Sixteenth Annual Ten-Minute Play Festival

Thank you for allowing us to put your imagination to work, visualizing these eight new ten-minute plays. Although we miss seeing you in person (and enjoying your infectious laughter), we’re all safer these days when keeping another kind of infection at a distance.

As you know, ticket prices do not cover the cost of theatre productions — even when the only stage is in your mind. So we encourage you to add a donation to help ensure Theatre Odyssey’s continued development of new works for the stage. And we encourage your support for our sponsors.

Click the titles below to learn about each play and its creative team.

BEST PLAY: White Angel

By Keith Whalen

A young man is determined to get past the lobby guardian of his girlfriend’s dorm to share some important news, but the protective “dorm mom” is a stickler for the rules.

Directed by Preston Boyd

Mrs. Harrington — Tami Vaughan
Jay — Thomas Aposporos II
Stage Manager — Donna DeFant
Technical Director — Ren Pearson

Tami Vaughan (Mrs. Harrington) graduated from MJC and USF with a BA in Fine Arts. She appeared in several Gilbert and Sullivan musicals with the Village Light Opera Group in NYC. She has been seen in many local productions, her favorite role being Guinevere in Camelot. Tami is delighted to be working once again on the Theatre Odyssey Ten-Minute Play Festival.

Thomas Aposporos II (Jay) read the role of the Kid in the 2021 Theatre Odyssey Student Ten-Minute Playwriting Festival Best Play, Flying Solo With IBD. He’s excited to be working with the company once more, this time reading the role of Jay in Keith Whalen’s play White Angel. He looks forward to another opportunity to be directed by Preston Boyd, sound edited by Ren Pearson, and to read opposite Tami Vaughan. Thomas is a writer and editor and holds a degree in English Literature from The University of South Florida.

Preston Boyd (Director) retired from teaching drama and music after 24 years and now fills his time as a freelance theatre director, actor, musician, and acting teacher. Before moving to Florida, he and his wife, Priscilla, worked for a number of regional theatres around the United States and Off-Broadway in New York. Their favorite productions are sons Dorian and Colin, and grandson Noah.

Keith Whalen (Playwright) is a writer, director, and actor. His short plays have won awards and been produced across the country. This is Keith’s third time selected to be a part of Theatre Odyssey’s Ten Minute Play Festival, having been awarded Runner-Up Winner in both 2018 and 2019 for his plays Cliche and Coming to Town. His play Reflection was a part of Theatre Odyssey’s One-Act Festival in 2018. His play Wonderland was voted Second Place in Carrollwood Players’ One Act Weekend, presented to a socially distanced and masked audience in Tampa in August 2020. Keith is a proud member of The Dramatists Guild.

RUNNER-UP: Dancing in the Elevator

By Dorothea Cahan

Aided by a flamboyant fortune-teller, a troubled young woman finds the beginning of happiness at the bottom of her teacup.

Directed by Jenny Aldrich Walker

Kate — Lindsey Nickel
Marushka — Peg Harvey
Stage Manager — Donna DeFant
Technical Director — Ren Pearson

Lindsey Nickel (Kate) is thrilled to be joining the cast at Theatre Odyssey! A 30-year stage veteran, some of her favorite past performances include Grace in Annie, Irene in Crazy For You, Rosie in Cabaret, and Betty in White Christmas. Lindsey wants to thank the incredible team at Theatre Odyssey for keeping theatre alive in these crazy times and looks forward to enjoying all the performances.

Peg Harvey (Marushk) was last seen portraying four characters in Spoon River Anthology and can be seen in June in Men Are Dogs. Originally from Staten Island, she has performed in over 50 comedies, musicals, operas, Shakespeare and Irish dramas and understudied at Asolo Rep. Peg’s voice can also be heard on WKDW in Too Much To Remember.

Jenny Aldrich Walker (Director) fell in love with theatre in high school and has been addicted to theatre ever since, as an actor, director, playwright and even as a stage manager. She’s been onstage in five countries and five states including innumerable plays and two fringe festivals with her favorite actor and husband Don Walker. She continues to tour her five original one-woman shows. She thought it was great fun to direct this delightful play, especially with these two talented actors! Jenny will next appear in county libraries as Marie Selby in her original show, “Celebrating the Centennial.”

Dorothea Cahan (Playwright) is an acting teacher, a director, a writer of historical fiction and of plays, both comedies and dramas. Her plays have been produced throughout the United States and in the United Kingdom and Mexico. A full-length play, “Hope is the Thing with Feathers”, was nominated for Outstanding Original Writing by The Desert Theatre League. Her play “A Dream of Two Moons” appears in the Smith and Kraus anthology, The Best Ten-Minute Plays of 2020. Three play excerpts are published in S&K’s The Best Monologues of 2020.

Crime and Punishment

By Arthur Keyser

A wealthy abductee encourages an inept kidnapper to demand a higher and more appropriate ransom.

Directed by Don Walker

Chester Martin — Shawn Genther
Samantha Rogers — Aden Russell
Stage Manager — Donna DeFant
Technical Director — Ren Pearson

Shawn Genther (Chester Martin) Originally from Easton, PA. Acting in Florida since 2005. I started in local theatre and have been in several shows; my favorites include The Rainmaker, Macbeth, The Pirates of Penzance, and True West. This is my second radio show with Theatre Odyssey. I’ve appeared on Shark Week and in local short films/commercials as well.

Aden Russell (Samantha Rogers) earned her SAG, AFTRA & Equity cards in the Metro-Detroit area many years ago. In October, 2019 she returned to acting as the lead female in the farce The Underpants at the Players. Aden recently performed in this year’s Ninth Annual Student Ten-Minute Playwriting Festival recorded as Radio Theater. Over the last year she has appeared in many different Zoom performances including the ghostly wife in Next Wife for the Players’ New Play Festival and in Acting Distant’s First Showcase on YouTube. She is relishing Radio Theater because, as listeners, it takes us on an imaginative journey through good old storytelling.

Don Walker (Director) has long been an Arthur Keyser fan, directing Keyser’s full-length Before Steepletop at The Players. He has directed and acted in previous Theatre Odyssey plays, including A Bottle of Vodka, A Little Help, A Big Wave and Sounds From the Merry-Go-Round, sharing the stage with favorite costar (and wife), Jenny. In last year’s Ten-Minute Play Festival Don played a vaudeville ghost in Final Curtain. When not acting or directing for Theatre Odyssey he’s usually a troublemaker behind the scenes.

Arthur Keyser (Playwright) After spending fifty years as a corporate lawyer in the Philadelphia area, Arthur moved to Sarasota with his wife Ellen. Five years later, he realized he would never learn how to hit a little white ball on grass, so, at age eighty, he turned to playwriting. His first submission to Theatre Odyssey’s Ten-minute Play Festival was Mid-Life Romance (2010). At later festivals, that play was followed by The Visitor (2012, 2nd prize), School For Wives (2014) and High School Reunion (2015 Best Play). His full-length play, Before Steepletop, was produced as the winner of The Players New Play Festival (2018). Arthur’s many short plays, published by Art Age Senior Theatre Center, are regularly performed throughout the country

On Robots and Raindrops

By Monica Cross

Billy, retired and newly single, has been prescribed an in-home companion robot, but the learning curve may be too steep.

Directed by Eileen Price

Billy — Alice Cotman
Robot — Jay Poindexter
Stage Manager — Donna DeFant
Technical Director — Ren Pearson

Alice Cotman (Billy) has been acting in Sarasota since 2002 when she played Grandma Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof. Since then she has performed in many plays including Over the Tavern and The Good Body at Players Theater as well as Agnes of God and Diary of Anne Frank at the Manatee Players. She really enjoys play reading and has acted in many Asolo Rep Theatre Guild Play Reader performances. Alice lives in Sarasota with her husband Ed and dog Bentley.

Jay Poindexter (Robot) When I was a child, I was fascinated by the touring live musicals that came to our town during the summer and movie musicals in general. That fascination took me to New York to pursue a career in the theater for twenty years. I performed on Broadway, Off Broadway and in all the other iterations that professional union actors have to work in. I moved to working backstage and was able to transfer that union affiliation to Sarasota, Florida, where I joined several backstage crews before joining Asolo Rep as its head House Manager for the past five years.

Eileen E. Price (Director) has been honored three times by inclusion in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers and is in her eighteenth year of teaching English at Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School in Bradenton—where she encourages student creativity with the study of radio drama. Her professional experience has included teaching in schools in Maryland and Georgia; teaching Classroom Management for teachers in Fayette County, Georgia, as well as a posting as college registrar while living in Heidelberg, Germany.

Monica Cross (Playwright) is currently living in Gainesville, Florida. She earned her MFA from Mary Baldwin University (formerly Mary Baldwin College) in 2013. She has taught theatre at New College of Florida, Ringling College of Art and Design, and University of South Florida, St. Petersburg. Monica’s first full-length play, Wonder of Our Stage, was winner of the New Play Festival at the Players Centre in 2018 and was produced as part of their Summer Sizzlers Series in 2019. She was a fellow at the Hermitage Artist Retreat in 2019 and is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

Science Friction; or, The Rapid Deconstruction of a Rational Mind

By Ken Preuss

A deep dive into her boyfriend’s sci-fi favorites sends Daisy into cosmic paranoia.

Directed by Kathryn Parks

Daisy — Ariel Blue
Ray — Casey Murphy
Stage Manager — Donna DeFant
Technical Director — Ren Pearson

Ariel Blue (Daisy) is an actor, singer and writer, based in Florida. She has been performing for the last 14 years in mainstage productions with WBTT, Florida Studio Theatre Improv, The Golden Apple Dinner Theatre, and performed behind legends like Christopher Williams and Sharon Scott; and has even performed with the circus in Europe. In her free time, Ariel reads and spends time with her niece and nephew, and enjoys discovering more creative outlets. In her words: “I’m just a vessel, serving up a smile at a time, using my unique brand of #BlackGirlMagic.”

Casey Murphy (Ray) is thrilled to be working with Theatre Odyssey for the third time. He has worked both regionally and in New York, where he lived for 15 years. Select theatres at which he has worked include: Urbanite Theatre, Florida Studio Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, Bigfork Summer Playhouse, and the Michigan Shakespeare Festival. Casey is a proud graduate of the University of Michigan.

Kathryn Parks (Director) is an award-winning filmmaker, director, actor, and singer who has been honored with the Ladies in Film and Entertainment Award by the Sunshine City Film Festival — honoring the top women in film and entertainment in the Tampa Bay area. Her two short films, 50 WORDS and HER PLACE (Director), have received the honor of BEST FLORIDA FILM — both of which she wrote, produced, and starred in. Also an accomplished singer and stage actress, Kathryn has worked at Florida Studio Theatre, Asolo Rep, St. Petersburg Opera, WBTT, Players Centre, Manatee Performing Arts Center, Urbanite, Venice Theatre, and FST Improv. KathrynParks.com

Ken Preuss is a former children’s magician, aspiring actor, deejay, and improvisational comedian who became a teacher to guarantee himself an audience 5 days a week. His published one-acts for teens include Shuffling, Alienated, and Campsite Chaos. His short plays, The Elusive Pursuit of Maximum Bliss Taking Sum Lumps, A Dave with Destiny, and more are produced world-wide. Although his plays have reached Australia, Canada, China, England, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Lithuania, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, and 48 of the 50 States, Ken can be found rooted near Orlando with his wife, sons, and assorted pets.

Sex, Lies and Styrofoam

By Arianna Rose

Karen has been charged with cleaning her husband’s clothes prior to his art opening that evening. While folding clothes at the Laundromat, she is joined by Lucy, a middle aged woman with a saucy secret.

Directed by Tom Aposporos

Karen — Tahlia Chinault
Lucy — Kathi Faulkner
Stage Manager — Donna DeFant
Technical Director — Ren Pearson

Tahlia Chinault (Karen) is thrilled as ever to be back behind the microphone with Theatre Odyssey for her second round of Radio Plays! She’d like to express her most sincere gratitude to Tom Aposporos for first introducing her to the Theatre Odyssey family, and is quite pleased to have the opportunity to benefit from his direction. She’s excited to experience the other wonderful performances this season has to offer, and immensely appreciates her real-life husband for having absolutely nothing in common with her spouse in this fun little story.

Kathi Faulkner (Lucy) Sex, Lies and Styrofoam is Kathi’s debut with Theatre Odyssey’s Ten-Minute Play Festival. You may have seen Kathi as Ann Putnam in The Crucible at Player’s Theatre, Helen in Born Yesterday at Venice Theatre, Chick in Crimes of the Heart at Lemon Bay Playhouse or in her one-woman play as Lisa Kron in 2.5 Minute Ride at Manatee Performing Arts Center. Kathi would like to give special thanks to Tom Aposporos who she believes is a “first class actor himself and will be an outstanding director to expand my wings as a radio performer.” Kathi chose to perform as Lucy in Sex, Lies and Styrofoam for Arianna Rose’s clever way of airing out an unfaithful husband’s dirty laundry.

Tom Aposporos (Director), a founder of Theatre Odyssey, encouraged radio theater in response to the COVID pandemic. He is pleased to have directed SEX, LIES AND STYROFOAM by Arianna Rose. Arianna is a prior Best Play winner in Theatre Odyssey’s 2019 Ten-Minute Play Festival. He applauds his cast for their extraordinary work.

Arianna Rose (Playwright) is an award-winning playwright and musical theatre writer, produced in 24 states and 7 countries. Miami-Dade County Division of Cultural Affairs 2019-2021 Playwright Development Program with Kia Corthron. 2019 Finalist, the Kleban Award for Musical Theatre. 2012 MAC Award winner for Song of the Year. 2021 Florida Festival of New Musicals. Full-Lengths: TOUCH THE MOON; THE LOST GIRL; THE EQUIVALENT OF SENSATION. Numerous short-form plays and musicals. NYC’s York Theatre NEO (New Emerging Outstanding Musical Writer). NYU Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program, BMI-Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Writing Workshop, Regional Ambassador – Dramatists Guild, New Play Exchange. www.ariannarose.net

Togetherness

By Jan Wallace

Henry is at peace in his coffin till his ex-wife Flo joins him in the burial plot.

Directed by Karen Romant

Henry — Craig Engle
Flo — Meg Newsome
Stage Manager — Donna DeFant
Technical Director — Ren Pearson

Craig Engle (Henry) is excited to return for another Theatre Odyssey production. Craig has been actively involved in theater for over 30 years. Other favorite roles include Norm Petty (Buddy Holly), Greenway (Elf), Maurice (Beauty and the Beast), Ziegfeld (Funny Girl), Herman (Sweet Charity), and Throttle (Drood). Craig is also an active member in Acting Distant.

Meg Newsome (Flo) A retired teacher and media specialist, Meg has been active with local theatres in our area since the ‘70s. Most recent roles have been Mother Superior in Sister Act, Carlotta in Follies, and Aunt Abby in Arsenic and Old Lace at The Players; as well as Mrs. Medlock in Secret Garden, Miss Maudie in To Kill a Mockingbird, and several musicals with Dramature at the Manatee Performing Arts Center.

Karen Romant (Director) Late in the last century, Karen traveled from Los Angeles to Tallahassee, where she earned an M.A. in Theatre from FSU in 1997. Both in California and Florida, she has worked professionally as an actor, director, and educator, on stage, in film and video projects. With the help of like-minded friends, she founded Parrish Playworks in 2014 to write and perform Red Rooster Tales, a play about early Manatee County. They have since performed dozens of shows in places as diverse as county fairs, libraries, clubhouses, art festivals, farmers’ markets, and on board the trains of Florida Railroad Museum.

Jan Wallace (Playwright) is an actress, playwright and director and is thrilled to have her play included in this year’s festival. She has directed and acted in former Theater Odyssey productions. As an actress she has worked off-Broadway and New York Regional theatres. Her favorite roles include her one-woman show, Shirley Valentine, Noises Off (Dotty Otley/Mrs. Clacket), The Prime of Miss Jean Broadie (Jean Broadie), and The Shadow Box (Maggie). Since moving to Sarasota she has performed at the Asolo Rep, the Banyan Theatre, the Manatee Performing Arts Center and the Players Theater. She trained in London and New York.

Undue Influence

By Laurie Stoner

Outraged to discover that her share of her parents’ estate went to her brother’s church, Amy Lynn launches a campaign to humiliate her brother.

Directed by Steve Black

Amy Lynn Butler — Susie Lowe
Rev. Bill Butler — Alan Brasington
Martha Butler — Lynne Doyle
Stage Manager — Donna DeFant
Technical Director — Ren Pearson

Susie Lowe (Amy Lynn Butler) was last seen on the stage with Player’s center in Sister Act as Sister Mary Irene, hobo and fantasy dancer. Other favorite roles are Agnes Gooch in Mame, Doris in Same Time Next Year, Celia in Calendar Girls, Leona in Exit Laughing, various roles in Love, Loss, and What I Wore, Fleur in And Mrs Reardon Drinks a Little, Amanda For Whom the Southern Bells Toll, Lorraine in The Man Who Came to Dinner, and Flora in 27 Wagons Full of Cotton. I am thrilled to be working with Steve Black and the talented actors involved in Theatre Odyssey!

Alan Brasington (Rev. Bill Butler) State University, New Paltz, Rotary Fellowship-England, Scholarship/Graduate Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, APA Repertory – Lyceum Theatre, Broadway: original Jesus Christ Superstar, 10 other Broadway shows, plays Off-Broadway, and U.S. Professional Theatres: Guthrie Theatre, Missouri Rep, Syracuse, Penn State, Actors Theatre of Louisville. Taught acting, Shakespeare, Restoration Comedy at Syracuse University. Member of New York Council of the Arts. TV soaps: One Day at a Time, Good Times. Writes and records for Steinbeck Now.

Lynne Doyle (Martha Butler) is pleased to once again participate in Theatre Odyssey’s festival. She was last seen in Spoon River Anthology produced by The Players at Jiggs Landing. Other recent shows include Rabbit Hole and 12 Angry Jurors (The Players), as well as Good People at the Venice Theatre. She has been in many local productions since moving to Venice from Columbus, Ohio, 12 years ago.

Steve Black (Director) spent fifteen years working and living in NYC where he performed Off-Broadway, in clubs, played recurring roles on two popular Daytime Soap Operas and acted in multiple theatrical tours. He returned to his hometown of Columbus, Ohio and began a sixteen year teaching career while continuing to work in Professional Theatre. Steve has directed productions of various Musical, Dramatic and Comedic works in both modern and classical text. A graduate of Otterbein College, he is now Faculty Emeritus as the Director of Theatre for the Fort Hayes Education Center. Last year Steve relocated to Venice, Florida and has become the Artistic Director of the Sarasota Area Playwrights Society. Having adjudicated this year’s Theatre Odyssey Teen play competition, Steve is honored to have been chosen to direct Undue Influence for the Company’s Ten-Minute play festival.

Laurie Stoner (Playwright) has written numerous feature screenplays and short scripts. She is the moderator of Sarasota Screenwriters which hosts table readings for screenwriters, and has written, directed and produced a number of award-winning shorts as a member of the community film group, Southwest Florida Films. With film production shut down during the pandemic, fate nudged her to take a Ten Minute Playwriting Class and write Undue Influence. She credits the warm welcome and workshops hosted by Sarasota Area Playwrights Society for her “beginner’s luck” success with this play.

Donna DeFant (Stage Manager) is a Theatre Odyssey Board Member, has been involved with the Student Playwriting Festival since the very first one and is always excited to see the students’ work come to life. Donna represents the Theatre Odyssey Student Playwriting Festival monthly with the Sarasota County Arts Education Partnership, a standing committee of the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County.

Ren Pearson (Technical Director) is a Ringling graduate with a BFA in directing and editing for Film. Past technical work includes working with the premier Theatre Odyssey Ten Minute Radio Play Festival, and sound designer for various local short film/theatre projects.

SEASON PRESENTER