Join the Essential Theatre at Red Brick Brewery on February 29 to celebrate 18 years of the Essential Theatre Festival,
the fifth festival of all-Georgia-written plays. Be first in line to get your Festival Passes and meet this year’s Essential Theatre Playwriting Award co-winners, Karen Wurl and Derek Dixon!
2016 Festival Announcement Event PR
This year, Essential Theatre is celebrating our Playwriting Award Winners in style on February 29 at Red Brick Brewery. Partygoers will have the chance to mix and mingle with this year’s award-winners, have fun and win prizes with Trivial Matters, and sample Red Brick beer, wine for those who prefer it, and great local cuisine. Partygoers will also get a first grab at Festival Passes, which go on sale that evening.
“Since its first festival in 1999, the Essential Theatre has presented 27 new works by 23 different Georgia writers, all receiving productions of the highest artistic quality through Essential and many going on to receive future productions elsewhere in Atlanta and across the country. This will be our fifth all-Georgia festival, and we want to celebrate with you!”
About each play:
Dispossessed by Karen Wurl, premiering July 29, 2016
Directed by Peter Hardy
A romantic comic fantasy about a Yiddish theater company in the 1920s. A young actress trying to decide between two suitors and her dreams of a career finds herself confronted with the living embodiment of the character she is portraying – a bride possessed by the spirit of a dead lover. Girl talk ensues. Written by Karen Wurl, winner of the 2005 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award for MISS MACBETH.
When Things Are Lost by Derek Dixon, premiering August 5, 2016
Directed by Amber Bradshaw
If someone you loved went missing, how far would you go to find them? A man goes on a dream quest to figure out what happened to his best friend, who seems to have disappeared. Derek Dixon’s WHEN THINGS ARE LOST is a funny and moving play about friendship, loss, understanding and forgiveness.
Bare Essential Play Reading Series
Curated by Founding Artistic Director Peter Hardy
A national award-winning playwright himself who’s had over 30 productions of his work done around the country and was named Creative Loafing’s Critic’s Pick for Best Local Playwright in 2010, Essential’s Founding Artistic Director Peter Hardy curates the Bare Essential Play Reading Series. Selected from Playwriting Competition entries, all readings in the Bare Essential series are free and open to the public.
Now in its sixteenth year, the Essential Theatre Playwriting Competition is the only contest exclusively dedicated to the work of Georgia playwrights. The winning play receives both a full production and a $600 cash prize. Playwrights must be current Georgia residents, and the plays must be previously unproduced. There are no restrictions as to style, length or subject matter. The deadline for the 2017 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award competition is April 23, 2016. Click here for more information or to submit your play.
For more information and the latest updates, join our newsletter, follow us on Facebook or Twitter, or check out our website at www.EssentialTheatre.com.
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For media inquires
Jennifer Kimball, Managing Director
[email protected]
(404) 587-3853
Calendar Listings
Essential Theatre Festival Announcement Event
February 29, 2016
The Essential Theatre at Red Brick Brewing Company
2323 Defoor Hills Road NW, Atlanta, GA 30318
Tickets: bit.ly/EssentialTheatreFeb29tix
The Essential Theatre Festival
July 29th – August 28th
The Essential Theatre at West End Performing Arts Center
945 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd, Atlanta, GA 30310
Tickets available starting Feb 29 at www.EssentialTheatre.com
Essential Theatre: Giving Georgia Playwrights a Voice since 1999
The 2016 Essential Theatre Festival continues Essential’s tradition of premiering the latest and best new works by Georgia playwrights this summer with this year’s contest winners, Dispossessed by Karen Wurl and When Things Are Lost by Derek Dixon, and the Bare Essentials Play Reading Series.
The Festival runs July 29 through August 28 at the West End Performing Arts Center, 945 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd, Atlanta, GA. Festival Passes go on sale February 29.
