Twenty-First Annual
Ten-Minute Play Festival

Scott Ehrenpreis (Mason) is no stranger to Theater Odyssey. He has been in countless productions and is glad to grace the stage once again. Scott had his hit one man show, Clowns Like Me, off Broadway in New York last summer of 2024 to rave reviews and great success coupled with an emotional impact.

Joseph Klens (Morgan)—Have you ever wondered why you’re here? In the struggle to answer this question Jo Klens threw himself into several arts, finding acting and writing to be both refuge and curse. He is excited to be back with Theatre Odyssey where his acting journey began! There he was backstage, basically naked—covered in vines— preparing for an untrained leap into the limelight. He is grateful for every opportunity he receives. My, how far we’ve come!

Lucinda Schlotterback (director) is excited to once again be a part of a Theatre Odyssey festival having participated as a stagehand, actor and director. She has had the great fortune to play some amazing characters such as Chelsea (On Golden Pond), Ouiser (Steel Magnolias), Bev/Kathy (Clybourne Park), Alex Mialdo (Miracle on 34th Street Radio Show) and Annie (Calendar Girls). Thank you to Rishi for giving us such poignant words and for the cast and crew who bring them so deliciously to life.

Rishi Chowdhary (playwright) was born in Mombasa, Kenya to Punjabi, Indian parents and moved with his family to Miami, Florida in 1984. He attended Florida International University, where he wrote cultural sketches and articles for the campus paper. After graduating, he met a South Asian theatre company that inspired him to write his first short play, Color Me Desi, featured in Desipina’s Seven.11 production. His recently produced works include Eight One Eight Two, Power 1996, Safari and Breaking Bread. Rishi is excited to be included in Theatre Odyssey’s Annual Ten-Minute Festival!

Mark Shoemaker (Prof. Clark) is pleased to appear with Theatre Odyssey for the second time, previously in a student playwright’s Father’s Final Gift a couple of years ago. In Sarasota, Mark has most recently appeared in a staged reading of The God Committee at Florida Studio Theatre and previously in productions at The Players of Sarasota such as Mammoth Bones, Mame, Titanic, and My Fair Lady. Elsewhere, Mark has been seen as Elwood P. Dowd in Harvey, Eddie Ross in Conversations with My Father, Captain Keller in The Miracle Worker, Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird, and Felix Unger in The Odd Couple.

Carrie Greenberg (Audrey) is thrilled to return to Theatre Odyssey after last year’s Student Ten-Minute Playwriting Festival! Sarasota credits include two seasons at Carlisle Inn Sarasota (Half-Stitched, The Best of Me, Güt Life Christmas), stage managing for The Hat Theatre Collective, and the Sarasota Players’ Candide. Outside the Sunshine State, Carrie’s favorite roles include Sister Mary Downy (Disaster!), Gertrude (Seussical), Ernestina (Hello, Dolly!), Big Jule (Guys and Dolls), and Miss Fleming (Heathers).

Cinda Goeken (director) was born/raised in Central Illinois and “caught the theatre bug” at age nine. Currently, she works as an actress, singer, teacher, coach and producer in the Tampa Metro area. She is active with the St. Pete Shakespeare Festival, the improv team called Dancin’ Darlynn and is a member of the St. Pete American Stage “Beyond The Stage” program. When not working, she enjoys reading, spending time with her long-haired cat and watching old movies on TV.

Brian S. Brijbag, Esq. (playwright) is an award-winning playwright whose works have been produced and celebrated across the country, including in New York City’s Queens Short Play Festival and Sundog Theatre Festival. His plays blend humor, philosophy, and emotional precision in what he calls “Elegant Anarchy.” A finalist and multiple award recipient at major festivals, Brian’s writing explores the intersections of absurdity and grace. He merges advocacy and artistry to illuminate stories where justice, humor, and humanity converge.

Julee Breehne (Alex) has appeared in numerous Theatre Odyssey productions and loves working with old friends and new. She thanks her family for their support, and Donna for her patience!

Anthony van Eyck (Mark) is once again pleased and grateful to be doing something that he loves — live theater.  Thanks.

Glenn Schudel (director) — Glenn’s twenty-plus years in theatre include directing and managing credits with Love Creek Productions/Samuel French Short Play Festival and three national tours with the American Shakespeare Center. Local credits include Venice Theatre, the Players Center, the SaraSolo Festival, the Asolo, and multiple Theatre Odyssey festivals. He teaches Creative Writing at Ringling College and works as a freelance script and text coach. He is thrilled to be directing for Theatre Odyssey for the second time.

Dolores Salvo (playwright) is a resident of Celebration, Florida, and is a member of the Celebration Lifelong Playwriting Workshop. Breaking News! is her third produced play. Birds of a Feather was recently produced at the Imagine Performing Arts Center in Oviedo, Florida, through Playwrights Round Table. Level 22, Stage 7, was performed at the Lowndes Shakespeare Center in Orlando. Dolores taught literature courses through Stetson University’s Lifelong Learning program and currently teaches at Celebration Lifelong. But her passion is theater. She is always one of the most ardent audience members at local, regional, and Broadway productions and is especially thrilled to be in the audience of her play at Theatre Odyssey!

Yinoelle Colon (Natalie) is a theatre, television, and film actor and coach. She has participated as an actress in plays including Twelfth Night (Viola), Bash (Sue), Hysteria (Jessica), Wit (Susie), A Chorus Line (Diana Morales) and Water by the Spoonful (Yazmin) at the LATC Festival in Los Angeles, California. Her last credit as a director is the musical Hair for the Manship Theater in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Joshua Brin (James) is excited to return to the stage with Theatre Odyssey. He has been involved in theater in Sarasota for the past fifteen years and is grateful to continue working in the local performing arts community. When not onstage, Joshua works as a physical therapist assistant in home health. He is thankful for the opportunity to balance a career in healthcare with his long-standing passion for theater and storytelling.

Lynda StJames (director) is a graduate of Emerson College, Boston, and holds a BS/MS in Theatre Education. She has taught drama and film at several Massachusetts secondary schools. She also staged numerous plays and musicals, several of which garnered awards at the Boston Globe High School Drama Festival and the Emerson College YouthStage Festival. As an actor, Ms StJames has performed in classic and modern theatre productions from Los Angeles to Boston. Her most recent work includes Rebecca Nurse (The Crucible), Lady MacBeth (Macbeth), both for the Franklin Black Box Theatre; and she is about to perform as Mrs. Trenkel in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow for The Players. Additionally, Ms StJames has appeared in the TV shows The Waltons, Dallas, Eight is Enough. And she toured the U.S. and Canada as a principal singer with the Andy Williams GoodTime Singers. After twenty years as owner and director of The Cameo Agency, a well-known Boston model and talent agency, Ms StJames recently retired. Her love of theatre and sunshine lured Ms StJames to Sarasota, “My happy place.”

Gabriel V. Ortiz (playwright) is an actor, playwright, and educator whose work bridges theatre, film, and education. A proud member of Actors’ Equity Association, his stage performances span classical, contemporary, and original works across regional and local theatres. He has appeared in the feature films Surviving Lunch and Bridge to the Other Side and co-hosts the Emmy Award–winning PBS/WEDU series Arts Plus. As a writer, his plays and solo works—My Prodigal Son, Between Two Truths, Take on Race, and Don’t Tell How to Be a Girl—explore identity, belonging, and redemption. He holds a B.A. in Theatre from Cal State Northridge and an M.F.A. in Acting from Penn State University.

Joseph Klens (Wyatt)—Have you ever wondered why you’re here? In the struggle to answer this question Jo Klens threw himself into several arts, finding acting and writing to be both refuge and curse. He is excited to be back with Theatre Odyssey where his acting journey began! There he was backstage, basically naked—covered in vines— preparing for an untrained leap into the limelight. He is grateful for every opportunity he receives. My, how far we’ve come!

Erica Bommarito (Erica) is excited to be a part of Theatre Odyssey after a decade-long acting break. Erica grew up in Metro Detroit where she was a member of the Detroit Actors Theatre Company and played roles such as Jacqueline in La Cage Aux Folles, Bombur in The Hobbit, Rizzo in Grease, and Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast. When she’s not acting on stage she’s touring with Turn It Up Dance Challenge as an Emcee or creating content as a beauty influencer.

Carrie Greenberg (Tina) is thrilled to return to Theatre Odyssey after last year’s Student Ten-Minute Playwriting Festival! Sarasota credits include two seasons at Carlisle Inn Sarasota (Half-Stitched, The Best of Me, Güt Life Christmas), stage managing for The Hat Theatre Collective, and the Sarasota Players’ Candide. Outside the Sunshine State, Carrie’s favorite roles include Sister Mary Downy (Disaster!), Gertrude (Seussical), Ernestina (Hello, Dolly!), Big Jule (Guys and Dolls), and Miss Fleming (Heathers).

Lynne Doyle (Aubrey) is pleased to be returning to Theatre Odyssey after a four-year hiatus during which time you may have caught her in other local productions, including Venice Theatre’s Agnes of God (Mother Miriam Ruth), The Spitfire Grill (Hannah), God’s Country (Mueller), To Kill a Mockingbird (Miss Stepanie); Manatee Players’ Death of a Salesman (Linda Loman), Driving Miss Daisy (Daisy); and The Sarasota Players’ Rabbit Hole (Nat). Always grateful to my line “helpers”. Love to Mike.

Evan Bradshaw (Jasper) is a Midwest-raised and Florida based actor. He’s thrilled to be making his Theatre Odyssey debut! When Evan isn’t reciting monologues or marking up his script alongside his Florida Studio Theatre peers, he’s perfecting his croissant recipe, working out, or figuring out how to write the perfect actor’s bio.

Dylan Jones (director) was the author of the 2017 Theatre Odyssey Ten-Minute Play Festival winner, The Best Ten Minutes Ever, the author of the 2015 Festival runner-up, The Coward, the director of the 2020 Festival winner, Single Rider, and acted in both that and the 2009 Festival winner, Stormy, making him the only individual to achieve all four distinctions. He is the owner of Little Grey Hat Productions, producing award-winning shows including The Last 5 Years, Copenhagen, and The Remnant, and offering classes in writing ten-minute and one-act plays, as well as on theater history and script analysis. Several of his students have had plays in this and other festivals over the years, and he is proud to be returning to the role of director once again.

Ken Preuss (playwright) is a Florida-based writer and performer who became a teacher to guarantee an audience five days a week. Although his published one-acts for teens and his collection of short plays for adults have been produced in festivals and schools in Australia, Canada, China, England, Germany, Guatemala, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Nicaragua, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, Thailand, and all 50 States, Ken can be found rooted near Orlando with his wife, two sons, and assorted pets.

Eric Henry (Donnie) has been a community-theater set designer, master carpenter and on-stage performer for more than two decades. On-stage roles have ranged from Shakespeare to Stoppard; recent credits include Arsenic and Old Lace, The Diary of Anne Frank, Dial M for Murder and The Miracle Worker. This is his sixth appearance in Theatre Odyssey’s ten-minute competitions.

Dan Landon (Phillip) — As an actor Dan appeared on Broadway in Mourning Pictures; Off-Broadway as the lead in Rimers of Eldrich; at the American Shakespeare in Major Barbara with Jane Alexander; and at the CSC Rep in Julius Caesar. One favorite role was as Walter Mitty in A Thurber Carnival in Community Theatre. As a playwright he has been produced Off-Broadway: Punchy with Dan Lauria, four times at Manhattan Rep., at the George Street Playhouse, and recently at the Sarasota Players with Happy Dale, which won best play. and was nominated for six Broadway World Sarasota awards.

Ken Basque (director), originally from Fitchburg, MA, has directed for Theatre Odyssey a few times and has been seen on stage locally with Venice Theatre, Sarasota Players and Manatee Players—most recently with Venice Theatre in Learned Ladies.

Paul Donnelly (playwright) — My life as a “trailing spouse” has included stops in Washington, DC, Atlanta, Honolulu, and Tallahassee. I have been writing plays for over 40 years. My work has won the Source Theatre Company National 10-Minute Play Contest, the Larry Neal Writers Award for Drama, the Virginia Playwriting Prize, and twice been nominated for a Helen Hayes Award. My ten-minute plays have been published in The Best Ten-Minute Plays of 2019 & 2023. I am a member of the Dramatists Guild, New Play Exchange, Playwrights Center, and Working Title Playwrights.

Jared Inman (George) is thrilled to be part of Theatre Odyssey’s Play Fest and to explore new stories in this short play format. He has appeared in several productions at Venice Theatre, most recently as Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music. Jared previously performed as a professional dancer in Las Vegas and continues to enjoy telling stories onstage in a variety of styles. He’s grateful to share this performance with the local theatre community.

Cassandra Santiso (Collette) is excited and grateful to be back on the stage. Previous roles include Sally (Cabaret), Elle Woods (Legally Blonde) at Manatee Performing Arts Center and Rusty (Footloose), Louise (Gypsy) at the Sarasota Players. When not on stage, she is an ENT Physician Assistant and mom to Leonardo and Lilliana. Thank you to my husband Daniel for your unwavering support. 

Chip Fisher (Intruder) is excited to be a part of his first Theatre Odyssey production. Some past favorite roles include: El Gallo in The Fantasticks, Gomez in Addams Family, Adolpho in Drowsy Chaperone, and Bela Zangler in Crazy for You. His favorite role is husband/father to Shelly and his four children. Chip is a physical therapist here in Sarasota.

Bob Trisolini (director) of Longboat Key Fl. and Kenmure Country Club, Flat Rock North Carolina is excited to be directing again for Theatre Odyssey where he has been Director Emeritus. At the Highland Playhouse in NC he appeared as Arvide Abernathy in Guys & Dolls, Erroneous in Forum, Mr. Welch in Damn Yankees and Pa Carnes in Oklahoma. At the Flat Rock Playhouse he appeared as Gland Hand in West Side Story and Gus the Old Theater Cat in CATS. Among his favorite roles are Willy Clark in The Sunshine Boys, Roger DeBries in The Producers Pappy Yokum in Li’l Abner, Melvin P Thorpe in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and Henry Saunders in Lend Me A Tenor. He has worked as a Producer, Show Director and Casting Director for Walt Disney Entertainment. He directed six shows for Celebrity Cruise Lines. Bob was part of the creative team for the five-time Tony Nominated Broadway Show Romance/Romance and the Drama Desk Winner Off-Broadway Show Olympus On My Mind. He was the founder and CEO of The West Bank Creative, a business theater agency and worked with Sammy Davis Jr., Howie Mandell, Rita Rudner, David Brenner and Beth Fowler.

Sara Lazarus (playwright) is a former emergency room nurse, community outreach educator, published author of several medical training manuals and an autobiographical novel. She is a recipient of the Middlesex County College Tri-State Writer’s Award and has been periodically published in the Princeton US-1 newspaper. Sara has performed for several years with The Magic Mirror Players, a New Jersey improv group. Now, as a permanent resident of Sarasota for the past several years, Sara established The Isles Players, a local dinner theatre group within her community, that has been performing her murder mystery plays for the past few years.

Terry Occhiogrosso (Student) has lived in Sarasota for five years and this is Terry’s third time playing with Theatre Odyssey’s Ten Minute Play Festival. She has worked in New York and in Nashville as an actor and teaching artist. Terry is also an actor for he Sarasota Area Playwrights’ Society.

Joshua Brin (Instructor) is excited to return to the stage with Theatre Odyssey. He has been involved in theater in Sarasota for the past fifteen years and is grateful to continue working in the local performing arts community. When not onstage, Joshua works as a physical therapist assistant in home health. He is thankful for the opportunity to balance a career in healthcare with his long-standing passion for theater and storytelling.

Scott Ehrenpreis (Bad Devil) is no stranger to Theater Odyssey. He has been in countless productions and is glad to grace the stage once again. Scott had his hit one man show, Clowns Like Me, off Broadway in New York last summer of 2024 to rave reviews and great success coupled with an emotional impact.

Erica Bommarito (Good Angel) is excited to be a part of Theatre Odyssey after a decade-long acting break. Erica grew up in Metro Detroit where she was a member of the Detroit Actors Theatre Company and played roles such as Jacqueline in La Cage Aux Folles, Bombur in The Hobbit, Rizzo in Grease, and Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast. When she’s not acting on stage she’s touring with Turn It Up Dance Challenge as an Emcee or creating content as a beauty influencer.

Steven H. Butler (director) — Ripcord marks Steven’s directorial debut with Theatre Odyssey. He is the former Artistic Director and Founder of Actors’ Warehouse, Inc. (Gainesville, FL). Some of his favorite directing roles include: Race, Pass Over, Mountaintop, The Amen Corner, ‘Night Mother, Satchmo at the Waldorf, and Ain’t Misbehavin’. As an actor Steven has appeared in roles such as: How I Learned What I Learned (August Wilson), Cabaret (The MC), La Cage Aux Folles (Jacob), Anything Goes (Moonface Martin), and RENT (Angel). One of Steven’s biggest honors was representing the United States, at the 2017 Mondial Du Théâtre Monaco, with the South African production of Tshepang by Lara Foot Newton.

Diane Finney (playwright) — Many of Diane’s twisted tales focus on murder, mystery and/or pending death. Diane has a BA in Anthropology and is a Master Gardener, a Master Naturalist and she’s won three Malice Domestic Mystery Conference short story contests. Diane self-published To Know Sweet You Must Taste Sour, a self-help guide for surviving cancer. Of the many plays she’s written, Copycat and Baby Beautiful were performed at the Valencia College 5 Minute Play Festival. Her 10 Minute play, 38 Minutes, was performed in the Spectacular Tournament of Playwrights at the Acorn Theater (Michigan) and in Funny Shorts LIVE! at the Center for Performing Arts Bonita Springs, Florida. Diane often co-writes with her husband Christopher and they’re still married. Mother of three sons and proud Grandma to four grands, Diane loves her family. When not writing, Diane enjoys playing tennis, gardening, creating botanical art and caring for her pets. Ripcord is inspired by one of Diane’s sons overcoming his fear of heights by taking on a dare to skydive. I hope you enjoy my play!