This Thursday, Essential Theatre is presenting a one-night-only performance of Day by Emma Yarbrough. Read on to find out more about Emma and the show!

Emma Yarbrough is a storyteller, immersive theater-maker and clown from Eufaula, Alabama. A passionate advocate for arts education and community-building, Emma currently serves as the Senior Associate Director for Emory Arts at Emory University, where she earned a degree in Theater Studies. Emma trained in physical theater and clowning at the Accademia dell’Arte in Arezzo, Italy. As a devised theater-maker, Emma has worked with Out of Hand Theater, the Object Group,

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Tonight, Essential Theatre presents a one-night-only performance of I’m Not Supposed to Talk About This by Lee Nowell. Read on to find out more about the playwright and performer!

Lee Nowell is a professional playwright, director, and actress. The productions she has directed have garnered critical acclaim, including being named one of the Top Ten Productions of the Year by the ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION. Her plays have been presented by Actor’s Express (ALBATROSS; PAPER HOUSE; OBSESSION), Georgia Public Broadcasting (BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT: THE TROY DAVIS PROJECT), Horizon Theatre (BLUE ANGELS WEEKEND), 7Stages (TRUE NORTH), Ex Somnium (HOW TO SURVIVE BEING HUMAN),

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Tuesday’s Bare Essentials Play Reading is The Interim by Caroline Donica. Read on to learn a little more about the playwright and the play we’ll be seeing on Tuesday!

Caroline Donica is a producer, director, writer, and actor, whose work explores themes of identity, longing, and belonging with emotional precision and playful irreverence. A transnational Korean American adoptee, Caroline draws from her own experiences to tell stories that center overlooked perspectives. Her work spans genres but always returns to the human heart. Caroline is the CEO of Open Seat Productions, a film production company dedicated to empowering artists through craft,

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Tuesday’s Bare Essentials Play Reading is Snowblind by Laura King. Read on to learn a little more about the playwright and the play we’ll be seeing on Tuesday!

Laura King is a playwright and dramaturg. She holds an MFA in playwriting from the Playwright’s Lab at Hollins University and a master’s in English from Northwestern University. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Synchronicity Theatre in Atlanta and recently was the dramaturg for their production of The Dark Lady by Jessica B. Hill. Her play Merritt Anne and the Mighty Oak is a 2025 AATE Distinguished Play Award winner.

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This Monday, Essential Theatre presents a one-night-only performance of Only An Actor by Tim McDonough. Read on to find out more about this Atlanta theater stalwart.

Tim McDonough has acted 100+ roles, winning awards up and down the East Coast since the 1980s. For 28 years he taught acting at Emory University; he served as Chair of Theater and Dance and as Artistic Director of Theater Emory. He has directed Shakespeare, Chekhov, Ibsen, contemporary playwrights, and his own plays and adaptations of fiction and has written a book, Acting Narrative Speeches: The Actor as Storyteller.

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This Thursday, Essential Theatre presents a very special one-night-only encore performance of Kate Crabtree’s Someone Else’s Child, which swept this year’s Atlanta Fringe Festival, winning both the Audience Choice Award and the Homegrown Award. Read on to find out more about this intrepid playwright and the play you’ve got one more chance to see this Thursday!

Kate Crabtree is a multi-award-winning playwright with a mission to make theatre more fun and more accessible. Her most recent play, Someone Else’s Child, debuted at the Chain Theatre this April at the NYC Fringe, where it received an Audience Choice Award.

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Tuesday’s Bare Essentials Play Reading is ladies of the by Hailey Sipes. Read on to learn a little more about the playwright and the play we’ll be seeing on Tuesday!

ET: Hi Hailey! Welcome. Tell us a little bit about yourself!

HS: Hi! My name is Hailey Sipes. I’m an Atlanta-based playwright originally from Dallas, Texas. I’m a graduate of Emory University where I received my degree in Playwriting and Classical Civilization. As such, I adore straddling both disciplines, be that in my own writing (my plays, “The Anamorphosis” and “gold dust woman” are both classical adaptation),

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Matt Hoffman is the 2025 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award winner with his second full-length play, A Very Special Hospital. Read on to learn what this two-time Essential Playwriting Award Winner has been up to since The Manuscript‘s premiere in 2023 and what he’s got in store for us this summer!

ET: Hi Matt! Congratulations on winning your second Essential Playwriting Award!

MH: Thank you! It feels wonderful and also too good to be true.

ET: Well we’re thrilled to have you back. What can you tell us about the play we’ll be seeing this summer?

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The Essential Theatre, Inc. is holding the “Sand and Serenity Raffle” to support the production of the 2025 Essential Theatre Play Festival. Tickets will be sold until 4pm on August 31, 2025. The drawing will take place at 5pm on August 31, 2025, at Seven Stages (1105 Euclid Avenue NE, Atlanta, GA 30307).

The Prize for the Winner is a three-night stay at a privately owned beach house on Daufuskie Island, S.C. (Value: $1,050). Restrictions apply (see below).

Get Raffle Tickets!

Terms and Conditions for the “Sand and Serenity Raffle”
1.

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A one of a kind summer soirée you won’t want to miss!

On July 24, Join the artists and board of the Essential Theatre for a very special summer soirée bursting with theatrical flavor and Southern sass to champion the bold voices of Georgia playwrights.

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Join us on July 24 and enjoy:

⭐️ Sips & snacks
⭐️ Pop-up performances
⭐️ A silent auction
⭐️ Fun and games!

All in support of Essential Theatre and new work from the Georgia voices you’ll be bragging about in ten years.

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