Theatre Odyssey premieres four one-act plays in annual fall festival
Four playwrights from across the country are vying for audience approval and a $1,000 prize in Theatre Odyssey’s annual One-Act Play Festival.
The program, which runs Oct. 6-9, includes “The Mockingbird’s Nest” by Vermont playwright Craig Bailey. It is about an elderly shut-in woman who suspects her daughter (also her live-in caregiver), isn’t what she seems to be. It will be directed by actress and SaraSolo Productions artistic director Ann Morrison, and the cast features Betty Robinson and Nellie O'Brien.
Katherine Michelle Tanner will direct James C. Ferguson’s “Deep Freeze,” about a major movie star struggling with debilitating health issues and the efforts of his doctor and agent to raise his spirits. The cast includes Lee Gundersheimer, who was briefly the artistic director of The Players Centre, along with Fulvio Della Volta and Debbie Davidson.
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Blake Walton, an actor and director and managing director of SaraSolo, will stage Philip J. Kaplan’s “What Are You Looking At?” about Sienna, who has become a star in a virtual pornography world even as she wonders who she is in real life. The cast features Harris Elizabeth King, Scott Ehrenpreis, Anuj k. Naidu and Michael DeMaio.
Jeffery Kin will direct “Shell Game” by Meg Hanna-Tominaga, a playwright and designer who has designed for theaters and opera companies across the country. Her play is about a woman who forces a reunion with her estranged daughter on Halloween, an evening that leaves both characters and the audience wondering who can be trusted. The cast features Ann Gundersheimer as Terry, along with Lilian Moore and Haley Hines.
Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 6-8 and 2 p.m. Oct. 9 in the Cook Theatre, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets are $29, $10 for students, and are available through the Manatee Performing Arts Center box office: 941-748-5875, theatreodyssey.org/tickets.
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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Theatre Odyssey One-Act Play Festival features four new works
