Week 2 of the 15th annual Be Bold Short Play Festival BOO! ran last weekend at The Players Theatre in the West Village, showcasing five original spooky short plays by five different playwrights. Each weekend for three weeks in October, a new selection of 15-minute original plays premieres to make audiences shiver with fear – and indulge in a few belly laughs. Last weekend’s audience-selected winner was ‘The Visitation’, written by Emmy Harris and directed by Taylor Patno.
In ‘The Visitation’, SHE (Emmy Harris), who has seen ghosts since childhood, returns home after a Halloween party to find herself once again visited by the ghost of an all-too-recognizable playwright (yes, that one) from the Elizabethan era. She asks her friend HE (Ben Fisher) over more moral support, though pointedly avoids revealing the identity of her spectral companion. The playwright, despite his legendary status, has become a familiar and occasionally exasperating presence, and seems to enjoy making HE squirm… ‘The Visitation’ appeared among four other haunted one-acts.