Liz Dooley (right) wrote our second Festival Bare Essentials play, Valentino.

Read on to find out more about Liz and the play we’ll be seeing on Monday:

Tell us a little about yourself.
I’m originally from Downingtown, PA (almost exactly between Philadelphia and Amish country). I graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a BA in Theatre Arts and Psychology. I first came to Atlanta to take part in Horizon’s Young Playwright’s Festival, then again as a Playwriting apprentice in the Horizon Apprenticeship Program, and I’ve lived here ever since!

What can you tell us about the play we’ll be seeing on Monday?

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John has written for television, radio and the stage.  He is a contributing writer for Turner Classic Movies having written for the late Robert Osborne, and currently writing for host Ben Mankiewicz.  He also writers for Agatha’s – A Taste of Mystery, The Mystery café of Indianapolis, Laughing Matters, and Sketchworks.

In many ways, the play Independent is a departure for John.  And he is grateful and honored to be working with Dan Triandiflou on this production.

John has been married to his wife Amy for fourteen years and they are both thankful for their little red-haired girl June.

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Paul Donnelly (right) wrote the play we’ll be reading tonight, Falling Off the Edge.

Tell us a little about yourself.
I was born in Brooklyn, NY.  Grew up and spent most of my life in Washington, DC and the Virginia suburbs.  Spent eight years in Atlanta and just relocated to Honolulu in June with my husband, Frank Wong, our two dogs and three cats.

I’ve been writing plays since the snazziest technology available was an IBM Selectric.  The high points have been two Helen Hayes Award nominations, seeing an actor in one of those shows actually win a Helen Hayes Award,

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Click here to read a summary or listen to the broadcast of Essential Theatre’s most recent City Lights appearance. Thanks to Lois, Myke and the WABE team for your dedicated coverage of arts and theatre in Atlanta, including the Essential Theatre Festival!

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ADA AND THE MEMORY ENGINE press kit with photos

July 2017 – Join us for the regional premiere production of Ada and the Memory Engine by Lauren Gunderson, opening July 28.

One of the latest plays penned by our very first Essential Theatre Playwriting Award Winner and the Most Produced Living Playwright in America in 2016, Lauren Gunderson, this play is about the world’s first computer programmer, Ada Lovelace. Described by the Huffington Post as “a rare and special artistic achievement: an intelligent play about intelligent historical people that has been crafted by intelligent theatre artists for an intelligent audience,”

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Anna Denise Millard (left) wrote the play we’ll be reading tonight, What My Mother Told Me.

Tell us a little about yourself.
After graduating from Emory University with a degree in Playwriting, I have spent the first few years of my career working in publishing in New York City, as an Assistant Editor with Oxford University Press and the Speakers Bureau Director for the Hachette Book Group. I’ve recently decided to shift paths, starting a new journey focused on pursuing artistic endeavors and working in hospitality. I live in Bushwick, Brooklyn where I collaborate on podcasts,

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G. M. Lupo is an author and playwright native to Atlanta, GA. His work has been performed at Sketchworks, Atlanta Fringe Fest 2015, Out of Box Theatre, and OnStage Atlanta. He was born in and spent most of his childhood in West End, and learned to read in the library that once resided in what is now the West End Performing Arts Center. He’s a graduate of New York University’s Graduate Creative Writing Program and Georgia State University. His website is lupo.com. He is a member of Working Title Playwrights, where Another Mother had a First Light Reading in February 2016.

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A cross-post from HowlRound, the second in a series by Lauren Gunderson that asks, “Why Theatre?”

Dramatic Structure: a Playwriting Class

The second video in this series “Why Theatre?” starts with an exploration of the ancient, primal origin of story and how it can serve playwrights in their creative process. What is the point of telling and receiving a story? Why do we do it? Why have we always done it?

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What My Mother Told Me
BY ANNA DENISE MILLARD
DIRECTED BY ANNA G. RICHARDSON
MAY 22, 2017
7:30 pm
WEST END PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
945 RALPH DAVID ABERNATHY BLVD, ATLANTA, GA

Faced with a life-altering secret and no one to trust, Hester Bennett makes an unannounced visit to her estranged daughter’s college dorm with hopes of mending their relationship. Using humor and nods of magical realism, What My Mother Told Me explores how generations of lingering puritanism affect women in the 20th century Protestant South.

Featuring: Lane Carlock, John Benzinger, Brooke Owens, Annie Cook, Allan Edwards, Tad Cameron,

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