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Essential Evening with Pulitzer Prize Winning Poet Laureate Rita Dove

Essential Theatre presents "Darker Face of the Earth" by Rita Dove, directed by Betty Hart, opening night reception with Pulitzer Prize Winner, Former U.S. Poet Laureate, playwright Rita Dove.

Regional Premiere - This stunning tragic drama takes the ancient Greek legend of Oedipus and re-imagines it on a slave plantation in the American South.

Ms. Dove's books will be available before the performance and during intermission for sale by A Cappella Books. Ms. Dove will be available after the performance for a book signing.

July 8th, 2010
VIP Reception 7 pm
Performance 8 pm


Essential Theatre @ Actors Express
887 W. Marietta St.
Atlanta, GA 30318

Tickets ~ $28 per person in advance/$30 at the door for the VIP Reception
$18 General Admission in advance $20 at the door.
Box Office: http://EssentialTheatre.tix.com/ or call 800.595.4849

Notes on SALLY AND GLENN AT THE PALACE by Peter Hardy

Film critic Pauline Kael proposed that the real Golden Age of American Movies was not the much-heralded 1940s, but instead the long decade of the 1970s, when a kind of freewheeling creativity and an explosion of new voices and impulses were unleashed. American film suddenly revealed more varieties of stories, more unconventional talents, more dialogue with foreign film and forbidden subject-matter than ever before. In Peter Hardy’s Sally and Glen at the Palace, pop movie culture does not coarsen the mind and emotions, but creates a conduit for the most delicate moments of (imperfect) communication. Peter Hardy’s young heroine and hero--battered, puzzled, and tentatively brave—find in the movies that whirl through the local movie palace a whole new vocabulary with which they can explore and share their most vulnerable truth—their unsure steps on the path of growing up.
Michael Evenden, Associate Professor Theatre Studies, Emory University

Notes on QUALITIES OF STARLIGHT by Gabriel Jason Dean

Starlight plays tricks with time: while we feel the stars are timeless, and name them after gods, science tells us that they are actually time-bound, that—counter-intuitively--the light that shines on us bears a specific history, and tells us about the nature and origin of things. Gabriel Jason Dean‘s Qualities of Starlight lives in this mystery: we follow a scientist who has learned that creation is forever beginning again (upending easy ideas of origins and consequences, doom and possibilities)--even as he journeys to encounter his family past, but finds there nothing but the unexpected. Science crashes violently into nature, identities shift, memories speak, and the future can only be won by renegotiating the past. In this light, the cosmos is no more wondrous than a troubled human family improvising its path into the future.
Michael Evenden, Associate Professor Theatre Studies, Emory University

Notes from Betty

I am especially pleased with how hard working and talented the cast of Darker Face of the Earth is. They are a collective pleasure to work with and they make me laugh every rehearsal--I love laughing and NO it's not a comedy; we just like to have a good time!
Betty Hart

Darker Face of the Earth
by Rita Dove
directed by Betty Hart
preview July 7, 2010
opens July 8, 2010

Essential Theatre Cooking Class.

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, and found ways to include them in easy to make meals at home.

Today, David demonstrates the functionality of his kitchen designs & remodels by instructing how to prepare gourmet meals for homeowners in their newly remodeled kitchen. And now, he is happy to pull out his chef’s hat to teach you some basic to intermediate tips in gourmet preparation in support of The Essential Theatre.

Value: $50 per person
Up to six people per class

Visit www.EssentialTheatre.com to learn about our Wine & Words, An Essential Evening of Wine, Georgia Playwrights & more!

Thanks to our wine sponsor Ansley Wine Merchants

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, performing for you! This event, with food, service and space donated by the Four Seasons Hotel - will feature an auction, raffle, wine tasting and many performances from this years Essential Theatre Festival! A repertory of three plays, the annual festival is known for finding new amazing artists - playwrights, actors and more. Get to know Essential while enjoying wines from all over the United States - and featuring several Georgia wineries including Tiger Mountain, Wolf, and Frogstown - as well as other regional wineries like Biltmore Estates.

Go to www.EssentialTheatre.com to purchase tickets and to learn more about Essential Theatre!

Amber Bradshaw

2010-2011 Actors Express Season Announced

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.

SEE WHAT I WANNA SEE is a complex and fascinating new musical that we thought about trying to do at the Essential (but decided we just didn’t have the resources to do a musical yet). I’m excited that I’ll be getting a chance to see it at the Express.

And finally, hats off to our old pal Lee Nowell, whose play ALBATROSS will receive its World Premiere at the Express next fall. Lee directed six productions for the Essential Theatre, going all the way back to our first Festival, in 1999, when she helmed Paula Vogel’s DESDEMONA, A PLAY ABOUT A HANDKERCHIEF. She’s been really coming along as a playwright in recent years, and kudos to the Express for producing her work.

The Essential Theatre is proud to be performing at Actor’s Express this summer, coming back for our second year in the space, with the 2011 Essential Theatre Play Festival!

For more information and to purchase a season subscription to Actor's Express visit them at www.ActorsExpress.com