Tony Glazer, John Pollono, Robin Rothstein and Mark Jason Williams Join Talents for WHY BOTHER? at Planet Connections, Now thru 6/1

This summer, an award winning quartet of playwrights, Tony Glazer (In The Daylights, Film: Junction), John Pollono (Small Engine Repair, Lost and Found), Robin Rothstein (The Game Boy, On Deaf Ears), and Mark Jason Williams (Straight Faced Lies, Recovery), will join together for a night of one acts entitled Why Bother? directed by Andrew Block. Why Bother? Is being presented by Man Down Productions as part of the Planet Connections Festival. It begins performances tonight, May 14 and runs through June 1 at the Paradise Factory (64 E 4th St), tickets are $18 and can be purchased by visiting www.planetconnections.org.

Why Bother? takes place on two treadmills, a dressing room, a therapist's office, and a bachelor pad, together they set the stage for a night of irreverent, raucous comedy where relationships are tested, loyalty is questioned, and boundaries are pushed to the edge.

Directed by Andrew Block, the plays include Doll Play by Tony Glazer, featuring Scott Aiello, Brian J. Carter, and Simon Pearl, Illuminati by John Pollono featuring Thom Christensen, Dana Domenick and John Gazzale, Keeping Pace by Robin Rothstein, featuring Thom Christensen and Joey Gambetta, Crazy at Heart by Mark Jason Williams, featuring Steven DeLuca and Kathy Searle.

WHY BOTHER?

By Tony Glazer, John Pollono, Robin Rothstein, and Mark Jason Williams

Directed by Andrew Block

Performance Schedule:

Wednesday, May 14 at 8:30PM
Wednesday, May 21 at 8:30PM
Sunday, May 25 at 1:30PM
Thursday, May 29 at 6PM
Friday, May 30 at 9PM
Sunday, June 1 at 9:30PM

Running Time: 85 minutes.

The Paradise Factory is located at 64 E 4th Street. Tickets are $18 and can be purchased by visiting www.planetconnections.org.

WHO'S WHO:

ANDREW BLOCK (Director) is an award-winning NY-based director. He received the Ovation and L.A. Drama Critics Circle awards for Best Director for the world premiere of John Pollono's Small Engine Repair in Los Angeles. Andrew also directed the critically-acclaimed Lost and Found at the 2010 New York International Fringe Festival which then extended as part of FringeNYC Encores at the Lucille Lortel. Other recent work includes: West-coast premiere of Adam Rapp's Bingo With the Indians (GLAAD award nomination for Outstanding Theatre 2009); Best Director and Best Play in the 2010 Network One-Act Festival for Illuminati; Company (Gallery Players); and Assistant Director of the Off-Broadway revival of T.S. Eliot's The Cocktail Party (TACT/The Actor's Company Theatre). He is a founding member of the award-winning Rogue Machine Theatre in L.A., curated their late-night theatre series, Off the Clock, and created and produced the hit short-play festival, Shorts & Sweets. Other directing credits include Dancing at Lughnasa, Twelfth Night, Noises Off, City of Angels, Little Shop of Horrors, and Tartuffe. Andrew makes New York his home and is a proud native of New Orleans. DePaul University (MFA), Adelphi (BFA); Member - Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC).

TONY GLAZER (Playwright, Doll Play) is an award-winning writer, director and producer, and a Managing Partner and founding member of Choice Films & Choice Theatricals (www.choicefilms.com). Glazer's plays have been produced in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Canada and England. He just finished the festival circuit with his first feature film, Junction, (www.junctionthemovie.com) which he wrote and directed. Junction has won seventeen awards for excellence on the festival circuit (including best director, picture, screenplay and multiple actor awards) and is currently having a U.S. theatrical release and has been nominated for a PRISM AWARD. Glazer's stage plays include Stain, and Safe (both published by Samuel French Inc.), The Substance of Bliss (2009 Weissberger Award Winner), In The Daylight, Reading Under the Influence, Everything Must Go and American Stare. His most recent directing credits include the television show "Redrum" and the indie film Trust Me, I'm a Lifeguard which recently premiered at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival.

JOHN POLLONO (Playwright, Illuminati) John is a writer and actor living in Los Angeles, John performed in and wrote the highly acclaimed play, Small Engine Repair in both Los Angeles (Ovation Award, Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, LA Weekly Award) and recently off-Broadway in the Fall of 2013. His play Lost and Found enjoyed a sold-out, extended run at FringeNYC 2010. ILLUMINATI won Best Play at the 2010 Network One-Act Festival in New York City. John's most recent play, Lost Girls, enjoyed a critically-acclaimed, five month sold out run in Los Angeles in 2013. John is a founding member of Rogue Machine Theatre in Los Angeles, where he serves on its Art Board. John also produces (and sometimes performs) in the hit underground writer/performer theatre series RANT AND RAVE

ROBIN ROTHSTEIN (Playwright, Keeping Pace) is a book writer and lyricist whose plays and musicals have been produced in New York, abroad, and across the US, including Actors Theatre of Louisville where her short plays have been finalists for the Heideman Award. Her writing can be found in various "Best of" collections published by Samuel French (Libretto - OOB Festival Winner), Heinemann, and Smith & Kraus, as well as translated to Chinese in the Anthology of Contemporary American Short Plays Volume II published by Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. Robin most recently completed a musical commission with Broadway Across America where she developed an adaptation of a popular children's title that will hopefully be coming soon to a theater near you! www.robinrothstein.com

MARK JASON WILLIAMS (Playwright, Crazy at Heart) is a two-time recipient of the Planet Connections Award for Outstanding Playwriting for his plays Straight Faced Lies (2013) and The Other Day (2011). He is a five-time participant in Planet Connections, and his work has been produced in New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, Washington D.C., and Jersey City. He is a graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where he received a BFA in Dramatic Writing. His play, Recovery was an official selection of the 2013 Capital Fringe Festival, 15th Annual New York International Fringe Festival, 2011 Minnesota Fringe Festival, and the 2010 Planet Connections Theatre Festivity, where it made its world premiere. Recovery was also a finalist for Abingdon Theater Company's 2013 Christopher Brian Wolk Award and will be presented as a staged reading by The Barrow Group on April 6. www.markjasonwilliams.com

The Planet Connections Theatre Festivity is New York's premiere eco-friendly/socially conscious not-for-profit arts festival. Fostering a diverse cross-section of performances and events, the Planet Connections Theatre Festivity seeks to inspire artists and audiences both creatively and fundamentally, in a festive atmosphere forming a community of like-minded artists. At the heart of the Festivity are like-minded individuals striving to create professional, meaningful theatre, music and film, while supporting organizations which give back to the community at large.

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