April 23 (Shakespeare’s Birthday) was the submission deadline for the 2012 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award competition.  This will be the tenth year for this annual contest – the only one of its kind, exclusively dedicated to the work of Georgia playwrights.  The winning play has always received a cash prize (which started out at $300, and has now gone up to $600) and a full production as part of the Essential Theatre’s annual Festival of World Premieres and Regional Premieres, plays that have never been seen in Georgia before.  We’re proud of our long tradition of supporting, developing and producing the work of Georgia writers.

Over the past ten years, the number of submissions has steadily risen, and this year we received more scripts than we ever have before – 54 of them, coming from over 20 communities around the state.  The winning play will be announced before the end of 2011, and will be produced in the 2012 Essential Theatre Play Festival.

In the meantime, look out for our World Premiere of 2011’s winning play – Theroun D’Arcy Patterson’s powerful family drama A THOUSAND CIRCLETS, scheduled to be performed as part of the 2011 Essential Theatre Play Festival, running from June 30 – July 31 in the Actor’s Express space, along with our Regional Premieres of Lee Blessing’s GREAT FALLS and Melanie Marnich’s A SLEEPING COUNTRY.