Aug 6 Talkback following DISPOSSESSED

Join Essential Theatre, Peter Hardy, Karen Wurl and special guests Dr. Donald McManus and Mira Hirsch for a post-show conversation about the Yiddish theatre tradition, its role in American theatre and its history here in Atlanta following the August 6 performance of Karen Wurl’s Dispossessed.

To purchase tickets for the show that night, visit www.EssentialTheatre.Tix.com.

Donald Cameron McManus is an Associate Professor of Theatre Studies at Emory University and Resident Actor/Director/Dramaturg at Theatre Emory. Born in Montréal, Quebec, Dr. McManus has worked professionally as an actor, director, musician and clown in Canada,

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2016 Festival Opening Night with Kosher Gourmet

Join Essential Theatre and Kosher Gourmet at the West End Performing Arts Center on Friday July 29 for opening night of the world premiere production of Karen Wurl’s Disopssessed.
ABOUT OUR RECEPTION SPONSOR, KOSHER GOURMET:

Snuggled between Broadway Café and Tuesday Morning in the Briarvista Shopping Center you’ll find more than just a mom and pop shop. The Kosher Gourmet, run by Mr. Steve Gilmer, is a door between the old Jewish world and the new. Through the years, The Kosher Gourmet has had different locations and names, but the approach in serving the Atlanta community has been persistent since 1983: Steve strives to provide his customers with the highest quality products,

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PROFESSIONAL WORLD PREMIERE: DISPOSSESSED

DISPOSSESSED // ESSENTIAL THEATRE PLAY FESTIVAL
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE- ATLANTA, GA
downloadable press kit

DISPOSSESSED, written by Karen Wurl:
PROFESSIONAL WORLD PREMIERE

Join us for the professional world premiere of Dispossessed, by Atlanta playwright Karen Wurl, opening July 29.

Dispossessed is a romantic comic-fantasy, set in 1928 New York City, about a Yiddish theater company that is rehearsing the classic play “The Dybbuk” (in which a bride is possessed by the ghostly spirit of her dead true love on the day she is supposed to marry another man). 

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The 2016 Essential Theatre Play Festival Is Right Around the Corner!

Atlanta, June 2016 – Tickets are now on sale for the 18th Annual Essential Theatre Play Festival, which kicks off in less than two months!

This summer, Essential Theatre continues its tradition of premiering the best new work by Georgia playwrights for Atlanta audiences with the 18th Annual Essential Theatre Play Festival, the eighteenth since its inception and the fifth consisting entirely of Georgia-created world premieres.

The festival runs July 29 through August 28 at the West End Performing Arts Center, located at 945 Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard.

This summer, audiences will see the World Premieres of Dispossessed by Karen Wurl and When Things Are Lost by Derek Dixon,

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Georgia on my mind

-by Artistic Director Peter Hardy

Getting ready for the 2016 Essential Theatre Festival, I’ve been thinking back on how our dedication to working with Georgia playwrights has developed over the past eighteen years.  We opened our first Festival in January of 1999, and from the start we knew we wanted to produce at least one new play by a Georgia writer every year.  Back then we’d collect about 30 submissions per year, mostly from the Atlanta area – for 2016 we received 80 of them, from all over the state.

In 2012 we presented our first Festival of all new work by Georgia writers,

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We did it!

Last week, our power2give funding goal was met, a full WEEK before the deadline. THANK YOU to everyone that contributed to help us reach our goal. Your support is essential and we appreciate you SO MUCH:

Chelsea Steverson,
Amanda & Scott Cantrell,
Klimchak,
Deadra Moore,
Milton Sams,
Jessica Linden,
Brent Darnell,
Yolanda Asher,
Cathy Jamison,
Hank and Barbara Kimmel,
Susan and Alan Stiefel,
Aaron Gotlieb,
Patrick Hill,
Mark Perloe,
Andrea Ivory,
Thom Lori and Sydney Stanley
and Festival Sponsors Rover.com

Funds raised through this power2give campaign are making it possible for Essential to increase artist fees and provide documentation for our Playwriting Award Winners of the world premiere productions of their shows. 

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