Essential Theatre Inc

Over 25 years of Giving Georgia Playwrights a Voice

For more than 25 years, Essential Theatre has been bringing new work by Georgia playwrights to the stage. Help us celebrate the past 25 years of supporting Georgia playwrights and usher in the next 25 with a contribution this Georgia Gives Day! 

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From the Southern-Fried Bake-Off 24 Hour Play Festival in January, to our summer playwriting classes, to our Celebration of Georgia Playwrights in May and the Essential Theatre Play Festival in August, 2025 has been a year to remember and a powerful testament to the legacy of creativity, strength, and talent of Georgia playwrights.

1999-2025

Essential Theatre has been supporting Georgia playwrights and presenting new plays to Atlanta audiences since 1999. In fact, we are the longest-running theatre exclusively dedicated to supporting the work of Georgia playwrights. Since the first Essential Play Festival in 1999, we've produced or presented 43 new works by 46 different Georgia playwrights, with readings of over 50 more. Our very first Essential Theatre Playwriting Award winner, Lauren Gunderson, has been the most produced living playwright in America for several years running!

Lauren Gunderson, pictured here in an Emory Wheel article about our 2001 World Premiere production of her very first play, Parts They Call Deep

“So proud to be an alumna of Essential Theatre, run by the inestimable Peter Hardy. They produced my first plays and basically started my professional career. Support them if you value new plays, Georgia artists, and intimate/vibrant theatre!” 

-Lauren Gunderson

The cast of our 2012 World Premiere production of Jordan Pulliam's Bat-Hamlet, which has seen another dozen productions nationwide since that time.

“Seeing my play, Bat-Hamlet, produced by the Essential Theatre was one of the greatest thrills of my life...The fine folks at Essential had the imagination, vision, and talent required to pull it off with style. To see it begin its eventual conquest of a nation’s imagination is a truly beautiful thing.”

-Jordan Pulliam

"There’s no motivation like having someone look at you and say, 'I want to help you make this great.'"  -Caleb Zane Huett, whose play The End of William Henry received a reading as part of our Bare Essentials Play Reading Series in 2015.

Essential's dedication to creating opportunities for Georgia's playwrights is unwavering, and our commitment to providing meaningful opportunities for our audience to connect with them and be a part of their creative process is tireless. Help us continue to create new opportunities for Georgia's playwrights and their audiences.