Smith & Krause has included Perfect Harmony in three of their “Best Of” books for 2009:
Best Scenes and Monologues for Men 2009,  Best Scenes and Monologues for Women 2009 and Best Scenes, 2009

Available soon from Smith & Krause, Amazon or at the Drama Bookshop.

(Left to right): MARGIE STOKLEY and SEAN DUGAN in The Essentials production of "PERFECT HARMONY," at The Clurman Theatre, 410 West 42nd Street. The official opening was July 10, 2008. Photo credit: Jim Baldassare. Press rep: Jim Baldassare, jbpressrep@aol.com, 212-362-3346.

Just missing Tax Day, the IRS has recognized The Essentials (technically The Essentials Organization, Inc) as a 501c3 not for profit organization. This means that donations are deductible to the full extent of the law (and this is retroactive to our incorporation last year). We’re super grateful for our amazing legal team, and to all of our supporters in the past year who helped us launch. 

To make a tax deductible contribution, click here.

A very short documentary of interviews and rehearsal footage from the SLJ Drama Club production of The Perfect Murder - their adaptation of the Leopold & Loeb story.

SLJ Drama Club - The Making of Perfect Murder from andrew g on Vimeo.

Susan Louise O’Connor (who along with Arthur Aulisi and Drew Cortese was one of the professional actors who performed with the SLJ Students in 2008’s Romeo & Juliet) is making her Broadway debut in Blithe Spirit along side Angela Lansbury, Christine Ebersole, Jayne Atkinson and Rupert Everett. 

Susan Louise OConnor, Susan Louise O'Connor, courtesy of Broadwayworld.com newsdesk. Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd. (www.retna.com)

We’re looking for a few talented and hard working interns. If you’re a college or graduate school student or recent grad, have a love of theater, an interest in making it a career, and a desire to work with an innovative new Off Broadway theater company in a custom made internship, then check out our intern page.

 Some famously successful interns through history:

Tommy Schrider stars in the New York premiere of GREEK HOLIDAY at the Abingdon Theatre Company. He plays a travel writer tormented by memories of a passionate romance with another woman in this fantastical black comedy. Tickets are available through SmartTix.

Barack Obama was Time’s 2008 Person of the Year this past year (which may not have seemed that special, since we all won the honor in their 2006 Issue), but our very own Arthur Aulisi was NYTheatre.com’s man of the year.  Actually, Arthur was noted as one of  NYTheatre.com People of the Year but really, who’s quibbling.  Martin Denton, patron saint of Indie Theater writes:

A stalwart of the indie theatre scene for the past 15 years, Arthur Aulisi delivered first-class performances this year in Inverse Theater’s Me, Rabbit Hole Ensemble’s Big Thick Rod, and AndHow! Theatre’s Linus & Alora.  Read the full article.

Congratulations, Arthur. You’ve come along way since you wore this:

Arthur Aulisi as Sly/Rosalind

Here’s a clip of students in The Robert Louis Stevenson School’s Shakespeare class rehearsing and presenting staged reading of scenes from Macbeth as part of the school’s Arts Week.   The students spent classes reading the play, unlocking the meaning of Shakespeare’s language and focusing on how to share it with an audience.  They cast their production, designed it, rehearsed it and then performed it in front of a school wide audience.

Through a partnership with Roundtable Ensemble, The Essentials had a teaching artist work closely with Stevenson School’s Shakespeare and English teacher over eight sessions to create and teach a curriculum for the Macbeth reading.

Stevenson seeks to prepare bright underachieving adolescents academically and developmentally for college. These are students who have been unable to negotiate the academic, social and emotional pressures of the typical high school environment. Stevenson students may have struggled with adjustment difficulties, problems with peers, mild depression or anxiety.  It’s amazing place, and worth learning more about their mission and successes.

Denver Center is a busy place; neighbors with the Colorado Ballet, Opera Colorado, Colorado Symphony, DTC is filled with Broadway tours,  Denver Center Theatre Academy, National Theatre Conservatory and Denver Center Theatre Company, a Tony Award-winning professional resident theatre, which produces classic and contemporary plays, revivals and world premieres.  Given all that, it’s not unsurprising that an essential artist might be out there, but three?  Nisi Sturgis (who starred as Kerry Taylor and Tobi McClintoch  in Perfect Harmony at Theatre Row last summer) and Drew Cortese (teaching artist for Romeo & Juliet at SLJ), are both in DTC’s production of Richard III, while Jeanine Serralles (co-creator of Perfect Harmony), stars in Dusty and the Big Bad World.

Richard III at Denver Theatre Center ((L-R)Drew Cortese, Philip Pleasants, Melissa Ortiz. Photo by Terry Shapiro. Courtesy of Denver Center Theatre Company))

Theater is truly a “it takes a village” activity. You can’t make theater without at least two people. And every person added to the mix brings something unique - each presence on stage, each staff member contributing off stage, each viewer. Any one audience member’s cough, laugh, gasp (or cellphone) can change the tenor of a moment (just ask Patti LuPone).

At some theaters, the supernumeraries (the spear carriers, messengers, and handmaidens with one or no lines of dialogue) are called the Essentials -because you couldn’t have a scene without them.

And, well, The Essentials just sounds cool. Don’t think a name is important, go ahead and ask the folks in The Elgins if they aren’t glad they decided to rename.