The 2021 Essential Festival Opens With Erin Considine's RAISING THE DEAD

Essential Theatre is back live this fall with the 2021 Essential Play Festival, featuring the world premiere productions of two award winning plays by Georgia playwrights. Opening the Festival this year is Erin K. Considine's Raising the Dead, directed by Peter Hardy and Ellen McQueen, on Friday, November 5, 2021 at 8pm at the West End Performing Arts Center (945 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd, Atlanta, GA 30310).

Considine's Raising the Dead is co-winner of the 2021 Essential Theatre Playwriting Award, along with Anthony Lamarr White's Calming the Man (opening November 12). Raising the Dead takes place one night on neighboring balconies overhanging a humid New Orleans streetscape, as Harlowe and Myra, neighbors for more than a decade, are confronted with the question, "How small has your world become, and could you change it if you had to?"

Considine's very first full-length script was read as part of our Bare Essentials Play Reading Series in 2016. "To be coming back five years later with a full production," says Considine, "is a dream I can't entirely wrap my head around! It's a rare mixture of terror and wonder and humility, watching other people bring your words to life. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to do this work here in my home city of Atlanta."

The Festival features all local talent, working to serve and contribute to the Atlanta arts scene.

Full COVID Policy: EssentialTheatre.com/experience/2021-festival/covid-safety-policy

To purchase tickets: EssentialTheatre.tix.com