SPF BOO 2026 SHORT PLAY FESTIVAL Names Week One Winner

Be Bold! Production's 15th annual Players Theatre BOO Short Play Festival opened last weekend at The Players Theatre in the West Village with Week 1, which showcased five original short plays by five different playwrights. The plays revolved around the theme 'BOO!', containing spooky or supernatural elements in the run up to Halloween. Each weekend for three weeks in October, a new selection of 15-minute original plays premieres to embrace the macabre - making audiences scream or laugh, depending on the play.

Last weekend's audience-selected winner was 'Shadows in the Mirror', written by Reginald Jackson and directed by Kubbi. In 'Shadows in the Mirror', Marcus (Joshua G. Evans) is lamenting to his roommate Elena (Chastity Perez) about his recent breakup and how lately he feels like he is being watched. Soon Marcus's ex David shows up and reveals he has been seeing strange things with his reflection in the mirror. Marcus looks in his own mirror and sees that the reflection in it doesn't match him, either. The reflection (Torreke Evans) soon turns corporeal and comes out of the mirror. It tries to take over Marcus's body, since it thinks that Marcus doesn't stand up for himself despite the rage he feels about being belittled in life. Will he become possessed or will the spirit be driven back into the mirror?

'Shadows in the Mirror' appeared among four other BOO!-themed one-acts. 'Death Date', written by MICHAEL BRADLEY and directed by Katherine Heyman opens with Jessica alone in her apartment. A knock at the door reveals Frank ( Jonathan Tarpy), who works as a death assistant to the Grim Reaper and is there to prepare Jessica to cross over to the other side. She tries to buy herself extra time, but there is little she can do to outrun death, which she discovers when she literally runs to escape and is struck by a car. But this isn't the end, because she and Frank have inadvertently struck up something between them, and they just may have to team up...

'Confined Space,' written by Belton DeLaine-Facey and directed by Ernest Barzaga, transports audiences into space, which may literally turn out to be the final frontier. Captain Trisha Plum (Sam Rodriguez) is working hard to keep her exhausted team's spirits up during there long journey back from Mars. Cassie Anwa (Sarah Chabin), Eli Nolan (Darius Lack) and Jonathan Krause are fed up with being on the ship and can't wait to go back to Earth. Unfortunately, it soon becomes apparent that Earth has been blown up, so their confinement in space has now turned into a death sentence. But they still have each other... and a nature documentary to watch (voiceover by Justin Raj Smith).

'Toofs, written by Aladen Gulmohammad and directed by Abbey Joan Burgess, finds AJ and Jeremy (Raja) stuck in a kill room about to be tortured to death by Satan (who is just trying to do his job). Satan reveals that he has been hired by Victoria to kill Jeremy, which doesn't narrow down the field much since every girl Jeremy has ever dated has been named Victoria - which is also his mother's name. AJ learns he is collateral damage, only being captured and killed because he was hanging out with Jeremy. Will one of the men escape Satan's plan? Or will AJ stick with his friend until the end?

'Pace Yourself', written by Kristina Del Mar, Sheila Lewis and Brittany Lewis, and directed by Brittany Lewis, featured recently deceased Chloe (Kristina Del Mar) waking up in Hell, where her elementary school gym teacher Mr. Bruckner (Sheila Lewis) is waiting hold her to account and make sure she can pass The Presidential Fitness Test. He reveals that passing the test is the only way the two of them will get to go to heaven. Mr. Bruckner trains Chloe hard in a montage of exercises. Will Chloe and Mr. Bruckner make it to heaven?

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