Join us on August 12, 19 and 26 at 7:30pm for developmental readings of three new plays.

All readings in the Bare Essentials series are free and open to the public. Be sure to stay after for exciting conversation with the director, cast and playwright!

The 2025 Bare Essentials Play Reading series will feature three new plays by Georgia playwrights:

Reserve Your Spot

Aug 12 – LADIES OF THE by Hailey Sipes, directed by Kati Grace Kirby

When doing research for a school project, four friends encounter an article on demonic summoning rituals.

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Join us on August 12, 20 and 27 at 7:30pm for developmental readings of four new plays.

All readings in the Bare Essentials series are free and open to the public. Be sure to stay after for exciting conversation with the director, cast and playwright!

The 2024 Bare Essentials Play Reading series will feature four new plays by Georgia playwrights:

Reserve Your Spot

Aug 12 – FALSE AWAKENING by Jacob Ryan Martinez, directed by Lilliangina Quiñones

In shards of glass like the pieces of a shattered mirror, we see a man running away from his feelings of failure as a husband and father and from the fear of his own sexuality.

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Join us on August 14, 22 and 29 for developmental readings of four new plays. All readings in the Bare Essentials series are free and open to the public. Be sure to stay after for exciting conversation with the director, cast and playwright!

Join us on August 9, 10, and 22 for developmental readings of three new plays. Thanks to support from Georgia Humanities, all readings in the Bare Essentials series are free and open to the public. Be sure to stay after for exciting conversation with the director, cast and playwright!

Thanks to support from Georgia Humanities, all readings in the Bare Essentials series are free and open to the public. Be sure to stay after for exciting conversation with the director, cast and playwright!

Curated by Essential’s Founding Artistic Director, Peter Hardy. Peter is 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.

Aug. 3 (2pm) – DAY OF SATURN by Leviticus Jelks III, directed by Najah Ali

The owner of a hardware store in the West End neighborhood of Atlanta struggle with conflicting emotions about the son he lost,

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All readings in the Bare Essential series are free and open to the public. Be sure to stay after for exciting conversation with the director, cast and playwright!

We’re happy to announce that we’ve now set the three Bare Essentials Readings that will take place during the run of the 2015 Essential Theatre Play Festival. All readings will take place at the West End Performing Arts Center and will start at 7:30 p.m., followed by a discussion.  The readings will be open to the public with no admission charged.

2015 Bare Essentials Reading Selections

August 4: DELI by Diane Dexter,

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