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THE ESSENTIAL THEATRE
Bringing Atlanta What's New
POWER PLAYS, THE ESSENTIAL THEATRE FESTIVAL
| Fix Me So I Can Stand Jean Sterrett’s powerful drama inspired by the true story of an African-American man falsely convicted of a double homicide in 1970’s Georgia is the winner of the 2007 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award. |
Read what the critics have to say about Fix Me So I Can Stand |
| Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge Christopher Durang's "Mrs Bob" is a wonderfully loony msucial parody of the venerable "Christmas Carol" and "Miracle on 34th Street". In Durang’s playful version, the Ghost’s magic is off, and Scrooge and the Ghost keep showing up at Bob Cratchit’s house way too early, where Mrs. Bob Cratchit – a long suffering saint in the Dickens – is in a state of fury, hating her life and planning on getting drunk and jumping off the London Bridge. |
Read what the critics have to say about Mrs. Bob |
Night Travels Created by Ellen McQueen, Karen Wurl, Charlotte Fleck and the acting company, Night Travels is an evening of short, original pieces united by the subject of women's dreams. Night Travels moves in and out of dreams through four connecting pieces, beginning with a comic monologue by a woman who begins to awaken watching other people's "dreams" in Movies. The next stop on the itinerary is Help, a fast and funny ten minute play where two people meet for the first time in a bizarre fashion and somehow seem to know each other already. Then we travel on into the collective unconscious in the highly visual and physical Postcards From the Night Country, a company created piece which begins with the passage quoted above. The journey ends in Night Travel, in which three women travel through the actual and their own personal night in a play of poetic language and surprising imagery. |
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| Charm School Two guys from Macon Are sent to a Diversity Sensitivity Training” seminar when their company is threatened with a lawsuit over racist jokes in the workplace. By Larry Larson and Eddie Levi Lee (the award-winning authors of “Tent Meeting”, “The Bench: A Story of Christmas” and the legendary “Blood Orgy” trilogy), this provocative comedy looks at the follies and prejudices that we may not even know we have inside. Co-Winner of the 2006 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award! |
Read what the critics have to say about Charm School! |
| Leaving Limbo A young hip-hop artist travels back in time to an African village in this magical journey across the boundaries of personal and cultural identity. By Valetta Anderson, author of “She’ll Find Her Way Home” and “Dr. Love and the Fabulous Diamond Jubilees”. Co-Winner of the 2006 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award! |
Read what the critics have to say about Leaving Limbo! |
| The Book of Liz Sister Elizabeth Donderstock leaves the reclusive religious community she has lived in all her life (Clusterhaven, home of the Squeamish, famous for its cheese balls) and sets our to try her luck in the modern world. By Amy Sedaris (“Strangers With Candy”) and David Sedaris (“The Santaland Diaries”). “A delightfully off-key, off-color hymn to clichés we all live by.” – The New York Times. “Good-natured, goofy and frequently hilarious.” New York Newsday. |
Read what the critics have to say about the The Book of Liz! |
WHAT THE CRITICS HAVE TO SAY! “Atlanta's scrappy Essential Theatre is a company with a mission … to cultivate Georgia talent with its Essential Theatre Playwriting Award and stage the world premiere of a local playwright … the company’s sincere excitement about theater is undeniable. Fix Me So I Can Stand … presents a surprising and well-textured treatment of still-relevant Southern issues. An actual incident inspired Fix Me So I Can Stand's portrayal of an African-American unjustly condemned to death. [Spencer Stephens] captures the play's most intriguing dimension, in revealing the soul-crushing effects of living on death row for more than half a decade …Stephens sells Fix Me So I Can Stand's idea that spending years under a death sentence is like being killed twice over.” -- Curt Holman, Creative Loafing Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge “This is one you just have to see … it is a total scream. Head down to Euclid Avenue and get ready for an evening of hilarity.” -- Bob Heller, Publishers Field Syndicate “Mrs. Cratchit turns out to be another of Durang's cranky heroines who balk at conformity … Linden’s funny, against-the-grain complaining makes a great foil to the manic cheer of the holiday in general and the Dickens play in particular. The show becomes an amusing mash-up of It's a Wonderful Life and other Dickens works, with Sarah Falkenburg amusingly playing an oversized "Little" Nell.” -- Curt Holman, Creative Loafing Charm School "Charm School teaches bigotry a lesson with humor. Short, broad sketches that hinge on racial tension provide energetic running jokes in Essential Theatre's world premiere production of Charm School ... scrutinizes society's changing attitudes toward ethnic tolerance, a "BOOK OF LIZ ROLLS OUT GOOFY, GOOEY BALL OF FUN. In this ridiculous concoction, Sedaris family fans will see glimmers of Amy's hopelessly lost Jerri Blank ("Strangers With Candy") and David's fascination with misfits, potty humor and kitsch. The latter's satirical essays can be splendidly entertaining, but in this picaresque howler, the siblings give voice to their warped observations by sketching 3-D cartoons that exist in an outer frontier of silliness. Director Lee Nowell's cast is game to wallow in the tasteless fun and chew on a script that riffs on religious hypocrisy and the empowerment kick while sending up vintage Hollywood potboilers and American classics from "The Scarlet Letter" to "The Crucible." In "Liz," [the Essential Theatre has] picked a turkey - in a good way. Stuffed with cheese and sleaze and covered with nuts, the show is a sinful treat for Sedaris fans and their brethren." "Amy and David Sedaris' The Book of Liz follows a member of a low-tech Amish-style sect as she ventures into the brave new world of strip-mall America ... [Rachel] Craw makes the woman a sympathetic, gently humorous foil to the kooky characters she encounters, from a dancing Mr. Peanut to a pilgrim-themed restaurant populated by members of Alcoholics Anonymous. Director Lee Nowell sets a snappy pace and gives enough leeway to Topher Payne's posing, hair-waving Brother Brightbee and Dede Bloodworth's dithering Sister Butterworth to find huge laughs without going too far over the top ... inspired silliness." -- Curt Holman, Creative Loafing "LIZ charms ... Directed by Lee Nowell ... and led by Rachel Craw's winning performance in the title role (some of her "gloomy expressions" are priceless), the agreeable cast also includes Charles Swint, Dede Bloodworth, Alex Van and Kathleen Link (whose Mr. Peanut bit is a hoot)." --Bert Osborne, SUNDAY PAPER "In the world premiere of Leaving Limbo, Atlanta playwright Valetta Anderson sends a modern-day hip-hop artist back to an African village in the pre-1500s ... [she] draws a substantial contrast between traditional Nigerian values and the rootlessness of contemporary African-American men. Anderson begins with the engrossing, terrifying spectacle of Africans imprisoned in the hold of a ship, completing their Middle Passage to the new world ... Leaving Limbo doesn't take the easy route of making the village a de facto Garden of Eden that shames the permissiveness of today's society. Chuck sees examples of a closely knit community that honors its elders and traditions, but recoils at the village's violent superstitions and slave-holding practices ..." -- Curt Holman, Creative Loafing "Thought-provoking and moving ... the play travels from past to present (and back again) to correlate the modern-day struggles of Chuck and his friends with the historical plight of their ancestors, African villagers uprooted and sold into slavery generations ago." -- Bert Osborne, SUNDAY PAPER The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told Book of Days “Many of the roles reveal unexpected shadings, which the young cast explore expertly … [director Peter] Hardy keeps the action moving at a crisp rate … IMAGES IN SMOKE offers a Ginsu-sharp slice of life, capturing the flashes of affection and hostility, intoxication and frustration, that young single people can experience at any given get-together.” - Curt Holman, Creative Loafing Desdemona
Parts They Call Deep “Gunderson’s play definitely deserves the honor … The resulting effect of the three women confronted with their great loves and losses is that of complete emotional catharsis. Masterfully written, and accomplished to near-perfection by director Lee Nowell, these confrontations are the cornerstone of a rock-solid piece of drama. … See the play. See it again. See it one more time …” - David Pollack, Emory Wheel “Essential Theatre’s festival boasts promising new material from a bright young playwright … it’s Sunny Hall’s Sarah character who becomes the most fascinating – fast-talking, always on the go, running, needing resolution in her life." - Jim Farmer, Southern Voice “Director Lee Nowell finessed a delightfully sinning premiere, Parts They Call Deep, by 19-year-old Lauren Gunderson, featuring equally talented youth Kylie Brown.” - Dave Hayward, Backstage
Private Eyes “Commanding acting was also on display in Essential’s toxic triangle of Jeff Feldman, Kathleen, Wattis, and Brian Turner in Steven Dietz’s PRIVATE EYES.” - Dave Hayward, Backstage “Essential Theatre offers a funny and confident production of Dietz’s play … a play about sex that still manages to be sexy.” - Curt Holman, Creative Loafing The Water Children “An intriguing take on what remains one of the most controversial and divisive subjects today … excellent drama and several hilarious comedy bits.” - Steven Grainger, Atlanta Press Lubricant “Playwright/director Peter Hardy’s Lubricant showcases Hardy’s flair for witty dialogue, intriguing themes and a feminine POV.” - Shari Garretson, Atlanta Journal-Constitution “Deliciously satisfying as well as thought provoking … topicality, cleverness and zinging one-liners … as a rumination on the sexes, sensuality and love as mysteries, Hardy’s perspective is unexpectedly feminist, his declarations fodder for debates between men and women, gays and straights.” - Dave Hayward, The Art Papers “It’s hard to know what to expect with a name like Lubricant, but I was pleasantly surprised with Peter Hardy’s new play.” - ETC. “Hardy’s play delves into the twisted and co-dependent worlds of the stalker and his victim. He keeps us guessing as to how much of what’s happening is real, and how much is a product of Gwendolyn’s frightened imagination … Lubricant is quite a stunner as a script.” - Michael Kape, WABE Radio “More successful was Peter Hardy’s film-noir salute, Lubricant … a witches’ brew of shifting sexual identities amidst score settling and corporate hype. The play was intriguing even at its most complicated.” - Dave Hayward, Backstage
Cruel Disclosures “Most intriguing in the way it fleshes out a now-forgotten historical footnote … hilarious melodrama … the kind of Catholic satire that Christopher Durang specializes in ... an unusual play cut from its own cloth.” - Curt Holman, Creative Loafing
“Similar to The Silence of the Lambs in nightmare material, this excellent production raises disturbing questions about the need to distinguish oneself at any cost … Under Peter Hardy’s unobtrusive direction, the cast turns in a flawless performance.” - Shari Garretson, Atlanta Journal-Constitution “Blessing’s play is an intense look at these charming, remorseless men who kill for the thrill of it … Robin Bloodworth gives the best performance of the year …” |
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