We’re thrilled to announce that A Complicated Hope by John Mabey is the winner of the 2022 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award.

First given out in 2001, the Essential Theatre Playwriting Award remains the only competition of its kind, exclusively dedicated to the work of Georgia resident writers, and with the winning writers getting both a cash prize and a full production. John joins a long line of talented playwrights who have received this award.

The 2022 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award is sponsored by Could Be Pretty Cool. Founded by Atlanta-based creative and arts advocate Kacie Willis,

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John Mabey is the 2022 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award winner with his play A Complicated Hope. Read on to find out more about John and the play we’ll be premiering this summer!

John Mabey (he/they) is a writer and storyteller whose plays have been produced on stage in 7 countries and throughout the United States. John lived internationally for a decade in London and Amsterdam before residing in Atlanta and continues to work with theatre companies around the globe both virtually and in- person. They are also a certified Mental Health Counselor and published author on the topics of sexual identity and spirituality in academic books and journals.

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We’re excited to be presenting our first playwriting class showcase of 2022 as part of Decatur Legacy Park’s Community Day on February 27 – come join us!

The showcase starts at 4, but before that, there will be activities with L’Arche Atlanta, Frank Hamilton School, Paint Love, the Wylde Center, Wild Nest Bird Rehab, The Decatur Education Foundation and The Object Group. It is going to be a GREAT day!!

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –

October 2021 – Essential Theatre is back live this fall, bringing their 2021 Playwriting Award winning plays, Calming the Man by Anthony Lamarr White and Raising the Dead by Erin Considine, to the stage along with a two night only encore performance of Shelby Hofer’s High Risk, Baby! 

The 2020 Essential Play Festival was cancelled due to COVID – making 2020 the first year since the Festival began in 1999 that there hasn’t been a festival – and the company moved to online play readings and launched community playwriting classes to fill the programming gap.

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Registration is now open for Essential Theatre’s fall Intro to Playwriting course through the West End Performing Arts Center! This fall’s course will be all online, All Ages, and meet once a week on Tuesdays at 4:00 starting September 14.

The course will be led by Amina McIntyre, who has been a guest playwright for several of our previous courses and co-taught this summer’s classes with Emily McClain.

A six week introduction to the art and form of playwriting, led by acclaimed Atlanta playwright Amina McIntyre and featuring past Essential Theatre Playwriting Award Winners as special guests! 

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ATLANTA – July 2021

Essential Theatre, Inc has been awarded two grants by Georgia Council for the Arts (GCA), a division of the Georgia Department of Economic Development, as part of GCA’s initial disbursement of grants for fiscal year 2022. A total of 218 organizations were awarded 266 grants that provide more than $2 million in funding to arts organizations throughout the state. The Bridge Grant provided funding for operating support to 135 organizations, the Project Grant will help fund 54 arts projects, and the Arts Education Program Grant was awarded to 77 organizations. Additional grants for Vibrant Communities and Cultural Facilities programs will be awarded in the Fall of 2021.

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Come celebrate with us!

Essential Theatre Is Back! Join Us On August 28 For The Return Of Our Celebration Of Georgia Playwrights!

Meet The Newest Additions To The Essential Theatre Legacy, Erin Considine And Anthony Lamarr White, 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 people. In person – still feels so good, right? And not just any people – people who, like you,

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Anthony Lamarr White is co-winner of the 2021 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award, along with Erin Considine. Read on to learn a little more about Anthony and the play we’ll be premiereing this fall!

Anthony Lamarr White is a playwright, novelist, and screenwriter from Crawford, GA. At age nine, a typewriter he received for Christmas and his passion for Bruce Lee films led him to write his first short screenplay, Two Against the Mob. Since then, his work has included novels, screenplays, and two full-length plays, Calming the Man and The Long Goodbye.

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Erin Considine is co-winner of the 2021 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award, along with Anthony Lamarr White. Read on to learn a little more about Erin and the play we’ll be premiereing this fall!

Erin K. Considine is an emerging Southern Playwright from the Atlanta Area. Her first full-length play, Pete & Wendy, was included in 2016’s Bare Essentials Play Reading Series. This collaboration led to the development of Riding Bicycles in the Rain (2017 Ethel Woolson Lab & 2018 Playwrights Voiced Festival),and Flaming Out (2018 First Light Reading Series). Her scripts Twenty-Two (2020 Dramaworkshop at Palmbeach Dramaworks,

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We’re delighted and proud to announce the two co-winners of the 2021 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award! They are: CALMING THE MAN by Anthony Lamarr White and RAISING THE DEAD by Erin Considine. Congratulations to the winners! They will each receive a cash prize of $750 and their plays will receive full productions in the 2021 Essential Theatre Play Festival, happening live in person this November at our home since 2014, the West End Performing Arts Center!

We can honestly say that this was the most difficult choice we’ve had to make in the contest’s 21-year history, because of the high quality of this year’s submissions.

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