Theatre Odyssey Returns with Annual Twelfth Annual Ten-Minute Play Festival

Theatre Odyssey returns with its annual Ten-Minute Play Festival and competition.

For their twelfth year, Theatre Odyssey is pleased to present eight plays written by new, familiar and pseudonymous playwrights.

Selected by an esteemed panel of readers from scores of scripts, eight of the best plays from the Gulf Coast area will be performed from May 4 through May 7, at the Jane B. Cook Theatre, FSU/Asolo Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 North Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, FL 34237.

Executive Producer for the Festival is WUSF Public Media.

This year, in addition to Best Play and Runner-up, which are selected by a panel of theatre professionals, we plan to revive the Audience Favorite Award. Audience members will then be able to vote on their choice for favorite play.

Here are the plays:

ALWAYS, a drama by Stephen Cooper. Cooper was the Winner of the 2012 Festival.
We meet Vivian and Edward, as they discuss their future, where life and death are real considerations.
Director: Louise Stinespring
Actors: Tom Aposporos, Andrea Dovner

THE BEST TEN MINUTES EVER, a comedy by Dylan Jones. Jones was Runner-up in the 2015 Festival.
An eccentric director and a young couple cast together in a play for a Ten-Minute Play Festival find Life imitating Art... or is it the other way around?
Director: Sara Logan
Actors: Philip Troyer, Johana Davila, Sandra Musicante

A BIG WAVE, a drama by Connie Schindewolf. Schindewolf was the Winner of 2010 and 2014 Festivals as well as Runner-up in 2013.
A woman waits on a beach where her grandson drowned. A man doing turtle work stops, and they both nervously watch something that is washing in with the tide.
Director: Bob Trisolini
Actors: Don Walker, Jenny Aldrich Walker

THE CALL, drama by Frank Motz
The Speaker of the House is presented with an offer from the newly elected President of the other party that is startlingly frightening--he wants her to agree to stop the ugly partisanship and work together for the sake of the country.
Director: Bob Trisolini
Actors: Lilian Moore, Tony Boothby, Courtney Hawk

I'M DEAD WHEN I SAY I'M DEAD, a comedy by Ron Pantello
A young Jewish man returns from his mother's funeral carrying her "ashes". He soon learns that she's not done with him quite yet.
Director: Louise Stinespring
Actors: MitcheAl Pearl, Kathryn Chesley

KENNEDY'S ACOLYTES, a drama by Jack Gilhooley
Three teen-aged girls in a small western Ireland town lament the death of John Fitzgerald Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963.
Director: Sara Logan
Actors: Nicole Cunningham, Sally Fint, Johana Davila

SECRET'S OUT, a comedy by Greg Burdick
Two strangers waiting outside a lingerie shop have a chance encounter that forever changes their views on women, and the men they are around them.
Director: Daniel Greene
Actors: Paul Mullen, MitcheAl Pearl, Nicole Cunningham, Olivia Yagy

WHEELCHAIR CHICKEN, a tragicomedy by J. Clark
For this wheelchair athlete, winning isn't about the highest score - smashing your way to victory is how you know you're still alive.
Director: Daniel Greene
Actors: Neil Levine, David Meyersberg, Jenny Aldrich Walker

An additional treat will be the presentation of a ninth play (although not in competition).

AMAZING GRACE by Luke Valadie. Valadie, a student at Saint Stephen's Episcopal School was the winner of the 2017 Student Ten-minute Play Festival.
The true story of the English slave trader whose life-changing experience led him to write the hymn "Amazing Grace."
Director: Preston Boyd
Actors: To be announced

Tickets can be purchased through Theatre Odyssey's website HERE:

Admission is $25. Students with ID may purchase tickets at the door for $5 if seating is available.

Performances May 4-6 are at 7:30p.m. Sunday matinee May 7 at 2:00 p.m.

About Theatre Odyssey

The Mission of Theatre Odyssey is to engage our audience in short, innovative theater works while providing a nurturing environment that encourages, challenges, and inspires playwrights and other theater artists.

Theatre Odyssey Inc. is a nonprofit organization. Contributions are deductible to the extent permitted by law under IRS Code 501(c)(3).

Photo credit: Cliff Roles

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