Volunteer Ushers: only a few dates remain open

Essential Theatre appreciates its' volunteer ushers. We have a few remaining opportunities to participate as an usher and great new theatre. These dates are still available. Please email us Essential AT ivf.com if you wish to usher on any of the dates listed below.

7/11 7:15 pm Food for Fish
7/18 7:15 pm Jim Crow
7/19 1:15 pm Jim Crow
7/19 6:15pm Food for Fish
7/25 1:15 pm Jim Crow
7/26 6:15pm Ice Glen
7/29 7:15 pm Ice Glen
7/30 7:15pm Jim Crow
7/31 7:15pm Ice Glen
8/1 1:15pm Jim Crow
8/1 7:15 pm Food for Fish
8/2 1:15pm Jim Crow

Essential Theatre Video Previews

Check out our behind the scenes HDTV video trailers shot during rehearsals shot and edited by Dany Nieves


Food for Fish


Ice Glen


Jim Crow and the Rhythm Darlings

From Artistic Director Peter Hardy

I came to Atlanta in the fall of 1986, hired by the late Michael Horne to direct a Wendy Wasserstein comedy called Isn’t It Romantic at Theatre in the Square, and then sticking around to perform in the Horizon Theatre’s Christmas production of Alan Ayckbourn’s Season’s Greetings. By that time, I’d decided to stay. In 1987 I was acting in another comedy at the Horizon, Christopher Durang’s The Marriage of Bette and Boo, but already I was wanting to make my own productions happen, and in the fall of ’87 I produced and directed the first Essential Theatre show – two ghost story one-acts by John Pielmeier (author of Agnes of God), featuring Scott Higgs and Bill Murphey (two fine local actors that I’m still friends with today) and a lady named Elin Zimmerman, who came down from New York just to do the show.

Over the next ten years I continued to free-lance with other companies, directing three of the first four productions ever done in Theatre In the Square’s Alley Stage space (we opened that place up with a comedy by local writer Karen Wurl, who I’ve gone on to work with several times since). In the summers I directed the outdoor drama Unto These Hills in Cherokee, North Carolina, working there with many talented people from the Atlanta theatre scene, and I also continued to produce and direct occasional productions with the Essential Theatre: Vinegar Tom and They Dance Real Slow In Jackson and Wandering Desires at the Horizon space; Down the Road at the 14th Street Playhouse; Cinders and A Child Shall Lead at 7 Stages; and my own play Lubricant at a place called the Atlanta Dream Hostel. (Lubricant finally got a New York production last year.)

Some of these productions got good audiences and good reviews, but mostly we were doing new scripts – World Premieres or Regional Premieres – and I found that when you're doing plays that no one has heard of, by a company that no one’s heard of, and you’re only producing once every year or so, and you’re usually performing in a different space than where you were the last time – you tend to fall through the cracks. We got great reviews for Down the Road from the AJC, Creative Loafing and WABE (which was doing theatre reviews back then), but three years later none of them bothered to come see A Child Shall Lead at 7 Stages. This was a beautiful, epic play about the Children’s Crusade, written by my friend Charlotte Fleck (originally from Spartanburg, South Carolina and now in New York City) and featuring a stunning performance by Laurie Beasley. In 2007, both these ladies finally got some of the critical praise they deserve for their work in our production of Night Travels.

Anyway, back in the late 90’s, I was wondering if I should keep trying to make my own theatre happen. I didn’t want to be producing year-round, and I didn’t want to do the kind of “audience-friendly” plays I was bored with seeing at so many other theatres in town. And that’s when the idea for the Essential Theatre Festival first came to me: Instead of doing one play no one has heard of, how about we do three plays no one has heard of? Maybe that’ll get us some more attention.

And it worked, right from the beginning. Curt Holman wrote a feature article about us for Creative Loafing in January of 1999, when we presented our first Festival at the old Push-Push Theater space. That year we did Paula Vogel’s Desdemona, Lynn Siefert’s comedy Little Egypt (recently turned into a musical, out west) and the World Premiere of Only Children by the afore-mentioned Karen Wurl. We decided that we’d produce at least one new play by a Georgia writer every year, and by 2001 that had coalesced into the idea of the Essential Theatre Playwriting Award, a state-wide competition that is still the only one of its kind. We’ve been proud and fortunate to present the World Premieres of new scripts by Georgia writers like Karla Jennings, Bill Gibson, Karen Page, Valetta Anderson, Jean Sterrett and Letitia Sweitzer.

In 2006 we did the first production of Larry Larson and Eddie Levi Lee’s Charm School, receiving critical raves and helping to pave the w ay for a larger, longer-run production by Horizon Theatre – which was so successful they revived it a year later. The play also won the Gene Gabriel Moore prize (part of the Suzi Bass Awards) for best new play produced in Atlanta.

In 2001, the Essential Theatre Playwriting Award when to 18-year-old Lauren Gunderson, a Decatur native, for her family comedy-drama Parts They Call Deep, which was a big hit for us and went on to an Off-Broadway production. Lauren’s continued to have great success, both in Atlanta and around the country, with a new play recently produced in California. Lauren writes: “The Essential Theatre has been fundamentally important for my career …every aspect of my time with them has been full of support, creativity and artistic daring. I will always credit the Essential Theatre with my early success and confidence.”

Along with our World Premieres, we’ve given Atlanta audiences their first chance to see important new work by nationally-recognized writers like Sam Shepard, Christopher Durang, Lanford Wilson, David Lindsay-Abaire, Steven Dietz, Gina Gionfriddo, and Amy and David Sedaris. The common denominator is this: Plays you’ve never seen around here before – exciting and challenging new work -- produced by artists who are doing it for love.

Perhaps my favorite show that we’ve ever done was our 2008 production of Paul Rudnick’s Valhalla -- which (among other things) was about being willing to go mad in order to create something beautiful. I can relate ...

And all that brings us up to today – and the 11th Annual Essential Theatre Play Festival, opening July 5 at Actor’s Express.

More on that soon.

Jim Crow & the Rhythm Darlings by Vynnie Meli, 2009

JIM CROW AND THE RHYTHM DARLINGS by Vynnie Meli. World Premiere. Directed by Betty Hart
Featuring: Rachel Bodenstein, Enisha Brewster, Daniel Burnley, DeAndrea Crawford, Nadir Mateen, Delesa Sims

It’s World War Two, and with so many men going off to serve, the previously all-male world of jazz is opening up to women for the first time. The International Rhythm Darlings are an all-female African-American band touring the Deep South, which would be a tough situation in the best of times … but now they’ve got a last-minute replacement in the group, a white Jewish woman, and integrated bands aren’t allowed to play together on stage. Not in the South, not anywhere. Inspired by the real-life experiences of musicians from that era, Vynnie Meli’s play takes a fascinating look at some extraordinary women who make their way past fear and hatred to find the common threads that bind them together. Winner of the 2009 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award competition.

Essential Playwright Vynnie Meli's PLAGUED at NYMF

Plagued A Love Story
Book and lyrics by Vynnie Meli [2009 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award Winner]
Music by Casey Filiaci

Congratulations are out to JIM CROW playwright Vynnie Meli. Her musical, PLAGUED will be part of this year's prestigious New York Music Theatre Festival. Well done Vynnie. You can see her play JIM CROW AND THE RHYTHM DARLINGS as part of this year's Essential Theatre Festival.

Cinderella celebrates her 20th anniversary to a man who isn’t always so charming. And Cinderella’s daughter, Dust Bunny, takes on an even greater challenge: the Bubonic Plague. Dust Bunny has to say goodbye to the handsome chronicler, and any chance of finding a cure, when her Queen Grandmother forces her to marry a rich old Prince. Fairy Godmother comes out of retirement in sunny south Florida to convince Dust Bunny she doesn’t have to wait for someone else to turn her life into a fairy tale. The princess uses a little ingenuity to defy the Queen, get the boy, and save the world.

Ice Glen and Poetry Reading, July 25th 7pm.

The Essential Theatre is pleased to announce that the Georgia Poetry Society will be holding a poetry reading July 25th at 7 pm prior to the 8pm performance of Ice Glen by Joan Ackermann. Your ticket for Ice Glen will serve as admission to both events.

The Georgia Poetry Society was founded in 1979 for the purpose of bringing into community poets and poetry lovers in the state of Georgia. If you are passionate about poetry, you’ve found the right place!

We welcome members from anywhere, but our quarterly meetings are held in various locations throughout the state of Georgia. The meetings are packed with poetry related programming, including member readings, featured poets, poetry workshops, and various talks on poetry related topics.

We also sponsor a series of poetry contests and publish an anthology each year.

You're invited to come as a guest to any of our quarterly meetings, poetry road shows, or local open poetry readings/workshops.

To support our future poetry programming in the state of Georgia and to participate in the contests and anthology, please consider becoming a member.

Food for Fish Photo Call

Photos by Brenda Messick

FOOD FOR FISH by Adam Szymkowicz, opening July 5. Regional Premiere.
Directed by Peter Hardy

Featuring: Kelly Criss, Kate Graham, Eve Krueger, Brent Nicholas Rose, Charles Swint and Sarah Falkenburg Wallace.

Bobbie is a lonely young man living in New York, trying to write about three sisters who long to escape the city and return to their childhood home of New Jersey … or is he really just an imaginary character in the mind of Sylvia, the youngest sister? Middle sister Alice is hopelessly in love with the husband of her older sister, and so she goes out on dates with a different man every night, working in her lab by day to isolate the human gene that makes us fall in love … so she can control it! Oldest sister Barbara (played by a man) and her husband (played by a woman) can’t figure out how men and women are supposed to relate to each other. This is the kind of play we love to do at the Essential – funny and beautiful and just about impossible to describe. The New York Times did it best, calling it “Fabulously weird and weirdly fabulous.”

Help us put an end to our loooong Facebook URL

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/The-Essential-Theatre/15257139165?ref=ts

Now that's a mouthful. With only 925 more fans, Facebook will allow us to become http://www.facebook.com/EssentialTheatre. [not yet active] We need your help to put an end to the awful URL above. Take a second click on the link and click "Become a Fan" along the left side of the page. We plan to have special Facebook fan discounts as well as discounts for those who follow us on Twitter @ATL_Essential

11th Annual Essential Theatre Play Festival Opens Soon

In just a few weeks, the 11th Annual Essential Theatre Play Festival will be opening, playing for the first time at the King Plow Art Center in the Actor's Express space. We'll be running July 5-August 2 -- please visit www.EssentialTheatre.com for details or follow us on Twitter ATL_Essential for the latest information.

FOOD FOR FISH by Adam Szymkowicz, opening July 5. Regional Premiere.
Directed by Peter Hardy
Featuring: Kelly Criss, Kate Graham, Eve Krueger, Brent Nicholas Rose, Charles Swint and Sarah Falkenburg Wallace.
Bobbie is a lonely young man living in New York, trying to write about three sisters who long to escape the city and return to their childhood home of New Jersey … or is he really just an imaginary character in the mind of Sylvia, the youngest sister? Middle sister Alice is hopelessly in love with the husband of her older sister, and so she goes out on dates with a different man every night, working in her lab by day to isolate the human gene that makes us fall in love … so she can control it! Oldest sister Barbara (played by a man) and her husband (played by a woman) can’t figure out how men and women are supposed to relate to each other. This is the kind of play we love to do at the Essential – funny and beautiful and just about impossible to describe. The New York Times did it best, calling it “Fabulously weird and weirdly fabulous.”

Next to open, on July 10, will be ICE GLEN by Joan Ackermann. Regional Premiere.
Directed by Ellen McQueen
Featuring: Jo Howarth, Dina Shadwell, Jayson Smith, Spencer G. Stephens, Jim Starbh and Ann Wilson.
Sarah Harding lives in an isolated country cottage, surrounded by a warm circle of quietly eccentric friends. She may be America’s greatest poet, but no one’s ever seen her work … which is just the way she wants it. But now an editor has arrived from Boston, wanting to publish her poems and bring her the fame and fortune she has never sought. With unforgettable characters, this wonderfully funny romantic drama -- about the frozen places in our hearts coming back to life again -- is like the best Emma Thompson movie you never saw. “Beautifully written.” Talkin’ Broadway. “A lovely play.” CurtainUp

Opening July 15 will be JIM CROW AND THE RHYTHM DARLINGS by Vynnie Meli. World Premiere.
Directed by Betty Hart
Featuring: Rachel Bodenstein, Enisha Brewster, Daniel Burnley, DeAndrea Crawford, Nadir Mateen, Delesa Sims
It’s World War Two, and with so many men going off to serve, the previously all-male world of jazz is opening up to women for the first time. The International Rhythm Darlings are an all-female African-American band touring the Deep South, which would be a tough situation in the best of times … but now they’ve got a last-minute replacement in the group, a white Jewish woman, and integrated bands aren’t allowed to play together on stage. Not in the South, not anywhere.

Inspired by the real-life experiences of musicians from that era, Vynnie Meli’s play takes a fascinating look at some extraordinary women who make their way past fear and hatred to find the common threads that bind them together. Winner of the 2009 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award competition, the only prize exclusively dedicated to the work of Georgia playwrights. The Essential Theatre is proud to have developed this play (along with Working Title Playwrights and Jewish Theatre of the South) and to be bringing it to the stage for the first time.

2009 Essential theatre Festival Cast & Crew

Check out the 2009 festival cast and crew.