The Essential Theatre is proud to announce that the winner of the 2010 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award competition is Gabriel Dean’s Qualities of Starlight, a modern southern family comedy. Gabriel Dean has been working for some years on the Atlanta scene as an actor and playwright, and is currently pursuing an M.F.A. in the Playwriting Program at the University of Texas in Austin. His play Buy My House – Please! Is currently running at the Aurora Theatre in Lawrenceville. Mr. Dean will receive a cash prize of $600.00 and Qualities of Starlight will be produced as part of the 2010 Essential Theatre Play Festival,

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Bring a can or unopened bag of dog or cat food to Essential Theatre’s production’s of ICE GLEN, FOOD FOR FISH or JIM CROW & THE RHYTHM DARLINGS this weekend and save $5 off the adult ticket price. Collections will be distributed to the Atlanta Humane Society and Pet Rescue.

The 11th Annual Essential Theatre Festival closes this weekend, so don’t miss out. And, please no FISH FOOD, we’ve got that covered already.

Want to know which show performs when? Click here.

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Click on the photo to view the entire album.

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ICE GLEN by Joan Ackermann
Beautifully written, masterfully delicate direction by Ellen McQueen, precise, delightful and surprising performances all round. Go see it.” Joanna Daniel

“ICE GLEN is both one of the best scripts and best overall productions I’ve seen in the nine years I’ve been in Atlanta, and Ellen’s direction is flawlessly nuanced. A true “must-see.”” Evan Guilford-Blake

“It’s one of the best shows in Atlanta this year!” Leonard Pallats

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WMLB Voice of the Arts’ Larry Larson interviews playwright Vynnie Meli & director Betty Hart

And, In Print

“Directed by Betty Hart, Jim Crow & The Rhythm Darlings truly captures the love of jazz … the dialogue is quick paced and smart, the issues are diverse, and the acting is powerful. Not every day do you come across an intelligent play that explores gender roles, racism, and religion. Jim Crow & The Rhythm Darlings is a harmonious blend of talent, music, and discussion. Definitely a must see.” Kelechi Ubozoh,

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“Following its tradition of introducing Atlanta to some of the edgier plays around, Essential Theatre opened its annual summer festival with FOOD FOR FISH, a lively take on Chekhov’s THREE SISTERS by rising playwright Adam Szymkowicz … One smart play …dark, droll dialogue … it’s a wild, strange trip, full of black humor, and something to really challenge the mind.” read the entire review James Paulk, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“This play by the brilliant young playwright, Adam Szymkowicz, is one strange work of art … it is compelling, humorous, and I would give it a 9 on the proverbial scale.” Robert Heller,

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Two things have been running through my head like a song, since I’ve been working on this play, ICE GLEN. One is a line from a song that a friend wrote: “We’re all gonna live like people in a book.” The other is from OUR TOWN, when Emily asks the Stage Manager (I’m paraphrasing here) “Do human beings ever realize how beautiful life is, every minute?” and he says, “The poets and the saints, some.”

ICE GLEN is about being truly alive in the place where you belong. About being in that special place, inside and outside yourself (in the woods,

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Jim Crow and The Rhythm Darlings

What do you get when you combine a forties all-girl black jazz band with one Jewish member, and stir it up with a tour through the Jim Crow South? You get a recipe for disaster, but more importantly discovery. It’s 1943…

To read the rest of this article, please click on the link below:

http://www.examiner.com/x-5055-Atlanta-Theater-Examiner~y2009m7d9-Jim-Crow-and-The-Rhythm-Darlings?cid=email-this-article

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The influence of Facebook in marketing the theatre continues to growth indicatinges how social media continues to enhance and re-define the way arts organizations reach out to audiences.

When we reach a fan base of 1,000, Facebook provides a series of advanced tools and analytics that will enhance our ability to reach those interested in theatre. We can easily achieve this by encouraging our friends on to Become a Fan on Facebook and recommend us to their friends. When you access our page you will see a list of options below the logo on the left. One is “Suggest to Friends.” When you click on this link a box with all of your friends’ photos opens.

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JC Reilly, one of the Georgia Poetry Society members who will be participating in a poetry reading at 7pm on Saturday July 25th prior to the 8pm “Ice Glen” performance. JC would like to offer this poem for your consideration. We hope you will come a bit early to hear JC’s poetry and the work of other GPS members.

Fall, Star City by JC Reilly

The blush has crept into the leaves,
as sunshine, sanguine with the months
of growing, cools its fire. The light
that we get now is maizy, saturates

everything with extract of gold,

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