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?
MH: A Very Special Hospital is a comedy-drama that centers on the relationship between Sarah and Robbie, estranged siblings who are brought together during their father’s critical illness. They fall under the spell of the eccentric lead physician Dr. Hobson and his enigmatic nurse Jana, who implement an increasingly bizarre care plan to cure Dad’s mysterious disease. As their father’s condition evolves, Sarah and Robbie are forced to confront difficult truths about their childhood and relationship.
ET: Where did you get the idea for this play? What made you want to write it?
MH: While working in the ICU, it was common to see a person’s life-threatening illness send emotional shockwaves through their whole family. This would sometimes dredge up long-buried conflicts and traumas that would play out alongside the concrete response to the illness. It was as if while the medical team tried to heal the person, the illness itself was somehow trying to heal the family. One day, a patient’s daughter made a shocking revelation to me about her family. I didn’t know how to respond, other than to be kind and supportive. That secret burrowed deep into my mind and heart and became intertwined with secrets from my own family and others who have trusted me with theirs. I felt all these hidden truths struggling to find a way out, to be released. With all the key details changed for privacy, this story belongs to no one, but also everyone. The play tries to honor the power of the dark secrets we hold, but also rob them of it by exploring them in a context of art, laughter, and love.
ET: This is your second full-length play, right? When did you start writing it?
MH: I started writing this play the day after Essential Theatre announced their plan for a staged reading of The Manuscript, back in 2022. That gave me a huge boost of confidence to take more risks and write what turned out to be a strange play that takes turns into the fantastical and absurd.
ET: Oh, that is GREAT to hear! Well we can’t wait to share your latest play with our audiences at the Festival. Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
MH: My experience with submitting work nationally since The Manuscript has shown me just how fortunate we all are to have Essential Theatre in Atlanta dedicated to featuring the work of Georgia playwrights. Almost no other contests stage a full production of their winning plays. To get to see The Manuscript and now A Very Special Hospital come to life on stage under Peter Hardy’s direction is a dream come true, twice.
Matt’s new play, A Very Special Hospital, kicks off the 2025 Essential Theatre Play Festival on August 8. Tickets are on sale now at EssentialTheatre.Tix.com.
