2015 Planet Connections Theatre Festivity Kicks Off Next Month; Lineup Announced!
By: BWW News Desk May. 19, 2015
Planet Connections Theatre Festivity, the country's premier socially-conscious, eco-friendly arts festival, is proud to announce its seventh season of plays, musicals & staged readings, with all shows taking place at The Paradise Factory, 64 East 4th St, between 2nd Avenue & Bowery. Tickets for Full Production shows are $18, with general admission seating. Tickets for the Staged Reading Series are free, but a ticket is required for entry. Tickets are available for purchase online at www.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/27385, or by calling OvationTix at 866-811-4111.
This year's Festivity selections encompass the worlds of sci-fi, romantic comedy, memoirs, life before and after death, and social justice. Artists returning to this year's Festivity include Rising Sun Theatre Company (The Firebird) and Ego Actus (Atlantis Unearthed, Emerald Girl and Committed).
Highlights of this year's Festivity include The Long Rail North, about an African-American Civil War soldier who risks everything to save a young girl; Chokehold, in which five friends go from marching against police brutality to seeking their own justice; The Education Project, drawn from hundreds of hours of interviews with teachers, parents and students about the state of American schools; In Our Own Voice: Women Veterans Tell Their Story, drawn from actual stories from women who have returned from serving in Iraq and Afghanistan; and Citizen Cyborg, a hybrid adaptation of a groundbreaking text on how transhuman technologies like cloning and stem cell research are outpacing legislation and democracy.
The Staged Readings Series is headlined by Kidnap Road, written by noted award-winning playwright Catherine Filloux, about Ingrid Betancourt, the Colombian politician & anti-corruption activist who was held hostage in the jungle for over 6 years. Other notable selections are Committed, a historical imagining of the last two days of activist Theo Van Gogh's life before his murder; and Blind Crest, about the real-life romance between a convicted cop killer and a prison guard, and the fallout that results.
With 31 full-length productions, 10 staged readings, a two-night film festival and countless music festival events, this year's Festivity truly has something for everyone. As part of the Festivity, each production has partnered with charitable organizations like the ASPCA, Democracy Now, Women For Women International, and Hospice of New York to raise money and awareness for their important causes.
Planet Connections Festivity is designed to invoke the power of art in motivating philanthropy, community outreach and social change. Within the Festivity are multiple theater, film and music festivals. Planet Connections' artists use their work to shed light on the causes that matter, while inspiring audiences to get involved. All of our artists raise awareness for an organization/topic of their own selection. We are also the country's first eco-friendly arts festivity as all our artists work to create eco-conscious art by revising their marketing, design and rehearsal techniques. Planet Connections artists are introduced to a community of like-minded theater makers, film makers and music makers. The relationships formed during the festivity allow our artists to find new audiences and forge new partnerships. www.planetconnections.org
FULL LENGTH PRODUCTIONS:
Aftermath
Benefiting National Disaster Search Dog Foundation
Written and Directed by JC Svec
Downstairs Theatre, 90 minutes
Aftermath explores, in a mostly comedic way, very different perspectives on the end of life and what follows in the afterlife. Will corporate sponsorship be needed to help with expenses? What problems do we leave for our loved ones? Are we really deceased when we're buried and... well, then where do we go from there? Logical situations will be presented in a very uniquely illogical way in Aftermath.
Friday, 6/17/15, 630pm
Monday, 6/20/15, 500pm
Friday, 6/24/15, 830pm
Monday, 6/27/15, 215pm
Blanche on a Winter's Eve
Benefiting Gay Men's Health Crisis
Written by J.P. Makowski
Directed by Danny Gorman
Downstairs Theatre, 75 minutes
After the appearance of a heavenly vision on Christmas Eve promises the arrival of a perfect and true love, our hero(ine) journeys through snow, sleet, and a den of hipsters, all in pursuit of romance. Will it be found before Christmas morning or was the whole adventure in vain?
Tuesday, 6/21/15, 900pm
Tuesday, 6/28/15, 800pm
Saturday, 7/2/15, 700pm
Tuesday, 7/5/15, 930pm
Monday, 7/11/15, 315pm
Black Hole Wedding
Benefiting Natural Resources Defense Council
Written by Katherine Brann Fredricks and Paul Edward Nelson
Directed by Katherine Brann Fredricks
Upstairs Theatre, 120 minutes
Oil baron Dean captures and warehouses renewable energy discoveries. Alpha-geek Raymond fights back, with true love and a black hole trash compactor. Will Dean feed Raymond fiancé to the black hole, in his campaign to promote capitalism by crushing competition? Find out in the zany musical satire Black Hole Wedding.
Friday, 6/26/15, 700pm
Saturday, 6/27/15, 845pm
Sunday, 7/5/15, 1200pm
Friday, 7/10/15, 400pm
Blizzard A Love Story / Trust In Chariots / Years May Go By
Upstairs Theatre, 90 minutes
Blizzard A Love Story
Benefiting Planned Parenthood
Written by Melissa Skirboll
Directed by Lori Kee
In this serio-comic look at love and letting go, an epic snowstorm shuts the city down. With no way to get home, Ian shows up at his ex-girlfriend's door looking for a place to crash and a chance to revive their relationship. With the weather forcing them together, Ian and Lacey rehash the past. And though it's clear they love each other, they are unable to find any shelter in each other - for them the storm outside reflects their love; beautiful and oh so destructive.
Trust In Chariots
Benefiting God's Love We Deliver
Written and Directed by Roderic Wachovsky
When a mysterious young man X answers a Craigslist ad to help Grant, nephew of an elderly man provide proper care, he becomes a catalyst for fear, distrust and violence. X is the unknown factor. Motives are called into question. Earl lives in a state of mental confusion and deterioration. He summons the life he shared with his deceased partner and finds his own behavior wanting. In particular, the government's violation of his privacy when neither decency nor law could protect him, is a trauma with which he has never fully come to terms. Suspicion and concealment of the past become entwined with doubt and misgiving in the present.
Years May Go By
Benefiting City Meals on Wheels
Written by Julie Hays
Directed by Rod McLachlan
What if, years later, you randomly encounter "the one that got away" would you still feel the flame? What would you want to know? What would you dare to ask? These are the questions Ben and Laila face one fateful day outside the subway station.
Wednesday, 6/24/15, 745pm
Thursday, 6/25/15, 500pm
Sunday, 6/28/15, 1200pm
Wednesday, 7/1/15, 500pm
Friday, 7/3/15, 920pm
Buddhas Are Screaming In China
Benefiting Big Life Foundation
Written and Directed by Maggie Surovell
Choreographed by Jill Echo
Upstairs Theatre, 50 minutes
Buddhas are Screaming in China is a play about love, luck, loss, and Elephants. Hai'ou is studying the conservation of endangered species when she is forced to confront her mother who buys ivory Buddhas for good luck. As we follow Hai'ou's journey, we witness a family of life size elephant puppets trying to survive.
Tuesday, 6/23/15, 800pm
Saturday, 6/27/15, 1230pm
Monday, 6/29/15, 600pm
Friday, 7/3/15, 800pm
Sunday, 7/5/15, 645pm
Monday, 7/7/15, 715pm
The Colonel's Wife
Benefiting THE LIT Fund
Written by Mario Fratti
Directed by Roi Escudero
Upstairs Theatre, 70 minutes
An isolated woman in exile confides her secret fantasies to the audience. Her romantic journey deceives her. Beneath passion and desire, a bare cruel truth surprises her. Sexuality, politics and darker comedy mesh cabaret, performance-art and film to tell a tale of hope led astray.
Saturday, 6/20/15, 300pm
Thursday, 6/25/15, 930pm
Saturday, 6/27/15, 700pm
Sunday, 6/28/14, 545pm
Tuesday, 6/30/15, 600pm
Chokehold
Benefiting Democracy Now
Written by Anthony P. Pennino
Directed by Alberto Bonilla
Upstairs Theatre, 75 minutes
When marching against police brutality no longer seems enough, five friends launch a desperate plan to rebalance the scales of justice. What they will discover is that violence - even if the cause seems righteous - can come at too high a cost.
Friday, 6/19/15, 915pm
Sunday, 6/21/15, 400pm
Monday, 6/29/15, 730pm
Saturday, 7/4/15, 230pm
Monday, 7/6/15, 730pm
Wednesday, 7/8/15, 630pm
Citizen Cyborg
Benefiting Democracy Now
Adapted and Directed by Neal Utterback
Downstairs Theatre, 90 minutes
In 2004, Dr. James Hughes published Citizen Cyborg, one of the groundbreaking texts on transhumanism and democracy. In this inspiring text, Hughes suggests that transhuman technologies-technologies like stem cell research, cloning, and artificial intelligence that radically redefine humanness and personhood-are emerging and evolving at an exponential rate. Our democracy, on the other hand, is lagging behind and is currently not equipped to ensure that these technologies will be available to the most people and safely regulated. Our adaptation of Citizen Cyborg is, in itself, a kind of cyborg. It is a hybrid fusion of Shakespeare, Greek tragedy, and seminal works in science fiction and fantasy, as well as Hughes' text. The play examines the implications of these technologies and changing societal and ethical implications of such advances. To understand the future we must look to the past.
Saturday, 6/27/15, 415pm
Sunday, 6/28/15, 145pm
Monday, 6/29/15, 630pm
Sunday, 7/5/15, 530pm
Tuesday, 7/7/15, 730pm
Friday, 7/10/15, 700pm
Corner's Grove
Benefiting WIN [Women in Need]
Written by Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin
Directed by Gemma Kaneko
Upstairs Theatre, 120 minutes
A reverent nod to Our Town by Thornton Wilder, this play follows a group of young people in the town of Corner's Grove from high school into adulthood as they deal with leaving home, falling in love, gender identity, and the death of Whitney Houston. It's a story about growing up and hometowns, friendship and drinking in parking lots.
Wednesday, 7/1/15, 700pm
Friday, 7/3/15, 330pm
Saturday, 7/4/15, 415pm
Friday, 7/10/15, 830pm
Saturday, 7/11/15, 900pm
Crave
Benefiting To Write Love On Her Arms
Written by Sarah Kane
Directed by Sarah M. Chichester
Upstairs Theatre, 75 minutes
A fractured timeline and ruptured soul, begins at both ends and meets in violent discord. Crave charts the disintegration of a human mind under the pressures of love, loss, and desire.
Sunday, 6/21/15, 500pm
Friday, 6/26/15, 545pm
Friday, 7/3/15, 900pm
Monday, 7/6/15, 500pm
Saturday, 7/11/15, 1200pm
Crystal Romance
Benefiting NIDA The National Institute of Drug Abuse
Written and Directed by Lenny Schwartz
Downstairs Theatre, 70 minutes
Crystal Romance is a play about two meth addicts who are struggling to find their souls. Rachel meets Charlie at a party. She is very young and has never even had a drink of alcohol, much less tried any drugs. Charlie convinces Rachel to try crystal meth with him. She becomes instantly addicted. She also falls in love with Charlie. What follows is a hard hitting, emotional look at meth addiction, love, and humanity. Less than ten percent of those who try meth ever recover. This play is about the hope of one.
Friday, 6/26/15, 400pm
Saturday, 6/27/15, 615pm
Sunday, 6/28/15,1200pm
Cygnus ISA Summer Con5t3ll4tion
Benefiting World Wildlife Foundation
Playwright Steven Mark Tenney
Co-Director Steven Mark Tenney
Co-Director Susan Tenney
Upstairs Theatre, 110 minutes
Teich Lumen, spaceship pilot, is called upon to return a "back-up copy" of Earth to the Cygnus Star System. En route he encounters a telepathic prodigy, the darkly shrouded Inner System Authority, a band of Cygnian artists covertly shooting an art film on Earth, two college students, and his muse.
Saturday, 6/20/15, 445pm
Friday, 6/26/15, 430pm
Saturday, 6/27/15, 430pm
Tuesday, 6/30/15, 745pm
Tuesday, 7/7/15, 845pm
Saturday, 7/11/15, 430pm
Dutch
Benefiting Aplastic Anemia and MDS International Foundation
Written by Paul Weissman
Directed by Fred Backus
Downstairs Theatre, 90 minutes
Dutch begins with a young couple on a first date. They are having a grand time. The check arrives and after some awkward hesitation, they split it. From this simple act flowers a romantic comedy about expectations, acceptance compromise and the lengths we will go to resist the terrifying clarion call of love.
Wednesday, 6/17/15, 430pm
Friday, 6/19/15, 700pm
Tuesday, 6/23/15, 800pm
Tuesday, 6/30/15, 500pm
Sunday, 7/5/15, 100pm
Easier Said Than Done
Benefiting The Hunker Down INNitiative
Written by Paul DeSena
Directed by Kristen Penner
Downstairs Theatre, 90 minutes
Five years after college, Nathan and Catherine's marriage needs an overhaul. As they and their college friends, Nikki and Justin, struggle to rebuild their relationships in the shadow of a destructive affair, everyone must make the choice whether to live the old life you planned, or create the new life you want.
Thursday, 6/18/15, 800pm
Sunday, 6/21/15, 300pm
Sunday, 6/28/15, 400pm
Monday, 6/29/15, 830pm
Thursday, 7/9/15, 400pm
The Education Project
Benefiting (to be announced)
Produced by MCVTS Theatre and Pegasus51/Theatre
Directed by Maria Aladren
Downstairs Theatre, 90 minutes
Few other subjects raise more controversy and diverse opinions than the state of education in the USA. And yet no other topic is more relevant to parents, students and teachers in the education system. MCVTS Theatre students took upon themselves to gather hundreds of hours of interviews of all these stakeholders of the education system and turned that material into a raw, unapologetic look at day-to-day education from all three perspectives-with their own music thrown in for good measure. Join us, as the future generation of leaders and artists talk about their own views of getting an education in the USA.
Tuesday, 6/23/15, 600pm
Thursday, 7/2/15, 300pm
Saturday, 7/4/15, 1130am
Wednesday, 7/8/15, 600pm
Friday, 7/10/15, 300pm
Elise: A New Musical
Benefiting Safe Horizon
Music and Lyrics by Jamen Nanthakumar
Book and Lyrics by Liana Wright-Mark
Directed by Katherine Wilkins
Upstairs Theatre, 90 minutes
Elise is a folk-western musical about a fourteen year-old girl, Elise, who is brought up in a brothel in 1910 Stockton, California. After her mother's mysterious death, the Madame of the Brothel, Vera, takes Elise under her wing, where she finds love, sex, and the lust of revenge.
Saturday, 6/20/15, 100pm
Sunday, 6/21/15, 600pm
Tuesday, 6/30/15, 400pm
Sunday, 6/28/15, 800pm
Wednesday, 7/8/15, 400pm
The Firebird
Benefiting Wounded Warrior Project
Written by Tim Errickson
Directed by Brian Gillepsie
Upstairs Theatre, 120 minutes
Dan comes home to Brooklyn neighborhood of his youth with a mission to stop his best friend, Ricky, from destroying himself. Ricky thinks he's the prince of the block, despite looming debt and a creeping sense of danger all around. Pride, love, lust, and memory challenge whether either of them will be able to outrun their fate.
Thursday, 6/25/15, 700pm
Thursday, 7/2/15, 500pm
Sunday, 7/5/15, 230pm
Monday, 7/6/15, 500pm
Wednesday, 7/8/15, 815pm
Saturday, 7/11/15, 200pm
Hopeless
Benefiting The Children's Aid Society of New York City
Written and Directed By Vinny Eden Ortega
Downstairs Theatre, 90 minutes
Inspired by true stories, Hopeless tells the story of siblings Ren and Van who are thrust into the inner-city kingdom of Wonderland. Through this incisive narrative, Hopeless gives voices to the untold stories of our nation's adolescents surviving, struggling, and ruling the inner-city.
Thursday, 6/18/15, 400pm
Saturday, 6/20/15, 1100am
Thursday, 6/25/15, 730pm
Wednesday, 7/1/15, 630pm
Sunday, 7/5/15, 730pm
Thursday, 7/9/15, 600pm
In Our Own Voice: Women Veterans Tell Their Story
Benefiting Women for Women International
Written by Beverley Coyle
Directed by Colleen Britton
Downstairs Theatre, 60 minutes
What do you do when you're a young woman and a recent veteran - when the hell of war is being eclipsed by the hell of coming home? In Our Own Voice is a lively and funny but devastating interchange between young women who've just come back from Iraq and Afghanistan. They know way more about war than their families want to know they know.
Wednesday, 6/24/15, 430pm
Monday, 6/29/15, 500pm
Thursday, 7/2/15, 845pm
Friday, 7/3/15, 600pm
Thursday, 7/9/15, 800pm
Saturday, 7/11/15, 145pm
The Long Rail North
Benefiting Rebuilding Together
Written and Directed by Michael Hagins
Downstairs Theatre, 80 minutes
The Long Rail North takes place during the brutal days of 1863, when the Carolinas were ripped apart by the Civil War. Private Thomas Morgan (Xavier Rodney) leaves his regiment to rescue a little girl named Molly Barnes (Morgan Patton) from her plantation, ripped apart and set ablaze by a nearby battle. Taking her on one of the few remaining working trains, Thomas risks everything to protect her from both Union and Confederate armies who are pursuing them both with merciless determination.
Sunday, 6/21/15, 100pm
Thursday, 6/25/15, 430pm
Tuesday, 6/30/15, 700pm
Saturday, 7/4/15, 400pm
Wednesday, 7/8/15, 800pm
Saturday, 7/11/15, 500pm
Lost In Place
Benefiting Coalition for the Homeless
Written & Directed by Secondhand Theatre Company
Upstairs Theatre, 90 minutes
Lost In Place is a collaborative exploration by the Secondhand Theatre Company, a look back at the "Now" through the neo-vaudevillian orators of a future generation. Return to the birth of storytelling with us! Dance around fires while aiming a playful, yet critical eye at our modern society.
Saturday, 6/20/15, 11am
Sunday, 6/21/15, 1200pm
Monday, 6/29/15, 400pm
Saturday, 7/4/15, 1200pm
Monday, 7/6/15, 915pm
Friday, 7/10/15, 630pm
The Other Day
Benefiting Bacchus Network
Written by Mark Jason Williams
Directed by Andrew Block
Upstairs Theatre, 70 minutes
Winner of the Planet Connections Award for Outstanding Playwriting, The Other Day is a poignant and comedic drama in which four characters embark on an unexpected journey through love, insecurities, addiction, betrayal, loss and redemption that will redefine their relationships, and themselves, in surprising ways.
Friday, 6/19/15, 730pm
Punk Grandpa
Benefiting The New York Branch of The Alzheimer's Association
Written by Laura Scruggs
Directed by Emmi Hilger
Downstairs Theatre, 60 minutes
Punk Grandpa is the story of how Laura did not fit into her family, church or other social groups and how her grandpa helped her find her identity and realize that it's okay to be different. The show takes place over one magical weekend when she was 5 3/4 years old and exhibits her grandpa's unique sense of humor and reckless, abandoned approach to life! The story is portrayed through storytelling, music, dance, family photos & film footage and a little bit of puppetry.
Friday, 6/19/15, 900pm
Saturday, 6/20/15, 300pm
Sunday, 6/21/15, 645pm
Searching For Connection: A Tom Slot Musical Theatre Review
Benefiting ASPCA
Written and Directed by Tom Slot
Upstairs Theatre, 90 minutes
An evening of musical theater featuring songs and scenes from three Tom Slot musicals: Dream 70, an adaption of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream set in Athens, Georgia in 1970; The Father of Songs, a rock opera based on the myth of Orpheus; and the children's musical Girls Can't Be Superheroes. Love. Pain. Rock n' Roll.
Saturday, 6/20/15, 730pm
Sitting Regal By The Window
Benefiting Democracy Now
Written and Directed by Aya Aziz
Downstairs Theatre, 90 minutes
A self divided among stories can only be made whole through storytelling. Aya Aziz grew up between social worlds, some across the ocean, some across the street. Sitting Regal By The Window is her semi-autobiographical debut, a performance of exaggerated memories and original songs from her life as a Ghetto-Hippie-Arab-Commie-China Doll. Aya tells her stories as a way of reclaiming history and fighting the erasure of the communities that shaped her.
Thursday, 7/2/15, 500pm
Saturday, 7/4/15, 130pm
Monday, 7/6/15, 830pm
Friday, 7/10/15, 500pm
Sometimes Gay Means Happy
Benefiting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS
Written and Directed by Angela Theresa Egic
Upstairs Theatre, 70 minutes
It's 1988. Tori, a newscaster, announces the heart attack of her estranged Broadway legend father, Victor, during breaking news. Tori soon learns Victor is dying. His last wish is to reunite with his eldest daughter, and meet his only grandchild. Will Tori grant his wish?
Monday, 6/22/15, 730pm
Friday, 6/26/15, 930pm
Sunday, 6/28/15, 200pm
Wednesday, 7/1/15, 930pm
Sunday, 7/5/15, 500pm
Tuesday, 7/7/15, 530pm
Taking Flight: Songs of Hope
Benefiting Standing on the Side of Love
Written by Sarah Jebian*
*appearing courtesy of Actor's Equity Association (Equity Approved Showcase)
Directed by Robb Hillman
Downstairs Theatre, 60 minutes
Created in 2013 by Unitarian Universalist musician and social activist, Sarah Jebian, Taking Flight tackles the hot button issues of gender equality, reproductive justice, and LGBT equality. This powerful program combines personal stories that nearly everyone can relate to, with glorious music from musical theater and popular genres.
Friday, 6/26/15, 730pm
Saturday, 6/27/15, 800pm
Wednesday, 7/1/15, 430pm
Monday, 7/6/15, 700pm
Tuesday, 7/7/15, 600pm
Tech Support: Circe and J Train
Benefiting The Candle Lighters NYC
Directed by Melissa Meli
Circe, Written by Michael Hagins
J Train, Written by Dianna Tucker Baritot
Downstairs Theatre, 105 minutes
For everyone who spends too much time staring at a phone, or stuck underground on the subway, Circe and J Train explore how technology come-to-life could inspire deeper, more meaningful communication. Two original one-acts dealing with devices, separation, and a little bit of magic.
Saturday, 6/20/15, 800pm
Wednesday, 6/24/15, 600pm
Friday, 6/26/15, 900pm
Wednesday, 7/1/15, 830pm
Sunday, 7/5/15, 300pm
When The Party's Over
Benefiting World Wildlife Foundation
Written by Glory Kadigan
Directed by Eric Mercado
Upstairs Theatre, 90 minutes
Broadway actress Anna takes her mother Adriana on an Alaskan vacation in the hope of repairing their terse relationship. It's "all aboard" as the ladies sail off, but Anna and the other passengers get more than they bargained for on their magical glacial adventure as Anna encounters ghosts from the past
Thursday, 6/18/15, 430pm
Monday, 6/22/15, 845pm
Sunday, 6/28/15, 345pm
Friday, 7/3/15, 600pm
Saturday, 7/11/15, 700pm
Sunday, 7/12/15, 1100am
Wildlife
Benefiting Neighborhood Cats
Written By Hope Weiner
Directed By Sarah M. Chichester
Downstairs Theatre, 60 minutes
A theatrical safari that will blow your mind - but not your budget. Whale Ho!!! Rats! Roaches! Pigs! And a live dinosaur! A sixty-minute voyage of a lifetime.
Thursday, 6/18/15, 600pm
Saturday, 6/20/15, 100pm
Sunday, 6/21/15, 1100am
Monday, 6/22/15, 800pm
Women & Children
Benefiting SAGE (Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, & Transgender Elders)
Written & Directed by Michael Boothroyd
Upstairs Theatre, 60 minutes
After years of dodging obstacles, from prejudice, inequality, plaques, and grindr, a group of NYC gay men realize they landed on their feet. However, when a straight man, separated from his wife and children, interrupts their dinner, they struggle to make sense of the choices they made and the paths they took.
Wednesday, 6/17/15, 745pm
Sunday, 6/21/15, 200pm
Tuesday, 6/23/15, 930pm
Wednesday, 6/24/15, 430pm
Tuesday, 7/7/15, 400pm
Thursday, 7/9/15, 600pm
STAGED READINGS SERIES
Atlantis Unearthed
Benefiting Rainforest Alliance
Written by Cecilia Copeland
Directed by Joan Kane
Upstairs Theatre
Friday, 6/26/15, 1:30pm
Four Manhattanites and a Fairy-Mermaid Cross are making their way through your typical mass shootings, civil unrest and global ecological meltdown, while trying to get laid, when the island cracks open and Atlantis rises to either destroy us or save us from ourselves!
Blind Crest
Benefiting StreetWise Partners
Written by Monet Hurst-Mendoza
Directed by Katherine M. Carter
Upstairs Theatre
Thursday, 7/2/15, 1:30pm
A dark twist on the "boy-meets-girl" and inspired by the unfolding true story of Ronell Wilson and Nancy Gonzalez, Blind Crest forces us to ask, "what is the value of a human life, and at what cost are we willing to fight for it?"
Committed
Benefiting Amnesty International
Written by Natalie Menna
Directed by Joan Kane
Downstairs Theatre
Tuesday, 7/7/15, 1:30pm
Committed is a work of historical fiction about the last two days of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh's life before his murder. When his highly controversial and vulgar documentary - intended to portray the abuse of women under extreme Islam - causes a tremendous uproar in Amsterdam and abroad, Theo spirals rapidly downward. The play explores the collision of an artist's radical temperament and unyielding vision with modern political realities and the inevitable tragedy when uncompromising values clash. Can friendship, family, or love save Theo from his biggest threat- himself?
Emerald Girl
Benefiting Women for Women International
Written by Penny Jackson
Directed by Joan Kane
Downstairs Theatre
Tuesday, 6/30/15, 1:30pm
Dan, an NYU film student, meets pregnant Maureen at a wedding in Ireland. Failing to find her baby's father in New York, Maureen tracks Dan down, only to find out that he is married. Can these two star crossed souls ever find each other?
Let's Call It Osmosis
Benefiting RAINN
Written & Directed by Scott Kesselman
Downstairs Theatre
Wednesday, 7/8/15, 1:30pm
All of this is not by chance. Explore the hidden forces of nature that seek to find balance in the most simple systems, like water through a cell membrane, to the infinitely complex interactions that determine our fate and our perception of life.
Kidnap Road
Benefiting Girl Scouts of NYC
Written by Catherine Filloux
Directed by Stan Cahill
Upstairs Theatre
Saturday, 6/27/15, 2pm
Colombian politician, senator and anti-corruption activist Ingrid Betancourt was held hostage in the jungle for over 6 years. This story is imagined as a two-person play based in part on those events. Written by award-winning playwright Catherine Filloux, Kidnap Road is a poetic drama about a woman's political choice, the trauma of survival and what memory will come to hold.
The artistic team plans to bring the play to Edinburgh in 2016.
Null and Void
Benefiting The Actors Fund
Written by Charles Gersham
Directed by Sarah Chichester
Downstairs Theatre
Thursday, 7/9/15, 1:30pm
Thad, a disbarred lawyer, and Jean, an art history professor, are divorcing. The night before Jean is to move out, Thad presents her with a painting by her favorite artist, and with the artist himself. Will Thad's grand gesture help him win Jean back from the arms of her department chair?
Something Sudden 5wept 0v3r Me
Benefiting World Wildlife Foundation
Playwright Steven Mark Tenney
Co-Directors Steven Mark Tenney & Susan Tenney
Downstairs Theatre
Wednesday, 6/24/15, 1:30pm
Norbit Ufowatchin discovers that both his professor and the fellow graduate student he is romantically smitten with are aliens. They have devised a mission for him- the goal of which is to open a portal and make world changing contact with the Nor, an ultra- advanced civilization mysteriously unnoticed on Earth.
The People From Porlock
Written by Stephen Aubrey
Directed by Jess Chayes
Downstairs Theater
Tuesday, 6/23/15, 1:30pm
Funded by a shadowy cabal of industrialists, magnates and nativists, Porlock Industries exports the greatest product of late-capitalism, Despair, across the developing world. When Tim joins the team, he doesn't plan on staying on too long. But then again, no one at Porlock does. As his work begins to follow him home, Tim and his co-workers must learn to confront their thwarted ambitions, deferred dreams and the inevitable day job that sustains and stifles them all.
Who Mourns for Bob the Goon??
Benefiting Hospice of New York
Written by Joshua Young
Directed by Lucia Bellini
Downstairs Theater
Thursday, 6/25/15, 1:30pm
Many people have fantasized they could become Batman or Superman when they lack the power to right a wrong. But what about someone who decides to be a third-tier character that no one has heard of? ? Who Mourns for Bob the Goon?? is a play in development about a man who believes he is the obscure Joker villain 'Bob the Goon.' The show follows him as he attends a therapy group for individuals who all think they are lesser known characters. Bob starts to unravel after the admittance of a new woman into the group who doesn't quite belong. She causes him to recall his real history as a war veteran coping with psychological trauma, and question the therapy he is receiving.
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