Congratulations to Matt Hoffman, two-time winner of the Essential Theatre Playwriting Award with his new play, A Very Special Hospital, just announced as the 2025 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award winner.
| Essential Theatre is proud to announce the 2025 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award winner, Matt Hoffman, for his script A Very Special Hospital. His play will receive a full production in the 2025 Essential Theatre Play Festival this summer as well as a $1,000 cash prize. Started in 2001, the Essential Theatre Playwriting Competition is the only competition of its kind, exclusively dedicated to Georgia playwrights and awarding both a cash prize and a full production. This is Hoffman’s second Essential Theatre Playwriting Award, the first being for his very first full-length play, The Manuscript, which received the 2023 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award and had its world premiere production in the 2023 Essential Theatre Play Festival. “I started writing this play the day after Essential Theatre announced their plan for a staged reading of The Manuscript, in late spring of 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.” “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,” he shares. “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.” Though a work of fiction, the genesis of this play stems from Hoffman’s work as a critical care physician. “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….[This] 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.” Essential’s Founding Artistic Director, Peter Hardy, will be directing this summer’s production. “I’m looking forward to Essential Theatre bringing this play to life and sharing it with our audiences because of its theatrical imagination, the surprising depth of its vivid characters and the way the tone of the story transforms itself, moving from a satirical comedy to a touching exploration of damaged souls trying to find their way to healing,” he shares, adding, “I’m also intrigued and impressed by how different this play is from Matt’s 2023 prizewinner, The Manuscript, showing him to be a writer whose range and ambition make him someone whose future we will be watching closely.” About A Very Special Hospital A Very Special Hospital is a comedy-drama that centers on the relationship between Sarah and Robbie, estranged siblings who are the adult children of a famous artist who is now critically ill. As the eccentric lead physician and his enigmatic nurse implement an increasingly bizarre care plan in this dark comedy about family secrets and healthcare, Sarah and Robbie are compelled to confront the choices they’ve made in their lives and the troubling effects of their father’s legacy. About Matt Hoffman Matt Hoffman is a writer and critical care physician. His first play, The Manuscript, was the winner of the 2023 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award and was produced as part of the 2023 Essential Theatre Play Festival. His short play Casey’s Singularity received a staged reading at the 2024 New Works and Ideas Festival at Kennesaw State University. Matt has also worked as a freelance journalist, writer and editor for WebMD, intern at CNN, professional blogger, and frontman for a cover band. He writes and records music under the pseudonym Will Shook. Born and raised in the Midwest, Matt lives in Atlanta, GA with his wife and two young children. About the 2025 Essential Theatre Play Festival The 2025 Essential Theatre Play Festival will take place August 8-31, 2025, at 7 Stages in Little Five Points. This summer will be the 26th Essential Theatre Play Festival. The Festival began in 1999 and since its inception has brought Atlanta audiences productions of 47 new works by 36 different Georgia playwrights and readings of over 50 more, many of which have gone on to publication and future productions around the country. Save the Date: Festival Passes go on sale May 1! About the Essential Theatre Playwriting CompetitionStarted in 2001, this is the only competition of its kind, exclusively dedicated to the work of Georgia playwrights, with the winner receiving both a cash prize and a full production. Playwrights must be residents of the State of Georgia. There are no entry fees and no restrictions as to style, length or subject matter, though previously unproduced plays that would run an hour or more in performance are preferred. The deadline for the 2026 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award is this April 23. Past Essential Theatre Playwriting Award winners include Lauren Gunderson, Topher Payne, Valetta Anderson, John Mabey…And Matt Hoffman! For more information or to submit your play, go to EssentialTheatre.com/Playwriting-Competition. The 2025 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award is supported in part by long-time Essential Theatre supporter and friend, Theo Harness. |
| For media inquires: Jennifer Kimball, Managing Director [email protected] Calendar Listing 2025 Essential Theatre Play Festival August 8-31, 2025 The Essential Theatre at 7Stages Theatre 1105 Euclid Ave NEAtlanta, GA 30307 Tickets: EssentialTheatre.Tix.com |
