While most Atlanta theaters are dark during the summer, the Essential Theatre’s New Play Festival continues its tradition of producing a lineup of three regional or world premieres. Now, in its 12th year under the guidance of founder and artistic director Peter Hardy, this year’s plays span centuries but share common Southern settings.
Rita Dove’s drama “Darker Face of the Earth” (opening July
is a variation on the Greek myth “Oedipus,” set during the Civil War; Hardy’s own coming-of-age romance “Sally and Glen at the Palace” (July 15) takes place in a small college town circa 1970; and Gabriel Jason Dean’s contemporary comedy “Qualities of Starlight” (July 22), winner of the Essential’s 2010 Georgia Playwriting Award, depicts an awkward family reunion in the North Georgia mountains. The shows continue in rotating repertory through Aug. 8.
After several years performing in a black-box space at 7 Stages, Hardy and company return for the second summer in a row to the comparative spaciousness of Actor’s Express – a change of scene that allows the group to accommodate larger audiences and to expand the scope of its productions, in terms of sets, lights and other technical considerations.
As Hardy puts it, “Something like ‘Darker Face of the Earth’ is a bold and ambitious play for us. With a cast of 20, it’s by far the biggest show we’ve ever done, clearly one we couldn’t have pulled off or even attempted in a smaller venue.”
“DARKER FACE OF THE EARTH”
Dove, a Pulitzer Prize winner and former U.S. Poet Laureate, re-imagines a classic Sophocles tragedy on a Confederate-era slave plantation. Betty Hart, who also staged the racially charged “Jim Crow and the Rhythm Darlings” for last year’s Essential festival, directs the large cast, led by Sarah Onsager and Kenneth Camp as the famously unwitting mother and son.
“One thing that really impresses me about the play is how completely and successfully (Dove) transplants an old classic drama in a more modern context,” Hardy says. “She does an amazing job of creating this world and society, the sense of culture and community that existed in the South at the time. Her language is beautiful and the story is powerful and disturbing, so it should be interesting to see what kind of responses it generates.”
Dove plans to attend the opening-night performance Thursday, which will include a pre-show reception and book signing. ($18-$28. 404-558-4523.)
“SALLY AND GLEN AT THE PALACE”
Hardy wrote this two-character dramedy some 12 years ago, but it remains a personal favorite among his own plays. It charts the relationship between two college students who work at the local movie theater.
“I worked in a movie theater when I was in college, so there’s a lot of my own experience in the play,” Hardy admits. “Most of my other plays are stranger, more puzzling and surreal and theatrical, but this one’s fairly simple and straightforward, with a clearer emotional angle to it. The characters seem like total opposites at first, but they’re closer and more alike than they realize. It’s about how they’re forced to grow up and deal with the complications of adult life.”
Kate Graham and Jacob York portray the title roles, under the direction of frequent Essential collaborator Ellen McQueen (“Charm School” and “Night Travels”).
“QUALITIES OF STARLIGHT”
In Atlanta playwright Dean’s dysfunctional family comedy, a worldly astronomer and prodigal son returns to his humble roots in rural Georgia. In the process of adopting a child, he brings his wife home to meet the parents – when he’s shocked to discover they’ve become crystal-meth addicts.
Hardy is directing the show, which features real-life husband and wife Matt Felten and Kelly Criss as the young couple, with veterans Patricia French and Daniel Burnley as the folks. Dean, who’s currently pursuing his MFA degree in playwriting at the University of Texas in Austin, previously penned the reality-TV comedy “Buy My House … Please!” (mounted earlier this season at Aurora).
“The characters and situations in the play are very strong,” notes Hardy. “It’s funny, but it isn’t an out-and-out comedy. There’s an element of magical realism to it that’s sort of (Sam) Shepardesque.”
Theater preview
Essential Theatre New Play Festival
“Darker Face of the Earth,” “Sally and Glen at the Palace” and “Qualities of Starlight”
In repertory July 7-August 8. 8 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays, 7 p.m. Sundays, 2 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays (July 24-25, July 31-Aug. 1, Aug. 7-8). $16-$22. Actor’s Express, 887 W. Marietta St. (King Plow Arts Center). 800-595-4849. essentialtheatre.com.
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