Peter Hardy

The Manuscript

World Premiere opens Friday, August 11, 2023

A compelling psychological drama about what we owe to those we’ve lost. Winner of the 2023 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award.

Advisory: Reference to suicide and self-harm

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Performance Schedule

Thursday August 10 (8pm) Preview performance
Friday August 11 (8pm) Opening Night
Saturday August 12 (8pm)
Saturday August 19 (8pm)
Sunday August 20 (2pm)
Friday August 25 (8pm)
Sunday August 27 (7pm)
Monday August 28 (8pm) Industry Night
Friday September 1 (8pm)

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In The Press

Essential Festival Opens August 11 With World Premiere Of THE MANUSCRIPT

Essential Theatre festival brings Georgia-based plays to the stage through Sept.

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The Outrage Machine

Opening Friday July 29 – A satiric drama that explores internet journalism, social media, and the culture of outrage – Co-Winner of the 2020 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award.

Raising the Dead

On a hot night in New Orleans, two very different women — lost in loneliness and the living death of feeling invisible – try to connect and find a way to bring themselves back to life.

Slaying Holofernes

World premiere opens Friday, July 26, 2019

This passionate and provocative drama spans four centuries as it tells the tales of two remarkable young women:  Amanda, struggling for justice and recognition in the offices of modern-day Atlanta, and the amazing true story of Artemesia Gentileschi, a painter in Renaissance Italy who took her rapist to trial.  A powerful look at how much some things have changed in 400 years – while others haven’t changed at all.

Advisory: There is a sexual assault in the play. There is a scene of intense physical pain.

 

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Qualities of Starlight

The World Premiere of a twisted family comedy about a successful young astronomer who brings his wife home to the north Georgia mountains and the simple country household in which he grew up and where his parents are now addicted to crystal meth. Winner of the 2010 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award.

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Stray Dogs

Stray Dogs,written by Matthew Myers and directed by Peter Hardy, is a comedy-romance about cops and criminals – sort of like Quentin Tarentino only much sweeter.

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Built to Float

The magical realist tale of two sisters, trying not to drown in the haunted legacy of their troubled family.

by Rachel Graf Evans directed by Peter Hardy
World Premiere opens Friday, July 27, 2018.
Built to Float press kit

This is the story of Tess, who quietly crusades to keep it together, working full time as a phlebotomist and caring for her ailing mother Marjorie, who likes to harp on Tess’s dormant dreams of becoming a doctor. Suddenly, her sister Roz shows back up from rehab, pledging high expectations and a clean slate.

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Dispossessed

downloadable press kit
Dispossed Dramaturgy Board
Click here for an interview with Karen Wurl

August 6 Talkback following DISPOSSESSED
DISPOSSESSED is a romantic comic-fantasy, set in 1928 New York City, about a Yiddish theater company that is rehearsing the classic play “The Dybbuk” (in which a bride is possessed by the ghostly spirit of her dead true love on the day she is supposed to marry another man).  The actress playing the leading role is being pressured by her parents to marry the handsome leading man who wants to take over the company,

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The Old Ship of Zion

Click here for video trailer.

A warm, touching play about the members of a small African-American church, struggling to keep its doors open and adapt to changing times. Mama Gwen is a beloved elder who feels the burden of others who depend on the strength of her faith, and Quincy is a young man who loves his church but is beginning to realize that he’s gay.  A Professional World Premiere about people searching for a spiritual life in trying times.  With lots of music!

Featuring the acting talents of: James G. Smith,

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