2011 Technical and Production Positions Available

For information on 2011 Essential Theatre Festival, check out www.EssentialTheatre.com. For questions regarding internship and employment opportunities, contact production manager Jennifer Brown at jennifer_brown@hotmail.com.

Internships

Internships for all positions are now available for Essential Theatre's 2011 New Play Festival! Opportunities are available in marketing, fundraising, all areas of design production, and running crew. Customizable internships are also available upon request. Contact production manager Jennifer Brown at jennifer_brown@hotmail.com. Please send a resume if you have one, and indicate your area of interest. Please also list your general availability between May and July, as we have a variety of opportunities available with varying time commitments.

Stage Manager

The stage manager will be responsible for attending and running all rehearsals for the show with which they are involved and distributing rehearsal and performance reports to the production and design staff, as well as the other festival stage managers, following every rehearsal and performance. Stage manager will run lights and sound for performances as well as maintaining props and costumes during the run of the show. The stage manager is also expected to participate in strike for their show when it closes and may be asked to participate in strike for the festival after the final show’s closing performance. Stipend offered.

Production Assistant/Asst Stage Manager

Production assistants will join the festival when we move into Actor's Express and will primarily serve as an assistant to the stage manager. Responsibilities will include tracking of props backstage during the show, assisting with scene changes and costume quick changes as needed, and possibly running lights, sound, and/or projections as deemed necessary by their stage manager. Production assistants will also assist in changeover/rep responsibilities as needed. A stipend is offered for this position.

Assistant Technical Director

The ATD will report directly to the Technical Director and will assist with coordinating and creating the technical aspects of the show. Responsibilities will include carpentry and painting as well as coordinating of volunteers and interns interested in participating in these tasks. ATD must be available during the day on June 22 through opening of the final play, as well as more flexible time prior to load-in for set construction. ATD is also expected to be available for strike the final weekend in July. A stipend is offered for this position.

Lauren Gunderson, two-time winner of the Essential Theatre Playwriting Award

Access Atlanta has an article on Decatur-born playwright Lauren Gunderson, whose new play "Exit, Pursued By A Bear" is currently being produced by Synchronicity. Lauren's a two-time winner of the Essential Theatre Playwriting Award. http://bit.ly/hPHGFF

General Auditions for A Thousand Circlets

Date: Saturday, March 19, from Noon to 3 p.m.

Location: 1083 Austin Avenue Northeast, Atlanta, GA 30307 The Juggler’s Room in the Little Five Points Community Center (the building that Horizon Theatre is located in). It’s on the top floor, the first door on your right as you come to the top of the stairs.

Director: Betty Hart

Script: www.EssentialTheatre.com/2011_scripts.htm

"A Thousand Circlets" will be one of three productions running in repertory in the 2011 Essential Theatre Play Festival, which will run from June 30 – July 31 at Actor’s Express.

Please bring in two contrasting monologues, totaling not more than 4 minutes. We will NOT be reading from the play at this time.

Non-union casting. All roles will be stipend-paid.

All the characters are African-American.

Casting Breakdown:

• Earl Leighton The family patriarch, an architect, self made, proud, on the verge of realizing a life’s ambition: to build a skyscraper, 60 yrs. old.
• Liz Kensey Leighton Earl’s second wife, a retired literature professor, runs an efficient household, sharp, quite comfortable amongst the trappings of wealth; 57 yrs. old.
• Caleb Leighton The eldest son, a CFO in his father’s architecture firm, a father of two, workaholic, a blunt instrument; 35 yrs. old.
• Rebecca Leighton Earl’s daughter, a journalist, a wanderer, complicated, passionate, recently fired; 33 yrs old.
• Grey Kensey Earl’s stepson, an architect at a small firm in New York, a bit lost, stubborn, independent to a fault; 32 yrs. old.

For appointment time: Email pmhardy@aol.com or call 404-212-0815.
Mailing Address: Essential Theatre, 1414 Foxhall Lane #10, Atlanta, GA 30316.
Website: www.EssentialTheatre.com.

Break a Leg!

The Essential Theatre says BREAK A LEG! to the cast, crew (and author!) of Synchronicity Performance Group's World Premiere of Lauren Gunderson's revenge comedy, "Exit, Pursued By A Bear". Opening this Friday (March 4) in the Backstage Theatre at 7 Stages.

Lauren was the first-ever winner of the Essential Theatre Playwriting Award, back in 2001, for "Parts They Call Deep", a play that she wrote when she was just 17. She later went on to win another award from us, for her science-drama "Background", and she's been having a wonderful career ever since, getting commissions and productions all around the country.

Lauren says:

”The Essential Theatre has been fundamentally important for my career. When I was very young and unsure of how to sustain my work in theatre, they gave me strength. I speak from experience when I say that I will always credit them with my early success and confidence."

And a reminder -- the submission deadline for the 2012 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award is coming up soon, on April 23. Visit www.EssentialTheatre.com for submission guidelines.

Coming up this summer: The 2011 Essential Theatre Play Festival, featuring the Regional Premieres of Lee Blessing's "Great Falls," Melanie Marnich's "A Sleeping Country", and the World Premiere of our 2011 Award winner, Theroun D'Arcy Patterson's "A Thousand Circlets". The Festival will be running June 30 - July 31, at Actor's Express!

General Audition Announcement

THE ESSENTIAL THEATRE will hold General Auditions for the 2011 Essential Theatre Play Festival.
Three full-length plays in repertory:

• A SLEEPING COUNTRY by Melanie Marnich
  Directed by Peter Hardy
  

• GREAT FALLS by Lee Blessing
  Directed by Ellen McQueen
  

• A THOUSAND CIRCLETS by Theroun D’Arcy Patterson
  Directed by Betty Hart
  

To view scripts, go to: www.EssentialTheatre.com/2011_scripts.htm
Festival runs June 30 – July 31 at Actor’s Express
Date/Time: 6 p.m. – 10 p.m. on Sunday, March 13
Location: The Juggler’s Room in the Little Five Points Community Center (the building that Horizon Theatre is located in). It’s on the top floor, the first door on your right as you come to the top of the stairs.
Address: 1083 Austin Avenue Northeast, Atlanta, GA 30307

Please bring in two contrasting monologues, totaling not more than 4 minutes. We will NOT be reading for individual plays at this time. (By “contrasting”, we mean “contrasting”. Show us you can play more than one kind of character – beyond that, it’s up to you.)
Non-union casting. All roles will be stipend-paid.

For appointment time, e-mail pmhardy@aol.com or call 404-212-0815.
Mailing Address: The Essential Theatre, 1414 Foxhall Lane #10, Atlanta, GA 30316.
Website: www.EssentialTheatre.com.

Alliance Theatre Discount Offer for Essential Friends

Tony Award winner Judith Ivey directs the 2010 Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition winner, Carapace, in performances now on the Hertz Stage at the Alliance Theatre. Carapace was written by 29 year old David Mitchell Robinson and depicts a portrait of Jeff, a flawed man on a collision course with fate.

Save $5 on tickets with promo code CARAPACE5 at www.alliancetheatre.org or by calling the box office at (404) 733-5000. Carapace runs through March 6th so get your tickets today!

"The Essential Theatre recommends CARAPACE, a strong new American play by David Mitchell Robinson, beautifully produced by the Alliance Theatre with an all-Atlanta cast." Peter Hardy, Artistic Director

"...close to miraculous in every conceivable way...an almost perfect work of art. If you care about fine theatre, go see it." –Manning Harris, Atlanta InTown

Essential Theatre Seeks Volunteer Grant Writer

Essenitial Theatre seeks an individual to research grants and write grant proposals for the organization. The writer would be expected to find viable grant opportunities from all sources, including but not limited to foundations; federal, state and city grants; other private charitable and philanthropic organizations. The writer would create and submit proposals and to all charitable opportunities.

Essential Theatre is very proud of its reputation for presenting high quality productions of new works including a world premiere by a Georgia Playwright. We are a 501c3 non-profit benefiting from the talents of a diverse group of participants and catering to a an equally diverse audience.

Skills

• Grant Writing, Communication & Research: Be able to effectively research grants related to our mission and projects reach into the community and successfully complete the fulfillment needs of the specific grants for submission.

Atlanta Theatre Buzz's PERSON OF THE YEAR

Congratulations to Kathy Manning for being named Atlanta Theatre Buzz's PERSON OF THE YEAR. We'll second that emotion!

As well as working with many different theatre companies around town, Kathy has been the Essential Theatre's Prop Mistress of the Universe for some years now, as well as serving as a Stage Manager and All-Around-Indispensible-Contributor. Here's what Atlanta Buzz had to say:

For the 2 people in Atlanta who don't know Kathy, we will give you a little background. Kathy is a true unsung hero of local theatre. There is not a person who works harder and complains less. I can't think of a person who can take control of any situation as a stage manager or production manager, and still have the respect and loyalty of everyone in a cast. I can't think of one person with a harsh word about her. She is an example to all of us in being professional, with a strong work ethic. Most of us are better for having worked in a production with her. If you see her, congratulate her and tell her that this is well deserved. In fact, it's about time!

Congratulations Artistic Director Peter Hardy is Published

Essential Theatre Artistic Director Peter Hardy has had his first short story published, in the British fantasy anthology POSTSCRIPTS: THE COMPANY HE KEEPS. Hardy has sold two additional stories, and is the prize-winning author of over twenty produced plays, including SALLY AND GLEN AT THE PALACE, presented as part of the 2010 Essential Theatre Play Festival, and for which he was named the Critic’s Pick for Best Atlanta Playwright by Creative Loafing. SALLY AND GLEN was listed as one of the best theatre productions of the year by Atlanta Theatre Buzz and the Sunday Paper.

Essential Theatre Noted in The Best of 2010

The Best of 2010
by Brad Rudy

Best Actor In A Play
Jacob York-Sally and Glen at the Palace (Essential)

Best Director Of A Play
Ellen McQueen-Sally and Glen at the Palace

Best Play
Peter Hardy's Sally and Glen at the Palace

Congratulations to all the other folks who got mentioned, especially friends and Essential colleagues like Spencer Stephens, Topher Payne, Jane Kroessig, Matt Felten, Bethany Ann Lind and Brad Raymond!

Dramatist Guild: Atlanta News

National News: Atlanta by Pamela Turner

When I first came to Atlanta it surprised me. I'd expected something that was a slightly urban version of Deliverance with a little dash of Scarlett's Tara thrown in. My former husband and I moved from our native Pacific North-west because of his job promotion and my resulting chance to go to grad school. He didn't like it and returned, but I stayed, mostly because of school, but also because what I found was a city with an active arts scene and some pretty cool green spaces. This kind of misconception followed by pleasant surprise was revisited on me two times this summer. The first experience was as a "playwright guest" at the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA) conference and the second was as an audience member at the Essential Theatre Play Festival production of Peter Hardy's Sally and Glen at the Palace

The more recent event at Essential was surprising because it is only the second time in their twelve-year history that Hardy, who is founding Artistic Director, has included one of his own plays. Written just before the birth of Essential, Sally and Glen received an award from The New Southern Theatre Festival at the Mockingbird Public Theatre in Nashville and was produced at Theatre Southeast in Tallahassee. After that, though, Hardy turned his attention to the support and promotion of other playwrights through his Play Festival. He produces two regional premieres each year along with a full production of the Essential Theatre Playwriting Award winner. The com-petition is open to playwrights residing in Georgia who submit new work. (The 2010 winner is Gabriel Jason Dean's Qualities of Starlight.) Even with all that good karma investment, Hardy had to wrestle with the decision to put his own work front and center, ‘Cause, y'all know, despite the new call to action over self-producing, there are still a whole lotta folks holding up big signs that read "Vanity Production." Fortunately, Hardy has gotten nothing but love taps over his move and may even have set the self-production rad meter over on the plus side. Hardy says that this comic drama about two college students navigating life while working at a movie theatre is a bit of departure from his usual more "highly theatrical, surreal work," even though it is based on his own experiences. And that leads to another little surprise, because this is a fascinating side of Hardy I never knew about. Imagine that. The best news is that he responded to my notice for the next regional DG meeting by saying he would probably come because "I'm feeling more like a playwright now."

Essential Theatre was represented at WordFeast

On December 12, the Essential Theatre was represented at WordFeast, an annual literary reading event that benefits the Atlanta Food Bank. Theroun D’Arcy Patterson, winner of the 2011 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award for his family drama A THOUSAND CIRCLETS, was there to read a scene from the play with Betty Hart, who will be directing the Essential Theatre’s World Premiere production this summer, as part of the Essential Theatre Play Festival (running in July and August at the Actor’s Express space).

Also performing their work at WordFeast were prize-winning writers like Pearl Cleage, Topher Payne, Melissa Green, Jon Goode and David Fulmer.

Keep an eye out – we’ll soon be announcing the other two plays to be presented in next summer’s Essential Festival!

The good news for Essential Theatre playwrights keeps coming in!

Gabriel Jason Dean, winner of the 2010 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award for QUALITIES OF STARLIGHT, has another production coming up – D’ANGELICO, opening in January as part of FronteraFest in Austin, Texas.

Back in 2000, we produced the World Premiere of Atlanta writer Karla Jennings’ IMAGES IN SMOKE (named one of the Best Shows of the Year by Creative Loafing), and since then she’s gone on to score multiple awards, productions and commissions. Now she’s won the Northern Kentucky University Y.E.S. competition for her play MONSTROUS BEAUTY, which will be produced there in April, and then October will see the World Premiere of her Tea Party spoof WHACKING THE TURKEY at Denver’s And Toto Too Productions.

Lauren Gunderson won our first official Playwriting Award in 2001, for her play PARTS THEY CALL DEEP, and she too has gone on to a great career, with productions and commissions all around the country. This spring will see a Triple Rolling World Premiere of her play EXIT, PURSUED BY A BEAR, starting off with a March production by Atlanta’s Synchronicity Performance Group.

So, remember – keep an eye out for this summer’s World Premiere of Theroun D’Arcy Patterson’s A THOUSAND CIRCLETS, the winner of the 2011 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award. Directed by Betty Hart, it’ll be part of the 2011 Essential Theatre Play Festival, along with two Regional Premieres (soon to be announced).

Since 1999, the Essential Theatre – bringing Atlanta what’s new! And, you can support Essential Theatre's effort to bring you some great new plays by making a donation today. Your donation is Essential!

Word Feast: Food for the Body & Sou

WordFeast: Food for the Body and Soul! December 13th 7:30 pm at Actors Express. The work of 2011 Playwriting Award Winner Theroun Patterson will be included.

Theroun Darcy Patterson wins 2011 Essential Playwriting Award

We're proud to announce that Atlanta playwright Theroun D'arcy Patterson has been named as the winner of the 2011 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award for his script A THOUSAND CIRCLETS.

This powerful and emotional work falls into the classic tradition of the American family drama, telling the tale of an African-American clan trying to heal old wounds as they face new challenges – and just as they are poised to reach the pinnacle of their professional success, the father’s illness threatens to bring it all crashing down. The Essential Theatre Playwriting Award is the only competition of its kind, exclusively dedicated to the work of Georgia writers, and this will be the tenth year that it has been given out. As winner, Mr. Patterson will receive a cash prize of $600, and his play will be given a full production as part of the 2011 Essential Theatre Play Festival, performing next summer in the Actor's Express space. For more information on the Essential Theatre, visit www.EssentialTheatre.com.

Essential is Big Winner at the Metropolitan Theatre Awards

The Essential Theatre is proud to have won five Metropolitan Theatre Awards at the MAT Ceremonies held on Sunday, Sept. 26 at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center. Our 2009 production of Joan Ackermann's ICE GLEN won the prizes for Best Director of a Play (Ellen McQueen), Best Major Supporting Actor In A Play (Jim Sarbh), Best Lighting Design for a Play (Trish Harris), and Best Scenic Design for a Play (Rob Hadaway). The Essential Theatre's World Premiere production of Vynnie Meli's JIM CROW AND THE RHYTHM DARLINGS won the award for Best Original Work.

The Essential Theatre would like to congratulate all the winners and all the nominees!

Artistic Director Peter Hardy Named Best Playwright by Creative Loafing

As artistic director of Essential Theatre, PETER HARDY has been Atlanta's de facto midwife of new local plays. In the summer of 2010, however, Hardy put the spotlight on his own script, Sally and Glen at the Palace, and the nostalgic dramedy packed enough punch to upstage many of Essential's productions going back for years. www.essentialtheatre.com

Will the Essential Theatre ever be eligible for the Suzis?

The Essential Theatre would like to congratulate some of our friends and collaborators on their recent Suzi nominations:

Robin Bloodworth, nominated as Best Leading Actor for "Ethan Frome" at Theatre in the Square, worked with us years ago in a terrific Lee Blessing play called "Down the Road".

Ellen McQueen, nominated as Best Featured Actress for "Ethan Frome", directed our productions of "Sally and Glen at the Palace", "Ice Glen", "After Ashley", "Night Travels", "Charm School" and "A Lovely Undertow".

William S. Murphey, nominated as Best Featured Actor for "Around the World In 80 Days" at Theatrical Outfit, appeared in the very first Essential Theatre production, years ago -- a double bill of "Witches Brew" and "Ghost Story", and later in "And They Dance Real Slow In Jackson".

Will the Essential Theatre ever be eligible for the Suzis? You can help us make that happen by making a donation! It's all about the size of our budget, so why not become a financial supportor of the Essential Theatre today?

Congratulations Gabriel Dean and Peter Hardy

More great news about the recently finished 2010 Essential Theatre Festival: Our production of Peter Hardy's SALLY AND GLEN AT THE PALACE was named by the Sunday Paper as one of the Top Shows of the Season, and Gabriel Jason Dean's QUALITIES OF STARLIGHT, winner of the 2010 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award, has been chosen by the Duel Theatre of New York City for a production this fall, running Nov. 12 - 26. Congratulations to Gabriel and thanks to everyone who made this year's Festival our best ever!