The 2018 Essential Theatre Play Festival will be running from July 27 through Aug. 26 at the West End Performing Arts Center, 945 Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the festival, which has premiere 31 plays by 26 different Georgia writers. Many of the plays have gone on to other productions and publication since premiering at Essential.
The 2018 festival opens with “Built to Float” by playwright Rachel Graf Evans and directed by Peter Hardy. The play tells the story of two sisters beset by odd happenings in their home and trying to staying afloat with memories from their troubled past.
“Woke” by actor and playwright Avery Sharpe follows two friends from different backgrounds who are trying to navigate the already rocky transition from high school to college and are forced to wrestle with their different understandings of social awareness.
Tim McDonough will perform his one-man show “A Bunch of Different Ways I’d Like To Die” for two nights only, Aug. 16-17, while this year’s Bare Essentials Play Reading will see work by Lee Osorlo, Ben Harris, Courtney Earl and Ben Thorpe get staged readings.
For tickets and the complete schedule, visit essentialtheatre.com,