A promotional character portrait by James Zambon featuring actor Colleen Cherry as Penelope for Jobsite Theater's upcoming production of "Penelope." 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. — Promotional character portraits of Jobsite Theater actor Colleen Cherry for the upcoming production of ‘Penelope.’ Credit: ©2026 James Zambon / Jobsite Theater

Guys everywhere are getting hard for Matt Damon in Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” but this is a chance to grab a drink and get a woman’s perspective on Homer’s epic in the flesh.

To close its 27th season, Jobsite Theater has tapped Colleen Cherry for a folk-pop, one-woman musical, where Penelope—wife of Odysseus, mom to Telemachus, and queen of Ithaca—is 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 Shimberg Playhouse.

And unlike Nolan, who takes 172 minutes away from your life, Cherry & co. (including director Katherine Yacko and choreographer Alexander Jones) need just 90 minutes to say their piece.

Jobsite Theater’s “Penelope: An Epic New Musical” is at Tampa’s Shimberg Playhouse at David A. Straz Center for the Performing Arts select days and nights Aug. 21-Sept. 6, and tickets start at $50.