A VISITATION IN 12B
by Janet Burnham
It’s an April evening in NYC, and Columbia professor Dr. Paul Michaelson and his lovely but insecure wife Mona are getting ready to go to a surprise birthday party. Suddenly there’s a knock on the door, and on the other side a pale, eerie stranger from another time. Paul and Mona are about to embark on a strange journey together in this humorous but also sinister and rather chilling theatrical tale.
- Cast Size: 3M 2W 1NB
- Running Time: 60+ minutes
- Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
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About the Playwright
Janet Burnham writes plays, poems, and prose, and is also a former actress, college English professor, and bon vivant. Her works have been performed in many NY venues, including the Emerging Artists Theatre, Vital Theatre, Center Stage, Women’s Project, Pulse Theatre, Chernuchin Theatre, NADA, Raw Space, Harold Clurman Theater, Flea Theatre, Abingdon Theatre, and the Bitter Truth Theatre in North Hollywood. Titles include Where’s Sheila?, Madame Korsakov’s Letter to the World, Octopus Garden, Boxes, I Still Believe in Unicorns, Wishbone, Luddite Dot Com, Badge of the Love Deputy, Opening Night in the Limbo Lounge, Palmetto Road, Wanda Johnson and the Kingdom of Hair, and Often Fancied, Sometimes Loved. She has an MFA in Playwriting from Brooklyn College, and is a member of the Dramatists Guild. An ex-New Yorker, she now lives in Connecticut.
“A Visitation in 12B” is a funny, intriguing and thought-provoking comedy/mystery about marriage, Druids, and academics. It has everything you could ask for in a play including a pair of wise-cracking NYC cops. Highly recommended.
A Visitation in 12 B is a smart stylish thriller that combines a variety of intriguing elements that keeps you guessing until the end. I think it would be a great choice for a small theatre company as it has only one set but you could many creative things with lighting and set design.
Janet Burnham is masterful when it comes to character creation. Kudos to her for this highly effective character study, all of her people being genuine and embraceable. A Visitation in 12B is prime for production as it has everything going for it! Fun–romance–mystery–mysticism.
“A Visitation in 12B” is funny and fun to read. I think it would be a complete joy to perform. Through witty dialogue, the play explores love, marriage, history, academic ethics and the afterlife, with plenty of shock, horror, laughs and enlightenment along the way. Reading it felt like a surprise gift, and I recommend it very highly.
Janet Burnham’s ingenious play, A VISITATION IN 12B, is a hilarious send-up of contemporary urban life, academia, and marriage. In addition to an egotistical college professor and his spacey wife, characters include a hard-boiled NYC detective and a mystery woman who speaks an ancient Druid language. The play is part thriller, part comedy, and wholly original. Brava!
Janet Burnham’s captivating and clever play, “A Visitation in 12B,” is also robustly funny and original. it is history with mystery, a delight with bite. With a small cast, and easy set that allows for imagination, and dialogue that crackles, it is also eminently stageable and playable. And with all that, “A Visitation” is a sly play of manners that, by the end, will keep its guessing audience nodding in sympathy and understanding.
Deft handling of character is the secret sauce that makes Janet Burnham’s A Visitation in 12B a terrific blend of hilarity and unsettling intrigue. What a superb gift for actors AND a rare treat for audiences!
Janet Burnham’s A Visitation in 12B has everything: a witty and intriguing and original plot, other-worldly mystery, witty dialogue, and strong characters navigating marriage, academics, stage fright, and an unknown language, along with a visit from a mystery woman who may or may not be real or even dead. Plus, comedy, drama, and suspense. Will keep the audience alert and guessing!
Review A Visitation in 12B.