Join Essential Theatre and Hush Harbor Lab on August 18 for a one-night-only reading of Kelundra Smith’s new play, The Wash. But first, read on to learn more about theatre critic, arts journalist, and playwright, Kelundra Smith.

Kelundra Smith is a storyteller whose mission is to connect people to cultural experiences and each other. A Georgia native, she got into theatre because that’s where teachers put the kids who talk too much in class. As a playwright, she has a passion for southern historical narratives and writing stories about people who no one else sees. In her other life,

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Monday night’s Bare Essentials Play Reading is The Manuscript by Matthew Hoffman. Read on to learn a little more about the playwright and the play we’ll be seeing Monday night!

Matthew Hoffman was born in Normal, IL and grew up in small-town southwest Michigan. His family moved to North Carolina and he graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill before moving to Atlanta, where he’s been ever since. Hoffman says he’s been “theatre-adjacent” all his life, acting in a micro-budget indie film, taking improv comedy classes, filling drawers with drafts of scripts, but only lately has he found the guts to really put himself out there.

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Join Essential Theatre on May 7 for a Celebration of Georgia Playwrights!

Meet the newest addition to the Essential Theatre legacy, John Mabey, and celebrate Essential’s – and Georgia’s – rich theatre tradition and the community in which our playwrights grow and thrive.

Register

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Now through May 6, submit your video submissions for our General Auditions! 

Submit your video audition to [email protected] by May 6, 2022. Auditions should consist of two contrasting monologues with a total length of no more than four minutes.

Please use subject line: [YOUR NAME] GENERAL AUDITION.

PLEASE NOTE: The 2022 Essential Theatre Play Festival will be in person July 29-August 28, 2022 at the West End Performing Arts Center in Atlanta, GA. Rehearsals will take place in various locations in the metro area, generally during weekday evenings and weekend days, in June and July.

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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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