Mysterious Connections
Mysterious Connections, written by Peter Hardy and directed by Ellen McQueen, is a fantasy based around two women who grow close and eventually find themselves able to enter each other’s dreams.
Essential Theatre Presents: a bunch of different ways i’d like to die
Two nights only! August 16 & 17, 2018 at 8pm
Written and performed by Tim McDonough, a bunch of different ways i’d like to die is an entertainment about death, a fantasy and meditation both comic and dead serious.
a bunch of different ways i’d like to die performs on the following dates:
Thursday August 16, 8pm
Friday august 17, 8pm
In the Press:
Atlanta Actor Writes Dead Serious Comedy About Mortality
Syrian Refugee Theatre Project, Stage 1
Stage 1 of Essential’s Syrian Refugee Theatre Project (working title) took place in the spring and early summer of 2018 and was made possible through funding from
About Stage 1, Connection and Story Gathering:
Thanks to support from Turner Voices, between March and July 2018, Essential Theatre worked to build relationships with and gather the stories, insights and perspectives of Syrian refugees and their families from around metro-Atlanta through one-on-one interviews and community dialogues. We sought out Syrian refugees, of course, but also others connected to Syrian refugees – refugee service organization volunteers and staff; neighbors, family and friends of Syrian refugees.
Bare Essentials Play Reading Series
All readings in the Bare Essentials series are free and open to the public. Be sure to stay after for exciting conversation with the director, cast and playwright
Curated by Founding Artistic Director Peter Hardy.
Peter is a national award-winning playwright himself, who’s had over 30 productions of his work done around the country, and was named Creative Loafing’s Critic’s Pick for Best Local Playwright in 2010.
Tuesday, August 7, 7:30pm
Two short plays: FAITH by Lee Osorio and DAD by Ben Harris
Directed by Brenda Porter
FAITH by Lee Osorio
A lonely woman finds someone she can believe in – and tries to hold onto that,
Built to Float
The magical realist tale of two sisters, trying not to drown in the haunted legacy of their troubled family.
by Rachel Graf Evans directed by Peter Hardy
World Premiere opens Friday, July 27, 2018.
Built to Float press kit
This is the story of Tess, who quietly crusades to keep it together, working full time as a phlebotomist and caring for her ailing mother Marjorie, who likes to harp on Tess’s dormant dreams of becoming a doctor. Suddenly, her sister Roz shows back up from rehab, pledging high expectations and a clean slate.
Woke
By Avery Sharpe
Directed by Ellen McQueen
World Premiere opens Friday, August 3, 2018.
Woke follows two friends from different backgrounds who are trying to navigate the already rocky transition from high school to college. When a calamitous event captures national attention, they are forced to wrestle with their different understandings of social awareness. Through family, romance, and their own friendship, they painstakingly and comically explore what it truly means to be woke.
Cast: Derrick Robertson (Adrian), Paul Danner (Jesse), DeShon Green (Tanisha), Karina Simmons (Natasha), Kathleen Wattis (Martha),
Bare Essentials Play Reading Series
Working Title Playwrights and the Essential Theatre
are proud to present
the 2017 Bare Essentials Reading Series
All readings are free and open to the public.
Playwrights whose work is featured in a Festival Bare Essentials reading also receive a complimentary one-year membership to Working Title Playwrights.
Be sure to stay after for exciting conversation with the director, cast and playwright, moderated by WTP Managing Artistic Director Amber Bradshaw.
Wednesday, August 9th, 7:30pm at the West End Performing Arts Center
FALLING OFF THE EDGE
by Paul Donnelly
Directed by Carolyn Cook
A Mormon swimmer,
Essential Theatre presents: INDEPENDENT
Two nights only! August 17 and 18, 2017 at 8pm
Dan Triandiflou stars in a one-man performance as director John Cassavetes, the Godfather of American independent films. Written by Atlanta playwright John D. Babcock III. Directed by John Ammerman.
World Premiere: ANOTHER MOTHER
By G. M. Lupo
Directed by Peter Hardy
ANOTHER MOTHER press kit with photos
World premiere opens August 4, 2017
Winner of the 2017 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award, this play follows the journey of Genevieve as she pieces together the mysterious identities and relationships between her biological mother, her birth mother and the mother who raised her.
Meet the Playwright:
an interview with G.M. Lupo
