D4RKLY YOUR RETROROCKETS FL4RE to Premiere at Planet Connections

d4rkly your retrorockets fl4re, a multi-media sci-fi theatrical adventure, makes its world premiere this summer at the Flamboyán Theater (107 Suffolk Street, in the Clemente Center) as part of the Planet Connections Theatre Festivity.

The performances are June 21st at 6:30pm, June 22nd at 4:15pm, June 28th at 8:45pm, June 30th at 8:45pm, and July 2nd at 12:15pm. Tickets can be purchased at planetconnections.org.

The play is written by Steven Mark Tenney, and co-directed by brother-sister team Susan Tenney‡ and Steven Mark Tenney.

Previously presented as a staged reading at last year's Planet Connections Theatre Festivity, d4rkly won the festival's award for Best Staged Reading. The play tells the story of Raiku, a young authoress of the future suffering from writer's block, leading her publisher to send an agent back in time to help. What follows is an unforgettable journey through space and time that combines elements of space opera, neo-noire, and gothic romance with a zany sense of humor. This is a large-scale, fantastical piece of genre theater that is not to be missed.

The cast includes Gillian Bennet, Laura Bowers, Dan Chen, Konrad Custer*, Ivette Dumeng, Pat Galante, Tyler Gardella, Sven Haabeth, Theresa Johnson, Alenka Kraigher*, Brian Linden*, Anna McKitrick, Camara McLaughlin, Emily Morrison, Yukari Osaka, Erkin Osmanli, Clinton Powell, Mizuki Sato, Jeanne lauren Smith, Michelle Tsai, Jenna Vezina, and Rich Wisneski.

The play also features choreography by Susan Tenney‡, costumes by Janet Mervin, lighting by Joe Novak, graphic design by Lindsea Bevington, music by Topu Iyo, Mike Thies. Erkin Osmanli, and David Tenney, and dramaturgy by Grace Yamada.

d4rkly your retrorockets fl4re is the fourth in a series of sci-fi plays Steven Mark Tenney began in 2013. A fifth and sixth are in progress. Described as "wildly imaginative and highly entertaining", his award-winning full-length works, one-acts, and performance pieces have been produced at many venues in New York City and regionally.

Susan Tenney is a four-time Planet Connections Theatre Award recipient in both Direction and Choreography, for productions in collaboration with and written by her brother Steven Mark Tenney. Susan was the director/choreographer for two Susan Shafer Plays at Manhattan Rep., and most recently was the choreographer for the World Premiere of Erik Ehn's Clover at La Mama. She was the resident choreographer for the Williamstown Theatre Festival, and has had her work for theatre and concert dance produced at venues that include The Edinburgh Fringe, Cincinnati Playhouse, Princeton University, Dixon Place, and the Florence Gould Hall. Her work has been called "expansive, reaching, stunningly dramatic" by the Princeton Comment and "terse and elegant" by The Village Voice. She will be directing Snow Day by Catherine Filloux for Playwrights For A Cause 2017.

The Planet Connections Festivity is New York's premiere eco-friendly/socially conscious not-for-profit arts festival which fosters a diverse cross-section of performances. Planet Connections strives to make sure their artists are living as green as possible. Some tactics include using a "ticketless" box office with reusable tickets which will be collected from audience members as they enter the theatre and hosting a Green Theater Forum to encourage and educate artists to go "green" within their productions.

‡ denotes member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society

*denotes member of Actors Equity Association