Judges Named For Student Ten-Minute Playwriting Festival

Theatre Odyssey's Eighth Annual Student Ten-Minute Playwriting Festival will feature eight short but highly imaginative plays. Performances will be January 25 at 7:30 p.m. and January 26 at 2 p.m. at the Jane B. Cook Theatre in the Asolo/FSU Center for the Performing Arts. The award presentation follows the January 26 performance.

Student playwrights will win cash scholarship awards for Best Play ($1,000) and Runner-up ($500) and the six other finalists will receive $100 each. The cash scholarship funds have been made available through the generosity of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County.

The festival adjudicators:

Dr. Bill Jones is the principal of Manatee School for the Arts in Palmetto and also has a background in music and theater and has appeared many times on local stages. His Ph.D. from the University of Florida is in the Foundations of Education.

Lacey Knispel is a graduate of the University of South Florida, teaches acting and theatrical improvisation at Sarasota High School and is director of the theater department. She also teaches dance and music at Players Studio and directs their summer mini-camps.

Kyle Ann Lacertosa is the director of performing arts at Cardinal Mooney High School. Kyle also substantial directing credits, among them GODSPELL, LEGALLY BLONDE, and SEUSSICAL. She has also acted in HAIRSPRAY, INTO THE WOODS, SPELLING BEE, and 42ND STREET.

Competing for the $1,000 Best Play award:

Kassandra Haakman, Saint Stephen's Episcopal School
Emily Hikade, Riverview High School
Spencer Opal-Levine, Pine View
Elaina Mizak, Pine View
Kea Kamiya, State College of Florida Collegiate School
Mia Mariano, Saint Stephen's Episcopal School
Sarah MacPhail, Saint Stephen's Episcopal School
Maxine Mandt, Saint Stephen's Episcopal School

Reserved seating is currently selling here.

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