We’re proud to announce that Atlanta playwright Theroun D’arcy Patterson has been named as the winner of the 2011 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award for his script A THOUSAND CIRCLETS.

This powerful and emotional work falls into the classic tradition of the American family drama, telling the tale of an African-American clan trying to heal old wounds as they face new challenges – and just as they are poised to reach the pinnacle of their professional success, the father’s illness threatens to bring it all crashing down. The Essential Theatre Playwriting Award is the only competition of its kind,

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The Essential Theatre is proud to have won five Metropolitan Theatre Awards at the MAT Ceremonies held on Sunday, Sept. 26 at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center. Our 2009 production of Joan Ackermann’s ICE GLEN won the prizes for Best Director of a Play (Ellen McQueen), Best Major Supporting Actor In A Play (Jim Sarbh), Best Lighting Design for a Play (Trish Harris), and Best Scenic Design for a Play (Rob Hadaway). The Essential Theatre’s World Premiere production of Vynnie Meli’s JIM CROW AND THE RHYTHM DARLINGS won the award for Best Original Work.

The Essential Theatre would like to congratulate all the winners and all the nominees!

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As artistic director of Essential Theatre, PETER HARDY has been Atlanta’s de facto midwife of new local plays. In the summer of 2010, however, Hardy put the spotlight on his own script, Sally and Glen at the Palace, and the nostalgic dramedy packed enough punch to upstage many of Essential’s productions going back for years. www.essentialtheatre.com

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The Essential Theatre would like to congratulate some of our friends and collaborators on their recent Suzi nominations:

Robin Bloodworth, nominated as Best Leading Actor for “Ethan Frome” at Theatre in the Square, worked with us years ago in a terrific Lee Blessing play called “Down the Road”.

Ellen McQueen, nominated as Best Featured Actress for “Ethan Frome”, directed our productions of “Sally and Glen at the Palace”, “Ice Glen”, “After Ashley”, “Night Travels”, “Charm School” and “A Lovely Undertow”.

William S. Murphey, nominated as Best Featured Actor for “Around the World In 80 Days”

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More great news about the recently finished 2010 Essential Theatre Festival: Our production of Peter Hardy’s SALLY AND GLEN AT THE PALACE was named by the Sunday Paper as one of the Top Shows of the Season, and Gabriel Jason Dean’s QUALITIES OF STARLIGHT, winner of the 2010 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award, has been chosen by the Duel Theatre of New York City for a production this fall, running Nov. 12 – 26. Congratulations to Gabriel and thanks to everyone who made this year’s Festival our best ever!

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Monday Night, July 26 at 8 p.m. in the Actor’s Express space, it’s donate-what-you-can (cash only) Industry Night for the Essential Theatre’s Georgia Premiere of Peter Hardy’s award-winning play SALLY AND GLEN AT THE PALACE, directed by Ellen McQueen (ICE GLEN) and starring Jacob York and Kate Graham.

“Peter Hardy’s Sally and Glen at the Palace is a lovely valentine to the movies, a trivia buff’s dream and a sweet, coming-of-age story about friendships made in unlikely places. You have to admire Hardy’s delicate approach and the winning performances of Kate Graham (Sally) and Jacob York (Glen). York is a wonderful comic actor who ultimately reveal his character’s tenderness and vulnerability …

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The World Premiere of Gabriel Jason Dean’s QUALITIES OF STARLIGHT, directed by Peter Hardy for the Essential Theatre Play Festival. Featuring Patricia French, Daniel Burnley, Matt Felten, Kelly Criss, Alex Van and Nina Kyle.

Visit www.EssentialTheatre.com for dates and times for this production.

“A work of great imagination which is directed by Peter Hardy, superbly acted and wonderfully set … it is a terrific show and an enjoyable evening, one you do not want to miss.” Bob Heller, Publishers Feature Syndicate

“The performance was amazing wonderful and so dang funny. We really enjoyed it.”

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Darker Face of the Earth
by Rita Dove, directed by Betty Hart
The Georgia Premiere of a stunning tragic drama by a Pulitzer Prize-winning African-American poet (and former Poet Laureate of the United States). The classic story of Oedipus is re-imagined on a slave plantation in the American South.
Adult situations, with some violence. VIDEO

“A luminous choreopoem that shows off the strengths of a strong supporting ensemble …A scintillating meditation on the shifting balance of power between master and servant, husband and wife, “The Darker Face of the Earth” transports the mythology of classical literature to the landscape of the Old South,

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Former US Poet Laureate Rita Dove was in town at a reception for the Atlanta premiere of her play, Darker Face of the Earth. Essential Theatre Company is performing the work at Actors’ Express.

The play is a re-telling of Oedipus, the classic Greek tragedy in which a king tries unsuccessfully to avoid his fate, of killing his father and marrying his own mother. Dove’s play takes place on a slave plantation in the American South. Recently, WABE’s Lois Reitzes spoke with Rita Dove about the play. She began by asking: Why Oedipus?

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• The Trials of Girlhood
• Could Slaves Read and Write
• House versus Field Slaves
• South Carolina
• A Slaveholder’s Daughter
• Slaves and Music

The Trials Of Girlhood – excerpt from Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
During the first years of my service in Dr. Flint’s family, I was accustomed to share some indulgences with the children of my mistress. Though this seemed to me no more than right,

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