Festival of Shorts · Performances

2025 Festival of Shorts Poster Features the Art of Alan Deacon!

We are deeply appreciative of Alan Deacon’s Art for allowing us to use his incredible artwork on our poster and playbill. It’s a perfect reflection of the ‘Silver Linings’ theme of our 2025 Short Play Festival.

ITOWNY’s Festival of Short Plays Opens One Week from Today! April 4,5,6 & 11,12,13 at St. Mary’s High School in Lancaster. Tickets: $15/general, $10/senior, students. Tickets https://www.tickettailor.com/events/inclusivetheaterofwny/1622147 or get your tickets at the door.

Hope to see you there!

Festival of Shorts · Performances

Cast List Announcement – 2025 Festival of Short Plays

ITOWNY is proud to present the cast (and directors) list for our upcoming Festival of Shorts. We are blown away by the amount of talent that will be in the TEN (yes TEN!) short plays!!

Ticket information coming soon. In the meantime, save the date!

10 Minutes by Shanda Gardner

Directed by Shanda Gardner

Starring:

Jessica Levesque

Lexie Hoeglmeier

JR Ozario

It Just Is by Dallas Taylor

Directed by Dallas Taylor and Emrald Ja’ceil

Starring:

Zachary Kushner

Heather Benson

Tapes by Madison Sedlor

Directed by Dallas Taylor and Emrald Ja’ceil

Starring:

Katrina Leuzinger-Owens

Robert Janusz

Listen While You Work by Linda Gunther

Directed by Lexie Hoeglmeier, Aimee Levesque & JR Ozoria

Starring:

Donna Manquen

Akshat Sharma

Bill Baldwin

Cat Kwiatkowski

Zachary Kushner

Stacy Kowal

By the Water’s Edge by Michael Fanelli

Directed by Aimee Levesque and JR Ozoria

Starring:

Eric Miller

Donna Manquen

Jon Davis

Watch Out by DonnaMarie Vaughan

Directed by Shanda Gardner

Starring:

Penny Baldwin

Magpie by Katrina Leuzinger-Owens

Directed by Ryan Adam Norton & JR Ozorio

Starring:

Cat Kwiatkowski

Lexie Hoeglmeier

Wands Have More Fun by Allison Fradkin

Directed by Lexie Hoeglmeier

Starring:

Shanda Gardner

Penny Baldwin

Stacy Kowal (understudy)

War and Its Vets by Ryan Adam Norton

Directed by Ryan Adam Norton and JR Ozoria

Starring:

Zachary Kushner

Lexie Hoeglmeier

Eric Miller

Survivor 147: Endodontu by Lexie Hoeglmeier

Directed by Aimee Levesque and JR Ozoria

Starring:

Eric Miller

Jessica Levesque

Manny Stephens

Stacy Kowal

Festival of Shorts

Final Show Sunday April 7th!

CAST

Quentin Gray (Barry, Pig #3, Alex): Quentin was raised in Toledo, Ohio and has been acting since 15 years old. H was a film extra in Marshall, Bashira, Crown Vic, and the first Purge. Quentin has appeared in several stage productions with roles such as Jeffrey in The Curtious Savage at the Ghostlight Theate and Randy Dexter in Curtins for The Elmira Little Theater in Elmira,NY. Quentin trained with Frank Rossi in both Method and Meisner. “I want to thank inclusive Theater of WNY for giving me this great opportunity as an actor. Juggling multiple roles is a new experience for me. So I would have to thank Aimee for giving me this part and pushing my limits as an actor.

Jessica Levesque ( Thomasina, Snow White, Mama) Active in RollerDerby until an injury ended her career, Jessica moved on to acting, something she’d always wanted to do. She has appeard on several episodes of Total Divas, and an independent film, The Secret Origin of Mojo Man. Jessica loves WWE wrestling, Anime and cartoons. She loves the beach, making jewelry and travelling. Jessica has appeard in several plays on Buffalo stages including Always October (2013), The Process (2014), An Evening of Personal Stories (2017), And Where Will You Put the Things You Save? (2018).

Colleen Ann O’Byrne (Television Man): Colleen is a long time Buffalo resident who has appeard in one previous Inclusive Theater of WNY production—An Evening of Personal Stories. She makes her acting debut in Television Man, the first short play in ITOWNY’s Festival of Shorts. Colleen has one adult son and two Bichons: Molly and Bella.

Summer Harris (Cate Blanchett, Paula, Princess Charming): A enior at The Park School of Buffalo, Summer is excited to be apart of ITOWNY’s Festival of Shorts! In the past with The Park Players she has been Mollie in TheMousetrap, Alice in You Can’t Take it With You, Banzai and a Featured Dancer in The Lion King Jr, the antagonist Cat in Honk! Jr, and the variety shows Patchwork since middle school. She also performed in The Diary of Anne Frank with The Raiders of Niagara as Anne Frank. In her spare time she loves to draw, write, sing, play guitar, ukulele, and viola.

Jennelle Torrey (Gremlin, Wolf) is a wife, mother, virtual assistant, curriculum developer, technology trainer, actor, and accessibility advocate. To me Inclusive means that everyone no matter who you are has access to be included in all areas of life, there should be no exceptions.

Rev. Christopher Wylie (Gremlin, Zombie, Television Man, Pig 2, Rumplesiltskin) Chris is a father, husband, United Methodist pastor, writer, blogger, musician, artist, actor, and disability advocate. More than anything he wants you to know that Inclusive means you are loved no matter the body in which you live.  

Aimée Levesque, Ph.D. Executive and Artistic Director: Aimée has served on the Boards of Buffalo Theatre Alliance (TABS) and Ujima Theatre. She holds Masters Degrees in English Literature and Library Science and is an adjunct professor at Buffalo State College. This past January Aimée received her Doctorate in Curriculum Design and the Science of Learning from University at Buffalo. Aimée’s daughter Jessica, a talented actress and a woman on the autism spectrum, is one of the inspirations for Inclusive Theater of WNY.

Marilyn Erentsen-Scott (Artistic Director) Marilyn retired from the stage after a well received performance in 7th grade and only returned some 50 years later, appearing in a play (The Process in 2014) with two of the actors in this production: Jessical Levesque and Chelsea Braun. Marilyn and her husband of 38 years, Steve, moved to Buffalo from L.I. almost five years ago. They have one son, Anthony, and a 2 year old Golden Retriever named Penny, who is the official mascot of InclusiveTheater of WNY. A former Registered Nurse, Marilyn received her BA in Sociology from Adelphi University in 1998 and has worked for more than 25 years as an advocate for full inclusion for people with disabilities.

Festival of Shorts

Meet the Cast of ITOWNY’s Festival of Shorts!!

Pictured from top to bottom: Carling Barry, Chelsey Braun, Shelby Calabro, Marilyn Erentsen-Scott, Dave Goddard, Quentin Gray, Summer Harris, Aimee Levesque, Jessica Levesque, Colleen O’Byrne, Dallas Taylor, Jennelle Torrey, Charles Weber, Jennifer Weber, and Chris Wylie.

Festival of Shorts

Three More Sleeps!!!

Until ITOWNY’s Festival of Shorts!! Friday night (4/5) – 7:30pm at The Foundry (298 Northampton!) Tickets only $10!!

Can’t make it Friday? That’s okay!  You have two more times to catch the show – Saturday (4/6) at 7:30pm and Sunday (4/7) at 2:00pm!

Hope to see you there!

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Festival of Shorts

Behind the Scenes

Another hilarious night of Shorts-this cast is having a great time!

A Festival of Shorts Friday April 5th 7:30 pm at The Foundry–298 Northampton Street, Buffalo. Saturday April 6th 7:30pm at The Foundry 298 Northampton St. Sunday April 7th 2pm at The FoundryT

For tickets please email inclusivetheaterofwny@gmail.com

Festival of Shorts

Weekend Rehearsal

Our cast got together this past weekend over lunch to discuss their characters, go over lines, cues, and scenes. We ‘ve been encouraging improvisation in the earlier rehearsals because we saw how creative and, well–FUN–this cast is.

We will be opening A Festival of Shorts on Friday April 5th at The Foundry on Northampton Street in Buffalo, at 7:30 pm. Saturday we will be at Hallwalls (at Babeville) on Delaware Avenue at 7:30 pm. Each of these venues is unique and we look forward to performing in each. We will be posting our venue for Sunday April 7th (2pm) shortly. Watch this space!

For ticket information, email us at inclusivetheaterofwny@gmail.com

Here are photos from this past weekend:

Our fabulous cast discusses a scene over pizza.