Theatre Odyssey to Present 18TH ANNUAL 10-MINUTE PLAY FESTIVAL This Week

Eight playwrights from Florida, including a past winner, have new work featured in Theatre Odyssey's 18th Annual Ten-Minute Play Festival.

More than 100 plays, a record, were submitted for the competition, and president Michael Bille said the reading committee found the quality of the entries "to be some of the best we have seen."

The short plays, presented May 11-14 in the Cook Theatre at the FSU Center for the Performing Arts, are staged by Katherine Michelle Tanner, Travis Ray, Ken Basque and Lee Gundersheimer working with a large number of Sarasota area actors.

Gundersheimer also serves as the production manager and dramaturg, helping the writers with the development of their plays.

Keith Whalen, a Sarasota writer who won the 16th festival with his play "White Angel," returns with "Back to One," about a self-absorbed actress who meets a poetry teacher in a situation that is being directed by a filmmaker. John J. Kelly of Deland returns to the festival after two previous entries with "Steam Fog," about a daughter who asks her father to take them to a lake where they spent time with her recently deceased mother.

Other plays include "15 Seconds" by South Florida writer Bruce Karp, about a mother coming to terms with the death of her son in a mass shooting at a gay bar and not knowing he was gay. Elan David Garonzik of Oakland Park, is the author of "Eternity" about a woman who asks St. Peter to give her a different look before entering eternity.

"In Remembrance' by Michelle Pascua of Celebration, is about a man preparing to give a lecture on memory and healing while revealing his forgetfulness, his wife's illness and his son's grief. Adam wants to break up with Eve in the Garden of Eden in "Paradise Breakup" by Risa Lewak of Nokomis. "Pity Mourner" by Paul Donnelly of Tallahassee is about a wake that takes a surprising turn and Bethan Dickens Assaf, of Orlando, has contributed "A Squad of Their Own," about a married mom in her 30s competing for an opening in a superhero league.

Gary Garrison, former executive director of the Dramatists Guild of America, will speak about playwrighting and serve as an adjudicator during the 18th Theatre Odyssey Ten-Minute Play Festival.

The program also includes Elaina Bayard's "A Matter of Time," the 2023 Student Ten-Minute Play Festival winner. Bayard is a student at Saint Stephen's Episcopal School.

The winning play will receive $500, and there is a $300 prize for runner-up. This year's adjudicators include actor, teacher and director Gabe Ortiz, actor, director and SaraSolo co-founder Blake Walton, actress Carolyn Michel and Gary Garrison, former executive director of the Dramatist Guild of America. Garrison will take part in a Q&A about playwriting following the May 13 performance.

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. May 11-13 and 2 p.m. May 14 in the Cook Theatre, FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets are $29, and $15 for students. Tickets are available here.

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