Planet Connections Theatre Festivity Announces 2013 Dates, Lineup; Will Feature New Work from Neil LaBute, John Patrick Shanley and More

Offering an exciting range of green theater this summer, from May 29-June 23 the Planet Connections Theatre Festivity, New York's premiere eco-friendly/socially-conscious theatre, music and film festival will present 30 full Theater Productions and 15 free staged readings at the Robert Moss Theatre (440 Lafayette Street) and the Gene Frankel Theatre (24 Bond Street).

And on June 16, the Planet Connections Gala 'One Acts for a Cause' will feature new one-acts by acclaimed playwrights Neil LaBute, John Patrick Shanley and Winter Miller (Neil LaBute and Winter Miller's pieces are both world premieres). Taking place at the Pershing Square Signature Center, the gala will raise funds for the non-profit Safe Horizon, the leading victim services agency in the United States. During the Festivity, each show also partners with a charity.

Tickets and the full Planet Connections Theatre Festivity schedule are available online at www.PlanetConnections.org/full-productions.

Featured in the theatre lineup are: playwright Don Nigro's spy drama Mata Hari; 9mm: America, a docu-theater piece about contemporary gun violence; comedies The Bromance of the Exes and Not Without My Gallbladder (an off-beat retelling of the story of Typhoid Mary); Velvet Rope, a provocative drama about a young college student obsessed with the world of stripping; science fiction performance piece Something Sudden 5wept 0v3r Me; solo horror-drama Ghost on a Stick; interpretative drama Dragon exploring the mythical world of love among dragons; and the musicals The Greatest Pirate Story (N)Ever Told!, Dangersparkle and the Lion, and The Holy Cows of Credence, South Dakota.

Rounding out the theater lineup are: dramas Attempts On Her Life, Catch the Spider, Infectious, Miss Nowhere Diner, The Procedure, Subject 62 and Unbirth; comedies Farewell To Sanity & Other Irrational Constructs (Or I'm Not Crazy, But My Shrink Thinks I Am), Fix Number Six, Hit and Match, The Living Room, Nothing's Going To Happen, Sharon's Shorts, Straight Faced Lies and what do you mean; adaptations Walden (a musical based on the Thoreau best-seller) and Tauris (an adaptation of Euripides' Iphegenia at Tauris); and performance art-cinema piece Artaud...mon mômo.

During the Festivity, each show partners with a charity and some ways they offer support are soliciting donations, holding special benefit performances, fundraisers and/or talkbacks after performances with charity representatives. Some of this year's charities include Amnesty International, The Ali Forney Center, ASPCA, Women for Women International, the Rainforest Alliance, New York Cares and Democracy Now.

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. 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. For more information on the Planet Connections Theatre Festivity, visit www.PlanetConnections.org.