I’ve been a fan of Lee Blessing’s writing for a long time. When I saw the Essential Theatre’s production of his play, “Down the Road”, back in 1994, I told Peter Hardy (who directed it) that it was a play that disturbed women in ways they wanted to think about and disturbed men in ways they didn’t want to think about. Blessing’s plays tend to stir things up and make you think about stuff you feel, but don’t usually look at.

“Great Falls” stirs up the mysteries between love and fear, men and women,

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Peter Hardy, Artistic Director

When I first started reading Melanie Marnich’s A SLEEPING COUNTRY, I knew that we were looking for a comedy to help round out the 2011 Essential Theatre Play Festival – or, at least, something lighter than the two fairly heavy dramas we had already decided to do (Lee Blessing’s GREAT FALLS and Theroun D’Arcy Patterson’s A THOUSAND CIRCLETS).  Right from the start I was pleased with how funny A SLEEPING COUNTRY was, even while it dealt with some serious subject matter (a woman who may be in danger of dying from insomnia).  It had a magical,

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If you are anything like me, you wait until the last minute to decide when to see a theatre production and expect to find a discount ticket as well. We’ve figured out a way to offer just that. Essential Theatre’s new Flex Pass gives you flexibility and discounted ticket prices while helping us raise funds before the summer festival opens. What’s more, the earlier you purchase, the larger the ticket package, the greater your savings will be. Each week as the festival opening approaches, these packages will cost just a tiny bit more. Just a small twist of the arm so that you might please consider buying your tickets now.

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And yet another new opening for Essential Theatre playwright Lauren Gunderson: SILENT SKY at South Coast Repertory in California:

“She stared at the heavens, and what she saw there changed the course of astronomy. But when Henrietta Leavitt arrives at the Harvard Observatory in the early 1900s, she isn’t allowed to touch a telescope or even express an idea. Instead, she joins a group of women “computers,” charting the stars for an astronomer who calculates projects in “girl hours” and has no time for Henrietta’s probing theories. But as she measures the light of distant stars,

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Essential Theatre playwright Karla Jennings (we produced the World Premiere of her play IMAGES IN SMOKE in 2000) has a new play that will be opening up Northern Kentucky University’s Y.E.S. Festival on April 7. MONSTROUS BEAUTY is about the Teutonic drama queen and saint of Nazi kitsch, Leni Riefenstahl, one of the scariest artists of our time, who surged from dancer to Third Reich Uberfrauline to prisoner to American cultural icon. Co-starring Marlene Dietrich as the good twin, the play explores the labyrinth of personal morality and America’s disturbing embrace of an exceptionally disturbing artist.
Congratulations to Karla!

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For information on 2011 Essential Theatre Festival, check out www.EssentialTheatre.com. For questions regarding internship and employment opportunities, contact production manager Jennifer Brown at [email protected].

Internships

Internships for all positions are now available for Essential Theatre’s 2011 New Play Festival! Opportunities are available in marketing, fundraising, all areas of design production, and running crew. Customizable internships are also available upon request. Contact production manager Jennifer Brown at [email protected]. Please send a resume if you have one, and indicate your area of interest. Please also list your general availability between May and July,

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Access Atlanta has an article on Decatur-born playwright Lauren Gunderson, whose new play “Exit, Pursued By A Bear” is currently being produced by Synchronicity. Lauren’s a two-time winner of the Essential Theatre Playwriting Award. http://bit.ly/hPHGFF

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Date: Saturday, March 19, from Noon to 3 p.m.

Location: 1083 Austin Avenue Northeast, Atlanta, GA 30307 The Juggler’s Room in the Little Five Points Community Center (the building that Horizon Theatre is located in). It’s on the top floor, the first door on your right as you come to the top of the stairs.

Director: Betty Hart

Script: www.EssentialTheatre.com/2011_scripts.htm

“A Thousand Circlets” will be one of three productions running in repertory in the 2011 Essential Theatre Play Festival, which will run from June 30 – July 31 at Actor’s Express.

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The Essential Theatre says BREAK A LEG! to the cast, crew (and author!) of Synchronicity Performance Group’s World Premiere of Lauren Gunderson’s revenge comedy, “Exit, Pursued By A Bear”. Opening this Friday (March 4) in the Backstage Theatre at 7 Stages.

Lauren was the first-ever winner of the Essential Theatre Playwriting Award, back in 2001, for “Parts They Call Deep”, a play that she wrote when she was just 17. She later went on to win another award from us, for her science-drama “Background”, and she’s been having a wonderful career ever since, getting commissions and productions all around the country.

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THE ESSENTIAL THEATRE will hold General Auditions for the 2011 Essential Theatre Play Festival.
Three full-length plays in repertory:

• A SLEEPING COUNTRY by Melanie Marnich
  Directed by Peter Hardy

• GREAT FALLS by Lee Blessing
  Directed by Ellen McQueen

• A THOUSAND CIRCLETS by Theroun D’Arcy Patterson
  Directed by Betty Hart

To view scripts, go to: www.EssentialTheatre.com/2011_scripts.htm
Festival runs June 30 – July 31 at Actor’s Express
Date/Time: 6 p.m. – 10 p.m. on Sunday, March 13
Location: The Juggler’s Room in the Little Five Points Community Center (the building that Horizon Theatre is located in).

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