{"id":369684,"date":"2026-08-12T20:38:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T20:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/369684\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T20:38:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T20:38:12","slug":"the-odyssey-is-cool-but-this-tampa-actress-is-doing-a-one-woman-musical-from-penelopes-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/369684\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;The Odyssey&#8217; is cool, but this Tampa actress is doing a one-woman musical from Penelope\u2019s perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-perfmatters-preload=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"780\" height=\"520\" data-attachment-id=\"366393\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/character-portraits-of-jobsite-theaters-actor-on-01-august-2026\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cltampa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Colleen-Cherry-Penelope-Jobsite-Theater-James-Zambon-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2560,1707\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;4&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;James Zambon \/ James Zambon Phot&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS R3&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Promotional character portraits of Jobsite Theater actor for thier upcoming production of Edna Walsh's Penelope on Sat, 1 Aug 2026\\r\\r(\\u00a92026 James Zambon)&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1785623644&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;\\u00a9 2026 James Zambon&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;24&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;100&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.004&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Character portraits of Jobsite Theater's actor on 01 August 2026&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Theatrical performers rehearsing on stage for an upcoming show.&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Character portraits of Jobsite Theater\u2019s actor on 01 August 2026\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Promotional character portraits of Jobsite Theater actor Colleen Cherry for the upcoming production of \u2018Penelope.\u2019&lt;\/p&gt;&#10;\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cltampa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Colleen-Cherry-Penelope-Jobsite-Theater-James-Zambon-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Colleen-Cherry-Penelope-Jobsite-Theater-James-Zambon.jpg\" alt=\"A promotional character portrait by James Zambon featuring actor Colleen Cherry as Penelope for Jobsite Theater's upcoming production of &quot;Penelope.&quot; Captured in a medium close-up shot leaning over a wooden bar top inside a dimly lit venue, Cherry wears a dark teal sleeveless dress, a layered gold chain necklace, and braided hair pinned around her head. Looking directly into the camera lens with a skeptical facial expression, she holds a rocks glass filled with amber liquor in her right hand while gesturing outwards with her open left hand. In the background, framed photos, posters, and warm orange accent lighting create an intimate barroom atmosphere, although the photo is shot inside The Hub dive bar in downtown Tampa.\" class=\"wp-image-366393\"  \/>Promotional character portraits of Jobsite Theater actor Colleen Cherry for the upcoming production of \u2018Penelope.\u2019 Credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/2sthsVt\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u00a92026 James Zambon \/ Jobsite Theater<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Guys everywhere are getting hard for Matt Damon in Christopher Nolan\u2019s \u201cThe Odyssey,\u201d but this is a chance to grab a drink and get a woman\u2019s perspective on Homer\u2019s epic in the flesh.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To close its 27th season, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jobsitetheater.org\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jobsite Theater <\/a>has tapped Colleen Cherry for a folk-pop, one-woman musical, where Penelope\u2014wife of Odysseus, mom to Telemachus, and queen of Ithaca\u2014is backed by strings, piano and drum as she tells the audience about loneliness and self-reliance. Interest in this southern U.S. premiere of the work by Alex Bechtel, Grace McLean, and Eva Steinmetz has already forced Jobsite to add Saturday matinees, with a special preview set for Wednesday night at the <a href=\"https:\/\/community.cltampa.com\/location\/david-a-straz-center-for-the-performing-arts-shimberg-playhouse-12627194\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Shimberg Playhouse<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And unlike Nolan, who takes 172 minutes away from your life, Cherry &amp; co. (including director Katherine Yacko and choreographer Alexander Jones) need just 90 minutes to say their piece.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/community.cltampa.com\/event\/penelope-20630173\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jobsite Theater\u2019s \u201cPenelope: An Epic New Musical\u201d is at Tampa\u2019s Shimberg Playhouse at David A. Straz Center for the Performing Arts select days and nights Aug. 21-Sept. 6, and tickets start at $50.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/altnewsfoundation.org\/cl-tampa\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pitch in to help make the Tampa Bay Journalism Project a success.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-normal-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/tampa-newslettersignup-page\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow us:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAiECLjru3gB6BLYKOKFLfkVZsqFAgKIhAi467t4AegS2CjihS35FWb\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbreak.com\/@c\/1599764?s=01\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/CreativeLoafingTampa\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/cltampabay\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cltampabay\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/cltampabay.bsky.social\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BlueSky<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"collection-link has-small-font-size\">This article appears in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/collections\/aug-13-19-2026\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">August 13 \u2013 19, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead his 2016 intro letter\u00a0and disclosures from 2022 and 2021.\u00a0Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief&#8230;\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"author-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/author\/rroa\/\" rel=\"author nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMore by Ray Roa\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Promotional character portraits of Jobsite Theater actor Colleen Cherry for the upcoming production of \u2018Penelope.\u2019 Credit: \u00a92026 James&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[53851,65489,135,787,137,136],"class_list":["post-369684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-jobsite-theater","tag-straz-center-for-the-performing-arts","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay-theater","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}