Theatre Odyssey’s first Ten-Minute Play Festival in 2006 was a single night, sold-out event. It cemented an idea that developed from conversations among local actors and writers that new, original work could be performed in different venues and everyone part of any production would receive some monetary compensation for their time and talent.
In 2013, the company created a Student Ten-Minute Playwriting Festival to encourage emerging playwrights from local middle and high schools. That initial festival was in January of that year and became Theatre Odyssey’s second annual event.
The 2019 Ten-Minute Play Festival will welcome plays from all over Florida. The Student Ten-Minute Playwriting Festival will welcome submissions from a multi-county area including Manatee and Sarasota Counties.
This fall, Theatre Odyssey is producing its second One-Act Play Festival and again invited writers from throughout the United States to submit their work for production locally. Limited to the first 100 plays submitted, plays were received from 24 states and the District of Columbia in just seventeen days. Private readers selected twelve plays for consideration by Theatre Odyssey’s Board of Directors, Advisory Council, and Directors Emeritus. The four finalist plays will be presented at the Bradenton Kiwanis Theater at Manatee Performing Arts Center.
Over 170 original new plays have been produced over the years. Many playwrights whose work was first presented by Theatre Odyssey have been published elsewhere, and their work has been produced nationally and internationally.
Theatre Odyssey has published three anthologies. Volume One is the work produced in the years 2006-2009; Volume Two, 2010-2013; and Volume Three, 2014-2017. They are available for purchase at this festival or from national booksellers.
Theatre Odyssey is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit company.
Supported by Cultivar Designs