The Essentials

Meredith immerses herself in selling essential oils to cope with her grief, but her obsession puts her at odds with a Sasquatch-obsessed husband, a melancholy father, and an overbearing mother, forcing her to balance self-preservation with fragile family ties.

Meredith immerses herself in selling essential oils to cope with her grief, but her obsession puts her at odds with a Sasquatch-obsessed husband, a melancholy father, and an overbearing mother, forcing her to balance self-preservation with fragile family ties.

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The Essentials

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  • Emilio Williams: The Essentials

    Kelsey Austin has a very powerful body of work, and as soon as the first major world-premiere takes places the rest of her work is going to fall on the American stages in a domino effect. I find this one to be her most accessible of her plays. While the psychology of the piece is as deep, and ultimately as dark, as her more violent pieces, this one will find its perfect home at a major regional theater.

    Kelsey Austin has a very powerful body of work, and as soon as the first major world-premiere takes places the rest of her work is going to fall on the American stages in a domino effect. I find this one to be her most accessible of her plays. While the psychology of the piece is as deep, and ultimately as dark, as her more violent pieces, this one will find its perfect home at a major regional theater.

  • Julia Everitt: The Essentials

    Great pacing. The lines are very staccato and the whole thing is just a little surreal, in the best possible way. It remind me a bit of an Albee play (I'm thinking of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" in particular).

    Great pacing. The lines are very staccato and the whole thing is just a little surreal, in the best possible way. It remind me a bit of an Albee play (I'm thinking of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" in particular).

Meredith Former school teacher turned entrepreneur, she leans heavy on the cheese. And knows it. 42
Peter Meredith’s hurting husband, he gets existential as he searches for Bigfoot. 41
Joyce Meredith’s mother, a retired school teacher, she’s calculating and loves a seasonal hand towel. 68
Milton Meredith’s droll father, he prefers sitting and reading to real life. 69

Development History

  • Type Reading, Organization Steve Nordmark, Links Hall, Chicago, Year 2023
  • Type Reading, Organization Telling Humans Festival, Chicago Dramatists, Chicago, Year 2023