Something spooky is coming your way. And I'm not talking about Halloween. No, I'm talking about the fact that my 31st play has just been accepted for publication by Pioneer Drama Service. It's titled Too Many Ghosts, and it's set in a hilariously haunted bed-and-breakfast in Salem, Massachusetts.
That spark of inspiration
I've spoken before about where my play ideas come from. Big surprise! They come from a whole hosts of sources: brainstorming, TV shows, old Warner Brothers cartoons, other plays, even dreams. But Too Many Ghosts is the first time I've been inspired by a TV show I'd never seen. Can you guess which one?
Bingo! It's the currently-running CBS sitcom Ghosts. When the show was first being promoted in early 2019, the premise instantly grabbed me. A show about a bed-and-breakfast haunted by not one, but a motley crew of ghosts from very different time periods? I'm there!
That's when I made the point of not watching the show. I didn't want to be accused of copying it. But more importantly, I wanted it to make it my own.
A touch of magic
When you write a fantasy type of story--and by that I mean anything that includes magic or the supernatural--it's important to be very intentional about the rules you define for that world. That's because the plot, the mood, even the theme of the story will be driven by those rules.
For example, when I wrote The Enchanted Bookshop, these are the rules I created for the famous literary characters who are brought to life:
1) The characters are brought to life through a fairy's magic spell.
2) The characters are not allowed to leave the bookshop or be seen by humans (cats are okay!) or they'll disappear into their books forever.
3) Scatterbrained bookshop owner Margie doesn't have a clue that her book characters are coming to life.
Rule number 1 inspired the wonderful character of the Book Fairy, who's resented by the literary characters because she can be kind of a nag.
Rule number 2 is why the literary characters only come out at night, which gave me the structure of
It also set up the main conflict of the play as the literary characters are forced to choose between revealing themselves in order to warn Margie about the smugglers threatening her shop and staying silent so that they can continue to come to life.
The fact that cats are given an exception allows me to stage some humorous interactions between the cantankerous bookshop cat Bombalurina and the literary characters.
And rule number 3 provides for some additional humor as Margie suspects that the messes that the literary characters leave are due to Bombalurina.
Needless to say, if I'd changed any one of these rules, it would have been an entirely different play.
Ghost stories
It's the same thing with Too Many Ghosts, though here I went in a different direction:
1) The ghosts can be seen by anyone, but only when they choose to be seen.
2) Levelheaded owner Jo and her horror-film-loving teenage daughter Lily definitely know the ghosts are haunting the inn from day one.
3) Ghosts can't be destroyed a la Ghostbusters, but with the proper equipment, they can be shrunk down and locked away inside a small, everyday item.
Rule 1 means that the ghosts could be a threat to Jo's business, with the ghosts threatening to scare away her guests so that they can keep the once-abandoned house to themselves.
Rule 2 allows the story to cut right to the chase as Jo forbids the ghosts to haunt her guests. Of course, the ghosts can't help themselves, leading to an online review from a guest describing the place as the "most haunted bed-and-breakfast in New England." The consequence? The inn is soon mobbed by ghost-loving tourists.
Rule 3 gave me the critical turning point of the play as three marginally competent ghostbusters rid the inn of the ghosts--seemingly forever. Where did they go? And how can Jo stay in business without her primary draw: the ghosts?
After I finished the play and sent the manuscript off to Pioneer, I finally gave myself permission to read the Wikipedia entry on Ghosts. I was relieved to discover that the rules for that show were vastly different from the rules for mine. The biggest difference is that in Ghosts, only the woman who inherited the inn (and later her husband) can see the spirits. As you might expect, this means that much of the humor revolves around the awkwardness that occurs when the ghosts interact with the woman in the presence of other people and she has to pretend she can't see them. Not a possibility in my play.
Of course, the personal histories and characteristics of the two sets of ghosts also differ drastically. I've got a cranky Irish maid, a persnickety cobbler, a boisterous snake oil salesman, a self-absorbed silent movie star, and a clumsy teenager. The CBS show has a melodramatic Viking, a cynical Native American, a closeted gay Continental Army officer, a drug-addicted matronly type from the late 1800's, a flamboyant Prohibition-era lounge singer, a naive hippie, and a nerdy scoutmaster.
So yeah, mine are entirely family-friendly while theirs are quite a bit edgier. And I think that's great. There's a place for both.
Oh, I also thought that Salem, Massachusetts--one of the most haunted towns in the United States--was the most logical setting for a show about ghosts, and allowed me to tie in a little bit of the history surrounding the witch trials. But the producers of Ghosts decided to set their show in upstate New York (not sure how a Viking ended up there, though).
Playing tricks
I expect the play to come out in spring 2025. In the meantime, let me leave you with this scene from when Jo and Lily first meet the ghosts.
As the scene begins, the ghosts are hiding in the living room so that they can jump out and scare these two interlopers who threaten the sanctity of their spooky home:
LILY (Fans herself.): Do you mind if I open the curtains? It's kind of stuffy in here.
JO: Sure. I'll go bring in a couple of boxes. (JO EXITS DOWN RIGHT. LILY crosses to the curtains.)
ROLAND (Hushed, to ORLA): Now?
ORLA (Hushed.): Can ye see the whites of her eyes?
ROLAND: I don't know! My eyes are shut!
ORLA: Well, open 'em up and look! (LILY opens the curtains. ROLAND sees LILY. LILY sees ROLAND.)
LILY (Screams.): Aaaah!
ROLAND (Screams): Aaaah!
JO (ENTERS DOWN RIGHT, running): Oh, my gosh, Lily! Are you all right?
LILY (Points at ROLAND.): It's... it's... it's a ghost!
ROLAND (Points at LILY.): It's... it's... it's a mortal! (The OTHER GHOSTS come out of hiding.)
ORLA: Roland, ye yellow-bellied milksop! Ye ruined our whole plan!
BARNEY: Good job, Roland!
CASSANDRA: You don't take direction very well, do you?
JO: Whoa!
LILY: Mom! I thought you said there's no such thing as ghosts!
JO: That's right! There isn't!
ORLA: Well, what do ye call us then?
JO: Why, you must be a figment of my imagination! A hallucination brought on by a combination of stress and exhaustion! Yes! That's it! I must be so exhausted my mind is playing tricks on me!
CASSANDRA: If I were a figment of your imagination, would I be able to do this? (Waves her arms and laughs ominously.)
JO: I don't know. What are you doing?
CASSANDRA: I'm creating a cold spot to chill your blood and make shivers run up and down your spine!
JO: Nope. Not feeling it.
CASSANDRA (To the OTHER GHOSTS.): See? This is what happens when you don't get to practice your art!
BARNEY: Here, Cassandra. Let me try something.
CASSANDRA (To JO.): Ooh, watch this! This'll frighten the socks right off you!
BARNEY (Knocks one of the housewares off the counter.) There.
JO: Is that it?
BARNEY: What? I'm a poltergeist. This is what I do.
JO: I think it would have been scarier if we couldn't see you.
BARNEY: Well, that's not my fault, is it? I'm not the one who insisted on apparating prematurely... Orla!
I'm thinking this play might be really popular, not just at Halloween but all year long. After all, it's got everything audiences want. Humor. Chills. A creepy mystery. Even a little romance.
But more about that last one later...