Judges Named For Ninth Annual Student Ten-Minute Playwriting Festival

Theatre Odyssey has announced the three adjudicators for the Ninth Annual Student Ten-Minute Playwriting Festival.

KAREN ROMANT moved to Florida in 1993 from the Los Angeles area, where she earned a B.A. in Theatre from California State University, Northridge. Her Master of Arts degree is from Florida State University. Both in California and in Florida, Romant has acted professionally on stage, in commercials and film, and worked as a director, educator (teaching English and theatre for grades five through community college), and drama consultant. She is the artistic director and playwright for local theater troupe Parrish Playworks, which sprang to life in 2014 with Red Rooster Tales, a play with music featuring oral histories, folk tales, and legends about early life in Manatee County. Since then, Parrish Playworks has performed several sequels about our region, as well as produced dozens of shows at barns, Rocky Bluff Library, churches, on stage, in clubhouses, and on the trains and at the station of Florida Railroad Museum.

A graduate of Otterbein College in Columbus, Ohio, STEVE BLACK has been working in the Entertainment Industry for over 50 years. For over a decade, Steve lived in NYC where he acted on stage, in film and television roles as well as long-running industrials. As a director, Steve has been at the helm of dramas, comedies, and musicals in both modern and classical texts. Steve's real love is teaching his craft. Now Faculty Emeritus for the Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center, Mr. Black spent sixteen years as Director of their Career Theatre program. Last year Steve moved to Venice, Florida, and began working with Sarasota Area Playwrights Society. Steve is currently writing his first full-length play.

CONNIE SCHINDEWOLF taught high school drama, including playwriting, for 25 years in the St. Louis area before moving to Bradenton. She has had 14 plays produced by Theatre Odyssey and has won four of their awards, including Best Play twice. She has been in The Players Theatre New Play Festival five times, and Mammoth Bones won in 2016 and thus received a full production in 2017. In 2019 her full-length play, Take the Couch, was produced by Gulfport Community Players and was a box office success. She's had productions across the United States, Canada, UK, Australia, and United Arab Emirates. She's published by Applause Books, JAC Publishing, Nigel Publishing, Pioneer Drama Service, and Smith & Kraus. She credits Theatre Odyssey for giving her the confidence to send out her work. She's a member of The Dramatists Guild of America, Sarasota Area Playwrights Society, and when she's not writing, she's saving sea turtles.

The decisions of these adjudicators for Best Play and Runner-up Play will be announced on the last day of the podcast, February 21st.

Tickets are available here. They will continue on sale through February 21. You will be emailed a link to the podcast upon ticket purchase.