new plays

2023 Essential Playwriting Award Winner The Manuscript by Matthew Hoffman kicks off the Festival on August 11. A compelling psychological drama about what we owe to those we’ve lost, this is the playwright's first full-length play and first full production. It is a family drama that borrows genre elements from psychological thrillers and crime procedurals:...

The Essential Theatre Festival continues with the World Premiere of The Wishing Place, written by Beverly Austin and directed by Ellen McQueen, on August 18 at 8pm in the 7Stages Black Box Theatre. Austin's first play was produced in London in 1974, and she has had more than three dozen plays produced or presented since...