Hinton Battle and More to Participate in 4th Annual Planet Connections Theatre Festivity

The full lineup has been announced for the Planet Connections Theatre Festivity, New York's premiere eco-friendly/socially-conscious theatre festival which is set to take place from May 30^th through June 24^th, occupying both theater spaces (Upstairs and Downstairs) at 45 Bleecker Street.

 This summer, the festivity will feature nearly fifty productions including new comedies, dramas and musicals, riveting docu-theater and solo pieces, one-acts, and developmental/staged readings. During the Festivity, each show partners with a charity and some of the ways they offer support are soliciting donations at shows, holding special benefit performances, fundraisers and/or talkbacks after performances with representatives from the charity. 

Among the featured talents and productions in this summer's festivity are three-time Tony award-winner Hinton Battle who is overseeing the musical arrangements for What We Do for Love, a musical revue about relationships, looked at through Top-40 hit songs of the past four decades; the powerful docu-theater dramaTrafficked which was constructed by actual interviews tells the story of sex slavery and child exploitation through the eyes of fifteen young women across the globe; experimental dance-theater piece 4 Sustenancewhich examines the complexity of our relationships with the planet and with each other through multiple stories and a fusion of music, movement and spoken text; and Stephan Davis' moving new musical A Dance for Rylie¸ a gay love story which focuses on the declining health of Rylie and the hospital policy that keeps his partner, Matthew away. 

Other highlights include Duncan Pflaster's Ancient Greece-set erotic comedy Empress of Sex (which will feature direction from Planet Connections Artistic Director/Founder Glory Kadigan); Jewish ghost storyBubby's Shadow; a musical adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo; docu-theater comedy The Bad Date Project; Twelfth Night: Wall Street which is set in the modern day financial sector and highlights the current gender bias and power-play in the American work place; Pageant Princess, the Musical, which is inspired by the TLC show Toddlers & Tiaras and showcases three young aspiring pageant princesses and their off-beat families in their quest for the crown; and The American Play which focuses on two male college students who are damagingly inspired by the work of author Brett Easton Ellis as they try to define themselves as men and wreak havoc on campus. The two-man play incorporates an all-female dance company in creating a heightened, surreal and modern environment.

The festivity lineup also includes dramas a brief history of thyme, Firework for Real, In the Wilderness,Safe, and WEBEIME; comedies Accidental Incest: Someone for Everyone, Acts of Love, Civilization!, Hot Steams, The Taint of Equality ~or~ I Want Your Sex, and Ye Elizabeths; solo shows Faith, Fishin'In Brooklyn, Patrick Burns: From Foster Care to Fabulous, and See Bob Run; multimedia productions Baby Plays the Banjo and B=Essence, and one-acts Adapting and Deuteranomaly (paired together), Bed and The Closet (paired together), Bridge to Baraka and Naked Brazilian (paired together), and Scene/Unseen andSmacker and The Highway (paired together). A production of the musical Falsettos will also be a part of the festivity lineup.

Some of the charities this year's productions have partnered with include Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Jewish Social Services Hospice, American Red Cross of Greater New York, Planned Parenthood, Amnesty International, the Rainforest Alliance, The Children's Aid Society, UJA of New York, Safe Horizon, and the Wildlife Federation. 

Fostering a diverse cross-section of performances, the Planet Connections Theatre Festivity seeks to inspire artists and audiences both creatively and fundamentally, in a festive atmosphere. At the heart of the Festivity are like-minded individuals striving to create professional, meaningful theatre, while supporting organizations which give back to the community. "Green Theatre" is also an important aspect of Planet Connections; each year they educate participating artists on how they can make a difference by continuing to create great art while reducing their carbon footprint.

For more information on the festivity, the full lineup and scheduling information, and to purchase tickets (priced at $18), please visit www.PlanetConnections.org.