The Players Theatre Short Play Festival LUV 2024 Announces Week One Winner

West Village audiences celebrated the approach of Valentine's Day with the opening of the 12th annual Players Theatre LUV 2024 Short Play Festival. Each weekend for three weeks in February, a new selection of 15-minute original plays premieres to celebrate love in all its forms.

Week one's audience-selected winner was "An Unwanted Ménage à Trois", written and directed by Brenda Bell.

The play features Charlotte (Andrea Woodbridge) and her sister-in-law Katie (Lexie Showalter), who are meeting to discuss the sudden vacation Katie's husband Kenneth has arranged to take with her. All is not as it seems, however, as it is revealed there may be an uninvited third person in Kenneth and Charlotte's relationship that neither one of them can seem to shake off. To audiences' delights, Shino Frances made a brief but important appearance as "Elise".

"An Unwanted Ménage à Trois" was joined by four other love-themed one-acts.

"FORE!", written by Kathryn Rossetter and directed by Katie McHugh, follows three siblings who find themselves debating about their recently deceased father's wishes for his burial. Jane (Kelly Kirby) and Jack (Scott Schneider) want to place their father's ashes in a golf ball urn, which they insist he truly wanted due to his love of the game. Meanwhile their brother Jonathan (Joe Loper) is appalled by the idea. Old wounds resurface but they soon discover that each of them had a special relationship with their father, which sets them on a path towards healing.

"All God's Children Got Equipment", written and directed by John Paul Porter, focuses on two strangers who meet in a hospital waiting room. Initially, Terrence (Patrick Heffernan) attempts to keep to himself while he waits to find out the fate of his partner, who is ill in the hospital. He is forced out of his solitude, however, when Starrett (Ameerah Muhammad) forces him into a conversation. She shares that she is also waiting to find out the fate of her love, who is in the hospital under very different circumstances. The two experience an intimate moment together when they discuss just how much they each love their other halves.

"Just Me and the Ceiling Fan" written by Lorenzo Duran and Shino Frances and directed by Lorenzo Duran, features a raw and powerful one-woman performance by Shino Frances, whose character Airanaya has escaped to a house in the desert to sober up and tend to their broken heart. They find themselves alone with their thoughts - conflicted between connection and disconnect; loneliness and longing; self-loathing and hope. This glimpse into a grieving mind, reaching for a love they cannot touch, was deeply affecting for audiences.

"I Don't", written by Kaitlyn Rose RaBocse and directed by Tori Bagacki, introduced viewers to best friends and roommates Kelly (Ava Grace) and Sandra (Kaitlyn Rose RaBocse). The friends discover through social media that one of their friends from college has gotten engaged to her infamously unfaithful boyfriend. This bit of gossip turns into a conversation about marriage, true love, and true friendship, and asks the question: is marriage really necessary to find your lifelong companion?

The Players Theatre LUV 2024 Short Play Festival continues thru February 25th, presenting five brand new love-themed plays each week that are sure to give Cupid a run for his money!

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