Why take a gourmet cooking class from a kitchen & bath remodeler? David Sturm,
Certified Kitchen and Bath Remodeler & Professional Chef knows kitchens inside and out — literally.For 10 years David spent his career as a chef working for restaurant companies such as Pano and Paul’s of the Buckhead Life Restaurant Group and Trotter’s of the Liberty House Restaurant Corporation.

“When I was 27, I decided to expand my culinary talent & even trained under a sushi chef and began teaching in-home sushi classes.” While with the Liberty House Corporation David was trained in Italian sauces,

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I’m writing because I am involved in a very exciting fundraiser. You all know that I love theater. Right now, more than ever, theater’s are struggling terribly. In tough times, the arts are considered a luxury. But we all know that we can’t exist without art. I’m doing my part to make sure that theater in Atlanta survives and thrives! Join me!

Ansley Wine Merchants will be the wine sponsor for the Essential Theatre’s first big fundraiser “Wine and Words: An Essential Evening of Georgia Wines and Playwrights”. On Sunday, June 27th, one of my favorite theatre companies in Atlanta will be at the Four Seasons,

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I want to congratulate Actor’s Express for what looks to be a really interesting 2010-2011 Season. Lots of great choices!

I’m always glad to see one of David Hare’s plays produced here in Atlanta – I think he’s one of the greatest playwrights working today, and the Express production of THE JUDAS KISS should be something to see. Twenty-five years ago I directed Hare’s play KNUCKLE and it’s still a favorite theatre memory of mine – with a cast that featured past and present Atlanta actors like Ann Wilson, Simon Reynolds, Scott Higgs and (my dear old dad) William Hardy.

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We’re about to start rehearsals for this summer’s 2010 Essential Theatre Play Festival, and we’ve got lots of plans for marketing and reaching out to new audiences – but we can always use some new ideas. Here’s a rundown of some of the angles, story elements and subject matter that we’re dealing with this summer, and I’d like to know if anyone has suggestions about ways we might leverage these to reach out to particular groups, organizations or audience segments (with offers for group sales, or cross promotion, or whatever!). We’d also be interested in arranging for talkback sessions, etc.

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Lots of great things are happening for Essential Theatre playwrights. Our friend Karla Jennings recently won the 2010 John Gassner Award for her play MONSTROUS BEAUTY, a riff on the life and times of the notorious Nazi filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl. This national prize was initiated in 1967 to recognize outstanding new work by American writers. Her play will receive a cash prize and a staged reading in New York City.

Karla was one of the first Georgia playwrights whose work we produced – back in 2000, when our production of her play IMAGES IN SMOKE was named one of the best 15 shows of the year by Creative Loafing.

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I thought you guys would appreciate knowing this. One of my short plays, PigSkin, was accepted to the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Festival this summer in July. YAY! The week before QOS opens.

Then, as if that wasn’t enough good news, I got offered a residency at the Hangar Theatre in Ithaca NY to work on my new play The Freeman Elegies. Then, I’m going to the O’Neill for a week long residency.

I’m feeling pretty darn good today!

Cheers,

~Gabriel Jason Dean

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One of the Essential Theatre’s most important goals has always been the production and encouragement of new plays by Georgia writers. Ever since our first annual Festival in 1999, we’ve been committed to the production of at least one World Premiere a year by a Georgia playwright, which led us to institute the annual Essential Theatre Playwriting Award, the only such competition exclusively dedicated to new works by writers from this state.

Along with producing fourteen World Premieres since then, we’ve done some work developing new plays, holding private and public readings and offering consultation to playwrights.

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If you are interested in being an usher for our festival, we are seeking two ushers for each performance. Please visit our online Festival Usher Calendar to determine performance dates and availability. Click HERE to volunteer.

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The submission deadline is coming up for the 2011 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award competition. Unproduced plays by Georgia playwrights are eligible; there are no restrictions as to style, subject matter or length (though preference is given to plays with a running time of at least an hour). The winning playwright will receive a cash prize of $600, and the play will be given a full production as part of the 2011 Essential Theatre Play Festival.

The script submission deadline is April 23, 2010.

Submissions for the 2011 festival can be e-mailed to [email protected] in pdf or MSWord format or sent by regular mail to the address below.

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