Announcing the 2023 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award Winner, The Manuscript by Matthew Hoffman!

We’re proud to announce that Matthew Hoffman has won the 2023 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award for his play The Manuscript!

The Manuscript is a powerful and complex drama about two women, the mother and the widow of a recently deceased writer, struggling over the emotional and artistic legacy of the woman they loved and lost.

The play was part of our Bare Essentials staged reading series in the Spring of 2022, and we’re excited to give it a full production in the 2023 Essential Theatre Play Festival, which will run from July 28 through August 27 of this year at the West End Performing Arts Center.

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Festival Highlights

That’s a wrap!

The 2022 Essential Theatre Play Festival has come to a close. Thanks to everyone who came out to support and enjoy this summer’s shows! 

“It was great to be back in the theatre to see provocative and engaging new work. Congrats and thanks to Peter Hardy for his consistent support of Georgia playwrights.”

“That’s what Essential Theatre does best, spotlighting original works by Georgia playwrights in all their variety, and in repertory, giving you, the audience, a very intense and satisfying summer experience. [They] have found a winning combination this season.”

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Accolades for Our Artistic Director

Since our festival’s close less than a month ago, Artistic Director Peter Hardy, who does so much to lift up other playwrights’ work, has been jet-setting around the country to receive awards and productions of his own work:

On September 9 he attended the world premiere of his play Kissing Jennifer in the Moonlight as part of the Pittsburgh New Works Festival, and this past Friday night the screenplay version of his stage play Sally and Glen at the Palace, which Essential premiered in 2010, received an award at the Footcandle Film Festival in Hickory,

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Sept 18 Equitable Dinners

On September 18, Essential Theatre, Legacy Park Decatur and the Decatur Arts Alliance hosted a meal as part of Equitable Dinners Atlanta‘s ambitious 5000 people at 500 tables event marking the 116th anniversary of the 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre.

Coordinated by Out of Hand Theater, the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, and the Fulton County Remembrance Coalition, this multi-day, city-wide event brought together people of all backgrounds to have vital conversations on how Atlanta’s history connects to systemic issues today – and to inspire positive action for moving forward together. The evening included a shared meal,

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Meet the Playwright: Anneka Rose

The August 22 Bare Essentials Play Reading is Shark Week by Anneka Rose. Read on to learn a little more about the playwright and the play we’ll be seeing Wednesday night!

Anneka Rose, a Los Angeles native, is a recent alum from Emory University, graduating with a degree in playwriting with high honors. Her work usually has underlying or very obvious ties to female rage, focusing on young female protagonists using anger as a catalyst for change. Theater is a space for Anneka to scream, vent, and cry about the current state of our world. She has been featured multiple times at Emory as a student playwright and received high honors on her undergraduate thesis,

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Meet the Playwright: Robert Fuson

The August 10 Bare Essentials Play Reading is Barbie Liberation Organization by Robert Fuson. Read on to learn a little more about the playwright and the play we’ll be seeing Wednesday night!

Robert Fuson (He/They) was raised in Greenville, SC where he attended Furman University and worked in community and professional theatre for 5 years primarily as a director. They moved to Atlanta in 2019, working initially as the Company Manager for Horizon Theatre’s Apprentice Company, which is when he wrote this play, completing it a month before the Covid pandemic hit. Barbie Liberation Organization was accepted for multiple staged readings,

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Meet the Playwright: Ozzy Wagner

The August 9 Bare Essentials Play Reading is The Exhibit by Ozzy Wagner. Read on to learn a little more about the playwright and the play we’ll be seeing Tuesday night!

An alum of Emory University, Ozzy is an early-career Atlanta and Seattle-based playwright whose plays often explore class, gender, and performance—and sometimes insist on feeding the audience! Ozzy was a semifinalist for this year’s Jerome Fellowship and the ROO residency at the Bechdel project, and their work has been featured in festivals at the Kennedy Center, Horizon Theatre, Barter Theatre, Theater Emory, and more.

ET: So tell us about the play we’ll be hearing Tuesday night?

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Meet the Playwright: Kelundra Smith

Join Essential Theatre and Hush Harbor Lab on August 18 for a one-night-only reading of Kelundra Smith’s new play, The Wash. But first, read on to learn more about theatre critic, arts journalist, and playwright, Kelundra Smith.

Kelundra Smith is a storyteller whose mission is to connect people to cultural experiences and each other. A Georgia native, she got into theatre because that’s where teachers put the kids who talk too much in class. As a playwright, she has a passion for southern historical narratives and writing stories about people who no one else sees. In her other life,

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