Be Bold! Productions Announces Week Two Winner Of LUV 2025 Short Play Festival 

Love was in the air for West Village audiences as the second week of the 13th annual Players Theatre LUV 2025 Short Play Festival debuted. Each weekend for three weeks in February, a new selection of 15-minute original plays premieres to charm audiences.

Last weekend's audience-selected winner was the musical "AIDEN", written by Clay Herzberg and Jacob Iglitzin and directed by Jacob Iglitzin.

"AIDEN" takes place in the near future in NYC where an AI-driven romance scam goes awry. Driven executive Jamie (Amy Herzberg), supported by her assistant Mitch (George Mulder) and her virtual assistant technology Lexi (Hannah Lizotte), unknowingly falls for AIDEN (Max Ashford), an AI built to scam her. But when Jamie has to convince her boss RJ (Peter Deng) and the board to make her COO, AIDEN comes to the rescue during the meeting. Can it be possible for AI to learn to love, or is it all just digital?

"AIDEN" was joined by four other adventurous and touching love-themed one-acts.

"Baby Grand", written and directed by William Zolla II, follows recently divorced couple Anne (Andrea Harum) and Robert (Kevin Magee), who meet at the hospital while awaiting their grandchild's birth. It is the same hospital where their daughter was born, and they begin to reminisce and discuss how their 32-year marriage went wrong.

"Goodnight I Love You", written by Aladen Gulmohamad and directed by Lenore Mardas, introduces married couple Henry (D. Scott Faubel), a terminally ill man, and his wife Nora (Antoinette Gelmont) as they prepare for bed. Things are not simple, though, as we discover that Henry has been given a short timeline for the rest of his life, and his wife Nora has just found out. Will they set things right before bed and be able to say goodnight, I love you?

"Valentine's Day 2015", written by Julia Genoveva and directed by Gus Ferrari, welcomes us to Valentine's Day in 2015. Daniel (Gus Ferrari) and Alexis (Julia Genoveva) are on a blind date. Things seem to be going well, until they find out that there has been a big mix up on who they were supposed to be meeting. Then, when they decide to continue the date, another bombshell occurs: Their values and principles are not aligned at all. Will this be a deal breaker?

"This is What Dr. Shapiro Was Talking About", written by Matthew J. Kaplan and directed by Perryn Pomatto, brings us into the second pandemic in the uncomfortably near future, where Tracy (Renée-Michele Brunet) and Vince (Jason Nadal) have been surviving a zombie apocalypse. While their zombie-killing skills have improved, their marriage has become a loveless afterthought. But maybe their findings in an abandoned house can help rekindle their love. Will it take the end of the world for new beginnings?

The Players Theatre LUV 2025 Short Play Festival continues this Thursday through Sunday with Week 3, which will present five brand new love-themed plays that are sure to delight and seduce audiences!

Tickets can be purchased at: www.ShortPlayNYC.com. The festival takes place at The Players Theatre:

115 MacDougal Street, 3rd Floor in the Steve and Marie Sgouros Theatre

Week 3 Plays, February 20 - 22 at 7pm, February 23 at 3pm.

The Way the Cookie Crumbles, by Kathryn Loggins

Meet Cute, by Brad Dickson

Choices, by Constance G.J. Wagner

Check Please, by Carol Croland

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