Planet Connections Theater Festivity Announces Show Lineup With 35 Premieres

Planet Connections Theatre Festivity, a new eco-friendly festival designed to promote social and cultural awareness in the theatrical community, launches with 35 premieres in June 2009. Co-Executive Directors, Glory Bowen and Frank Calo, are excited by the prospects of premiering new shows which foster social change, benefiting at least 26 various not-for-profit organizations, while connecting artists with new audiences in a fun theatrical environment.

Organizations that will benefit from the productions at the festivity include Amnesty International, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Cedars, City Critters, City Harvest, City Meals on Wheels, Democracy Now, EMBARQ: the World Resources Institute (WRI) Center for Sustainable Transport, Endometriosis Foundation of America, ENACT, Food Bank for New York City, GLAAD, Gynecologic Cancer Foundation, Hospice of New York, Make it Right Foundation, Play for P.I.N.K., RAINN, Raising Malawi Academy for Girls, Red Cross Blood Bank, Safe Horizon, Sanctuary for Families, St. Jude?s Children?s Research Hospital, The Oasis Project, The Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership, Women for Women International, and Women's Sports Foundation.

THE Robert Moss THEATER

CLEOPATRA ? A LIFE UNPARALLELED
Produced by Crystal Theatre, Inc. and L2 Entertainment, Inc. benefiting Women for Women International
Book, Music and Lyrics by Cheryl E. Kemeny
Directed by Barbara Labbadia and Alexandrea Kemeny
Music Direction by Cheryl E. Kemeny
Choreography by Kari Ann Sweeney
Cheryl E. Kemeny?s Cleopatra ?A Life Unparalleled chronicles her life and times through music ranging from blues to rock to ballad. In a time of ?kill or be killed,? Cleopatra competed for dominance in a man?s world and used what she had (money, looks and charm) to get what she wanted!
June 13 @ 11 am | June 13 @ 4:30pm | June 14 @ 1pm | June 20 @ 11am | June 20 @ 4:30pm | June 27 @ 2pm

DESIGNER X, YOUR FACE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?
Produced by The Mush-Room Performing Design benefiting SOS Children?s Villages: Venezuela
Written by Maria Alexandria Beech
Directed by Oscar A. Mendoza
This series of politically charged plays focuses on humanity within underlying social issues. In What Are You Doing Here, a woman finds her ex-boyfriend in the audience and questions their relationship among other subjects. In the age of scientific discovery and power to shape genetic makeup, Designer X explores one couple?s attempt to honor the past while shaping the future. In Your Face, drinks with a friend turns interesting when a stranger enters the picture.
June 11 @ 8:30pm | June 14 @ 7pm | June 15 @ 8pm | June 16 @ 6:30pm | June 22 @ 4:30pm

EVERYBODY DIES
Produced by Edible Brains Productions benefiting Play for P.I.N.K.
Written by Molly Rydzel
Everybody Dies examines a love triangle that takes place during the commencement of a world-wide suicide pact.
June 11 @ 6:30pm | June 12 @ 7:30pm | June 14 @ 11am | June 16 @ 8:30pm | June 18 @ 6pm | June 21 @ 2:30pm

HER KIND: THE LIFE & POETRY OF Anne Sexton
A Wild Child Presents production benefiting Safe Horizon
Written by Hannah Wolfe, featuring the poetry of Anne Sexton
Discover Anne Sexton: one of the most celebrated and controversial American poets of the 1960?s and 70?s. Critically-acclaimed in the New York & San Francisco Fringe Festivals, Her Kind vividly explores Sexton?s life and work by weaving dance and video with tantalizing character twists. Are you one of Her Kind?
June 18 @ 8pm | June 20 @ 3pm | June 23 @ 4:30pm

HOUND
Produced by HQ Rep. in association with Rachel Klein Productions benefiting RAINN
Written by John Patrick Bray
Directed by Rachel Klein
A detective has returned from the dead. An American becomes the heir of an estate after a mysterious death in the family. Sherlock Holmes? faithful sidekick, a grieving widower, risks his very soul to find and battle the legendary creature that he believes can reunite him with his wife.
June 17 @ 6pm | June 20 @ 7pm | June 22 @ 6:30pm | June 23 @ 6:30pm | June 24 @ 6:30pm | June 25 @ 4pm

OUR COUNTRY
A Tony Asaro/Dan Collins Production benefiting GLAAD
Book by Dan Collins
Music & Lyrics by Tony Asaro
Outed in a public restroom, humiliated and abandoned by fans, Country Music sensation Tommy Dautry has gone from darling to derelict overnight. But now, in a one night only engagement (in the back room of The White Swallow) Tommy is back and ready to prove that gay or straight, left or right...it?s Our Country too!
June 21 @ 4:30pm | June 24 @ 4:30pm | June 26 @ 7pm | June 27 @ 8pm

RESIGNATIONS
A Boann Books and Media LLC production benefiting China Tomorrow Education Foundation
Written by John Kearns
Directed by Erin Smiley
Joy and Grace sit in the cubicles of an absurd office. Grace is growing content while Joy is getting restless. Over the course of a year, on five weekdays associated with five elements of Chinese medicine, the two Chinese-American friends struggle over their artistic dreams and their need for security.
June 11 @ 4pm | June 13 @ 8:30pm | June 15 @ 4pm | June 17 @ 8pm | June 21 @ 8:30pm | June 25 @ 6pm

THE IMAGINARY INVALID: BY PRESCRIPTION ONLY
An Aliza Shane production benefiting Hospice of New York
Based on Le Malade Imaginaire by Molière
Written and Directed by Aliza Shane
She?s got the symptoms... But her doctors are the real disease. Arganne is a wealthy, aging hypochondriac preyed upon by a gold-digging husband, a rebellious daughter and a chorus of drug-peddling incompetent doctors. Together, her maligned assistant and exasperated sister must figure how to get rid of the doctors and save Arganne?s life before it?s too late.
June 12 @ 4pm | June 13 @ 1:30pm | June 14 @ 5:30pm | June 18 @ 9:30pm |
June 20 @ 9pm | June 27 @ 12:30pm

THE KATRINA PROJECT: HELL AND HIGH WATER
An Adakia Entertainment production benefiting the Make It Right Foundation
Written by Michael Marks and Mackenzie Westmoreland
Directed by Mackenzie Westmoreland
A journey into the heart and soul of Hurricane Katrina?s survivors, based on actual interviews, collected stories and found texts, this play provides a voice to the greatest natural disaster in our country?s recorded history. You will experience the devastation, heartbreak, anger and ultimately, hope of the thousands affected by the category 5 storm.
June 12 @ 9:30pm | June 13 @ 3pm | June 15 @ 6:30pm | June 19 @ 9:30pm |
June 26 @ 5:30pm | June 27 @ 11am

THOSE WHISTLING LADS: THE POETRY AND SHORT STORIES OF Dorothy Parker
Produced by TimeSpace Theatre Company in association with Third Eye Theatre Company benefiting Safe Horizon
Adapted for the stage by Maureen Van Trease
Directed by Bricken Sparacino
Those Whistling Lads brings five light-hearted stories and five satirical poems of Dorothy Parker to life, drawing you into the world of loves and friendships that inspired them, from newlyweds to break-ups and waiting for that telephone call. A member of the famed 1920?s Algonquin Round Table and a critic for The New Yorker, she was well-known for her stinging witticisms.
June 16 @ 4:30pm | June 21 @ 6:30pm | June 24 @ 8:30pm | June 26 @ 9pm | June 28 @ 11 am

TWIN TOWERS
A Damian Wampler production benefiting ENACT
Written by Damian Wampler
Directed by Angela Astle
An Iraq war veteran returns to the Bronx after years at war in search of his childhood friend, also returned from years abroad. Twin Towers uses song, dance and action to tell of two best friends reunited and divided amongst the social and political turmoil of present day America.
June 12 @ 5:30pm | June 14 @ 9pm | June 17 @ 4pm | June 18 @ 4pm |
June 19 @ 7:30pm | June 28 @ 1pm

WAGON WHEEL
A Sandusky/Kremmyda production benefiting St. Jude Children?s Research Hospital
Book & Lyrics by Robin Sandusky
Music by Erato Kremmyda
Directed by Robert Heller
Musical Direction by Mark Evans
A Romany community struggles against the constant threat of persecution and racism from the outside world while becoming corroded from within by the power of its own secrets. As the threads of their tight-knit society unravel, they are forced to rediscover the ongoing and unwavering strength of kinship that defines their way of life.
June 14 @ 3:30pm | June 19 @ 4pm | June 21 @ 12:30pm | June 22 @ 8:30pm |
June 25 @ 8:30pm | June 27 @ 4:30pm

WAIT OF THE WORLD
Produced by Peter and Matt?s Production Company benefiting the Gynecologic Cancer Foundation
Written by Peter Dagger
Directed by Jeremy Bloom
Art by Sean Ward
Scientists underestimate the pull an individual can have on the planet. Their estimations don't take into account factors like heartbreak, loneliness, and longing. By my calculations, the Earth is far off its predicted orbit and will collide with the sun on precisely October 2, 2013.
June 13 @ 7pm | June 19 @ 6pm | June 20 @ 1:30pm | June 21 @ 11am |
June 26 @ 4pm | June 27 @ 6:30pm

THE WHITE BOX THEATER

AMERICA: A PROBLEM PLAY
Produced by On the Square Productions benefiting The Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership
Written and Directed by Deborah Wolfson
In modern Vienna, Duke Vincentio abandons his post, leaving crooked deputy, Angelo, as law enforcer. When Claudio is sentenced to death, his sister Isabella pleads his case- displaying how absolute power corrupts as hypocrisy clashes with justice. Incorporating The End of America and Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, America: A Problem Play takes on a timely political urgency.
June 12 @ 6:30pm | June 14 @ 1pm | June 21 @ 11am | June 22 @ 8:30pm |
June 25 @ 4pm

A PLAY ON WORDS
Produced by Tribe Productions benefiting City Critters
Written and Directed by J.C. Svec
Strangers, strained relations and unique circumstances force people to ?communicate? in three absurd one-act comedies. A bunny, stuffed in a duffle bag, confuses two individuals in The Guy. Four obnoxious individuals explore the ABC?s of standing in The Line. And The Body is just one big cliché.
June 12 @ 4:30pm | June 14 @ 5pm | June 15 @ 6:30pm | June 20 @ 7pm |
June 21 @ 9pm | June 24 @ 6:30pm

CAFÉ SUSTAINABLE & INSTANT HAPPY!
Café Sustainable - A Corcaigh Irlandese production benefiting EMBARQ and Endometriosis Foundation of America
Written by Corcaigh Irlandese
Directed by Nathan Brauner
Music by composer Stephane Wrembel (composer August 2008: USA Release of the Woody Allen movie Vicky Christina Barcelona, featuring Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and Scarlett Johansson)
&
Instant Happy! ? Produced by Wildwire Productions benefiting City Meals on Wheels
Written by Mark William Butler
Directed by Richard P. Butler
Two playwrights, two collections. Corcaigh Irlandese?s Café Sustainable: ?While NYC EMBARQs upon clean air, India embarks upon surrogate ware.? Nose Fob: a story with a certain air to it and Low Rent Wombs: India - the mother of outsourcing. Featuring: Mark William Butler?s Instant Happy! presents three different couples, three different places, three crazy little comedies!
June 11 @ 6:30pm | June 14 @ 11am | June 18 @ 8:30pm | June 24 @ 8:30pm |
June 27 @ 11am

CHILD OF HUNGRY TIMES
Produced by The New York Theatre Barn benefiting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids
Based on the works of Ludmila Petrushevskaya
Written & Performed by Bridget Bailey
Directed by Jay O'Berski
Bridget Bailey performs the New York premiere of her poignant and funny solo show based on the controversial writings of Soviet dramatist Ludmila Petrushevskaya. Child of Hungry Times reveals and revels in the lives of six women through the humor and heartache of living under the Soviet regime. A powerful evening filled with music, potatoes, and Russian jokes.
June 11 @ 4:30pm | June 12 @ 3pm | June 17 @ 6pm | June 20 @ 3pm | June 21 @ 1pm | June 27 @ 7pm

DICKINSON
An American International Theater, Inc. production benefiting Safe Horizon
Written by William Roetzheim
Directed by Al Germani
A well researched, enchanting story of a brilliant woman with a dazzling talent?and her struggle to evolve her personal, artistic and sexual identity, while battling inner and outer Demons. A magical journey presented through the one-night dream of a playwright struggling to write a play worthy of her genius.
June 13 @ 11am | June 14 @ 7pm | June 15 @ 8:30pm | June 17 @ 4pm |
June 19 @ 8:30pm | June 20 @ 1pm

MEREDITH?S RING & ANONYMOUS
Meredith?s Ring ? A White Rabbit Theatre production benefiting CEDARS.
Written by Andrew Rothkin
&
Anonymous
Produced by Cuchipinoy Productions benefiting CEDARS.
Written by Rodney E. Reyes
This double-bill evening features two original short plays. In Anonymous, a girl goes to a police station to anonymously give up her newborn but what she receives is more than what she hoped to leave. In Meredith?s Ring, nobody seemed to understand Meredith, the strange new girl who showed up at school one day. But A.J. didn't have to understand. He loved. And sometimes love is enough.
June 13 @ 1p | June 13 @ 7pm | June 14 @ 3pm | June 20 @ 11am | June 20 @ 5pm | June 21 @ 5pm

MONETIZING EMMA
A Felipe Ossa production benefiting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS
Written by Felipe Ossa
Directed by Leah Bonvissuto
Monetizing Emma follows a shy 15-year old who most days shuttles between bullies at school, a pushy mom and a fantasy life inspired by Jane Austen. But when investment bank Thackery Walsh makes her its new profit center, she?s forced to trade reality for something scarier ? and far more adult.
June 17 @ 8pm | June 19 @ 6pm | June 22 @ 4pm | June 23 @ 6pm | June 25 @ 8pm | June 26 @ 8pm

NEW BEULAH
A Shelby Company production benefiting Democracy Now
Written by Dan Moyer
New Beulah is a small town with big characters. Told through vignettes, an ensemble of eight actors play over thirty characters who struggle with the simple but overwhelming problems of daily life: love, loss, family, threatening conglomerates and Greenland. Tender, heartwarming and funny, this is a play you don?t want to miss.
June 11 @ 8:30pm | June 13 @ 5pm | June 16 @ 4pm | June 21 @ 3pm |
June 26 @ 6pm | June 27 @ 1pm

SUCKERS
Produced by Cross-Eyed Bear Productions benefiting the Red Cross Blood Bank
Written and Directed by Duncan Pflaster
Romaine and Jeff meet some fun folks who run a late-nite suburban coffee house, but never suspect that they?re actually vampires. Romaine?s cunning captures the imagination of Elvis, the leader of the group - will they be devoured, the victims of the political schemes of the undead, or will Romaine become their Vampire Queen?
June 16 @ 6:30pm | June 18 @ 6:30pm | June 20 @ 9pm | June 22 @ 6:30pm |
June 23 @ 4pm | June 24 @ 4:30pm | June 25 @ 6pm | June 27 @ 9pm

TRUTH OR... CONSEQUENCES
A Hogan/Lopez production benefiting The Oasis Project
Written by Brianne Hogan and Carla Lopez
Directed by Ashley Beam
Three distinctive women from various social classes and backgrounds in a pre-9/11 world. When one of them begins dating a student named Amir, different hostilities are ignited within the women for different reasons, eventually unearthing tensions regarding prejudices, leading to devastating and horrific consequences.
June 12 @ 8:30pm | June 14 @ 9pm | June 15 @ 4:30pm | June 16 @ 8:30pm |
June 18 @ 4:30pm

WRESTLING THE ALLIGATOR
A Conflict of Interest Theatre Company production benefiting City Harvest
Written by Sergei Burbank
Directed by Adam Karsten
A professor of notorious behavior and diminishing renown is bolstered by his assistant (who does the lion?s share of the work). This delicate balance is upset when the professor meets his most vituperative critic?an undergraduate columnist?spurring a chain reaction of revelation and betrayal that spirals beyond anyone?s control.
June 13 @ 9pm | June 19 @ 4pm | June 21 @ 7pm | June 23 @ 8:30pm |
June 26 @ 4pm | June 27 @ 3pm

READINGS/SPECIAL EVENTS @ THE Robert Moss THEATER

HOWLING HILDA
A Berlin/Bleckner production benefiting Women?s Sports Foundation
Book & Lyrics by Anne Berlin
Music by Andrew Bleckner
Directed by Valentina Fratti
Howling Hilda is a one-woman musical that tells the story of Hilda Chester, the greatest Dodgers fan. Thwarted from playing baseball because she was a woman, she spent a lifetime cheering. An institution at Ebbets Field she was notorious for her clanging cowbells, frying pan and iron ladle.
June 15 @ 2pm

THE JAMB
A Bowden Square Production benefiting Raising Malawi Academy for Girls
Written by J. Stephen Brantley
Directed by Jonathan Worman
Tuffer and Roderick are turning forty. While Tuffer smokes, snorts, and screws his way through Manhattan?s gay male population, Roderick goes straight for activism and martial arts. After another failed intervention, Roderick drags Tuffer and his latest boy-toy to rural New Mexico - and into a spiritual desert, almost somewhere, in the jamb.
June 16 @ 2pm

THE 40-FOOT TALL JESUS STATUE & HATE MYSELF IN THE MORNING
The 40-Foot Tall Jesus Statue ? Presented by Pistorius Productions benefiting Amnesty International
Written by Glory Bowen
Directed by Amber Gallery
&
Hate Myself in the Morning ? Presented by Pistorius Productions benefiting Amnesty International
Written by Duncan Pflaster
Directed by Amber Gallery
A Catholic, a Wiccan, a Hawaiian Mormon and a talking statue of Jesus result in a new understanding of the value of friendship. Hey, stranger things have happened. Here?s one: A police officer goes home with a woman he meets in a bar for some kinky fun. The next morning, he finds he?s in for much more than a simple one-night stand. Come find out why this is the stranger of the two stories!
June 19 @ 2pm
Suggested $6 donation

HERS
An Ashley Jacobson production benefiting Sanctuary for Families *In memory of Patrice D?Onofrio
Written by Ashley Jacobson
Directed by Nadine Friedman
When their mother unexpectedly arrives at Steely?s doorstep, Steely is forced to confront her claustrophobic fears of daughterhood and the unusual symptoms of her mother?s breakdown. Meanwhile, her sister Dana begins to deteriorate from her loneliness. With wine, Sylvia Plath, and spiders, Hers shows us just how women in a family can love after the father has cast them aside.
June 23 @ 2pm
Suggested $6 donation

AN EVENING OF PERFORMANCES
Dedicated to the Planet Connections Theatre Festivity Staff
An Amber Gallery production benefiting ASPCA
Directed by Associate Producer Amber Gallery
Starring the Planet Connections Interns
Come and celebrate some of the people who help make Planet Connections Festivity a reality in an evening of theatre showcasing their many talents!
June 23 @ 8:30pm

SURFACING
A Julia Martin production benefiting Food Bank for New York
Written by Julia Stirling Martin
Directed by Ellen Orenstein
Years after Mandy?s disappearance, she and her college boyfriend, Bobby, meet up by accident on a film set. Their encounter unleashes the questions of the past that hound their lives in the present. Sometimes funny, sometimes searing, Surfacing is a rollercoaster ride of blame, fear and, ultimately, intimacy.
June 24 @ 2pm

HAPPY NEW YEAR, LADY LOU!
Presented by The Entertainment Agora benefiting MCC Homeless Youth Service -- Sylvia's Place
Written and Directed by David Gaard
Boozy, brassy drag king, Lou, is a beloved member of New York?s downtown club scene; a long hidden secret in his past makes nightmare problems in his present; his fellow desperadoes, divas, drag queens, trannies and dykes come to his rescue and create whole new meaning of the word FAMILY!
June 25 @ 2pm

SPOTLIGHT ON VARIETY TONIGHT
A Spotlight On Production benefiting Planet Connections Theatre Festivity
Frank Calo brings his successful variety show to Planet Connections Theatre Festivity. The variety show always boasts an eclectic array of talent and this festival ending extravaganza will be no exception! The show includes a running auction of strange and wondrous items! A real don?t miss!
June 27 @ 5pm

Tickets to the performances are $18 at the door. Available online at http://www.planetconnectionsfestivity.com or by calling 866-811-4111. Tickets may also be purchased in-person at the Theatre Box Office, 30 minutes prior to showtime.

Tickets to the readings are suggested donations.

Planet Connections Theatre Festivity is committed to producing high-quality theater, with non-traditional casting, unique perspectives, political theater and more! All of the productions are curated and created with the hope of inspiring cultural education and human understanding. Planet Connections Theatre Festivity is a not-for-profit organization, fiscally sponsored by Fractured Atlas.