Circlets is powerful and well played. The complex family dynamic reminds me of Long Days Journey into Night.”
Rebecca B. Rogers

“Theroun Patterson’s A Thousand Circlets is another artistic coup for the Essential Theatre’s Play Festival.

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“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


“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

“Congrats on the Great Falls emotional roller coaster,

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“Essential Theatre’s production of Theroun Patterson’s A THOUSAND CIRCLETS is wonderful. Theroun Patterson‘s writing is smart, funny, tender, painful, and absolutely real. The performances are honest. Betty Hart‘s direction is spot on. It’s hard for me to watch anything about Alzheimer’s as it always hits a little too close to home. This production was no exception but the relationship between husband and wife was one of the more honest depictions I ever seen of the pain, anger, and confusion that rains down in the early days of diagnosis.

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A good time was had by all at Essential Theatre’s “A Sleeping Country” Pajama Party.
Thanks to Nancy Johnson for the great photos! 

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