Theatre Odyssey's Fifth One-Act Play Festival
Sunday, October 19, 2025
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Theatre Odyssey's Fifth One-Act Play Festival
When: October 18, 2025, at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and October 19 at 2 p.m. Each performance includes all five plays. Approximate running time: 2 hours and fifteen minutes.
Venue: The Jane B. Cook Theatre at FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, FL 34243. (FSU Center for the Performing Arts also houses Asolo Repertory Theatre.)
Similar to Theatre Odyssey's 20-year-old iconic Ten-Minute Play Festival, the One-Act Play Festival premieres only new short plays. The authors are from across the United States. They submit their original, not yet produced work to Theatre Odyssey, hoping to be finalists. The maximum number of submissions, 100, was received within 72 hours of the request for plays. The Best Play award is selected by local, prominent theater professionals and is announced live immediately following the October 19 matinee. The playwright receives the $1,000 Verna Safran Prize.
Here are the plays, the playwrights, and the story lines:
The Disappearing Woman
by Holly Hepp-Galván
Grandma Geraldine wakes up to find a hand is missing—and soon other parts of her also disappear. In a very busy household, it’s up to her granddaughter to show what Geraldine can still give to her family.
Just Asking
by Cary Pepper
Lawyer Roger Ellis comes to Mrs. Mendelson’s door with a document demanding she stop contacting her late husband Julius. Roger knows Mrs. Mendelson can’t be in contact with the dead—but why, each time he returns with another legal document, does she know more and more about his childhood?
Lock It Down
by John J. Kelly
A new substitute teacher and her mass communications class must deal with a school lockdown.
Primitive Intelligence
by James Perry
A love-struck caveman seeks the help of an advanced AI to win over the woman of his dreams. When natural intelligence doesn’t always know what it needs, can artificial intelligence do any better?
Seedubya and Mizhall
by John C. Davenport
In a Dallas barbershop in the 1960s, an elderly white woman has her first encounter with the Black shoeshine man she has always resented.
Full Playwright bios will be available in the digital playbill.
When: October 18, 2025, at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and October 19 at 2 p.m. Each performance includes all five plays. Approximate running time: 2 hours and fifteen minutes.
Venue: The Jane B. Cook Theatre at FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, FL 34243. (FSU Center for the Performing Arts also houses Asolo Repertory Theatre.)
Similar to Theatre Odyssey's 20-year-old iconic Ten-Minute Play Festival, the One-Act Play Festival premieres only new short plays. The authors are from across the United States. They submit their original, not yet produced work to Theatre Odyssey, hoping to be finalists. The maximum number of submissions, 100, was received within 72 hours of the request for plays. The Best Play award is selected by local, prominent theater professionals and is announced live immediately following the October 19 matinee. The playwright receives the $1,000 Verna Safran Prize.
Here are the plays, the playwrights, and the story lines:
The Disappearing Woman
by Holly Hepp-Galván
Grandma Geraldine wakes up to find a hand is missing—and soon other parts of her also disappear. In a very busy household, it’s up to her granddaughter to show what Geraldine can still give to her family.
Just Asking
by Cary Pepper
Lawyer Roger Ellis comes to Mrs. Mendelson’s door with a document demanding she stop contacting her late husband Julius. Roger knows Mrs. Mendelson can’t be in contact with the dead—but why, each time he returns with another legal document, does she know more and more about his childhood?
Lock It Down
by John J. Kelly
A new substitute teacher and her mass communications class must deal with a school lockdown.
Primitive Intelligence
by James Perry
A love-struck caveman seeks the help of an advanced AI to win over the woman of his dreams. When natural intelligence doesn’t always know what it needs, can artificial intelligence do any better?
Seedubya and Mizhall
by John C. Davenport
In a Dallas barbershop in the 1960s, an elderly white woman has her first encounter with the Black shoeshine man she has always resented.
Full Playwright bios will be available in the digital playbill.
Venue
Jane B. Cook Theatre
FSU Center for the Performing Arts
5555 N. Tamiami Trail
Sarasota FL 34243
