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Major Casting announced for Playwrights For A Cause, June 14

Posted by:	Official_Press_Release 01:24 pm EDT 05/05/15

Major Casting Announced for Playwrights For A Cause Benefiting the National Coalition Against Censorship With World Premiere Plays by Erik Ehn, Halley Feiffer, Israel Horovitz & Neil LaBute Featuring Lucy DeVito, Caissie Levy, Arian Moayed, Imran Sheikh, Sharon Washington, John William Watkins and Frederick Weller Sunday, June 14, 2015 at The Sheen Center Major casting has have been announced for the 2015 Planet Connections Theatre Festivity’s Playwrights For A Cause, set to take place at 7:30pm on Sunday, June 14, 2015 at the Sheen Center, located at 18 Bleecker Street. The evening, which will benefit the non-profit National Coalition Against Censorship, will showcase world premiere one-act plays by four acclaimed playwrights: Israel Horovitz’s Breaking Phillip Glass and Erik Ehn’s Her Speech, both directed by Planet Connections Theatre Festivity founder and PFAC Producing Artistic Curator Glory Kadigan; Halley Feiffer’s A Play About New Mexico, directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch; and Neil LaBute’s Mohammed Gets a Boner, directed by Marco Calvani. This year’s performers include Lucy DeVito (TV: Girls, Deadbeat, Alpha House); Caissie Levy (Fantine in the current revival of Les Misérables on Broadway); Arian Moayed (Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo - Tony and Drama League nominations, Theater World Award); Imran Sheikh (Hit and Match - Planet Connections Award Nominee -Outstanding Actor; Price for Freedom); Sharon Washington (The Scottsboro Boys on Broadway), John William Watkins (Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More) and Frederick Weller (TV: In Plain Sight). “"I'm thrilled to be working with Planet Connections and Playwrights For A Cause for the 2nd year in a row,” said Caissie Levy. “As a longtime fan of Israel Horovitz' work, I'm honored to be joining him again this year to help bring his incredibly thought-provoking new play to life." The performances will be followed by a talkback with NCAC and all four playwrights. Speakers include this season’s Planet Connections playwrights Cecilia Copeland, Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin, Michael Hagins, and Mark Jason Williams, regarding their work as artists and the importance of art as a tool for social justice. The event will be emceed by Planet Connections Literary Manager David Stallings and Planet Connections Music Festival Director Candice Fortin. The event concludes with an Opening Night Party which will also celebrate the 2015 Planet Connections Theatre Festivity, which begins June 15. As previously announced, the Playwrights For A Cause creative team this year includes: Robin Carus (Casting Director), Aaron Gonzalez (Media/Video Design), Rachel Jacquin (Assistant Stage Manager & Rehearsal Stage Manager for A Play About New Mexico and Breaking Philip Glass), Jenna R. Lazar (Production Stage Manager), Dee Dee Katchen (Assistant Producer), Cheryl McCarron (Costume Design), Jacob Subotnick (Sound Design), Susan Tenney (Assistant Director/Rehearsal Stage Manager - Mohammed Gets a Boner and Her Speech), Bradley Wehrle (Scenic Design), Christopher Weston (Lighting Design), and Tyler Winthrop (Assistant to the Producers). All proceeds from ticket sales for Playwrights for a Cause will benefit The National Coalition Against Censorship, a non-profit advocacy organization, whose mission is to promote freedom of thought, inquiry and expression and oppose censorship in all its forms. The Coalition formed in response to the 1973 Supreme Court decision in Miller v. California, which narrowed First Amendment protections for sexual expression and opened the door to obscenity prosecutions. Over 40 years, as an alliance of more than 50 national non-profits, including literary, artistic, religious, educational, professional, labor, and civil liberties groups, The Coalition has engaged in direct advocacy and education to support First Amendment principles. The Coalition is unique in that they are national in scope, but often local in approach, and works with community members to resolve censorship controversies without the need for litigation. www.ncac.org Tickets for Playwrights for a Cause range from $35 to $100, and are available at planetconnections.org or by calling OvationTix at 866-811-4111. Actors: Lucy DeVito (Teresa – A Play About New Mexico) Theatre: Love, Loss, and What I Wore, by Nora and Delia Ephron (Off-Broadway & Geffen Playhouse), Kentucky and The Bird & The Two Ton Weight (Youngblood), Lucy (Ensemble Studio Theatre), The Electric Baby (Two River Theater) TV: Series Regular on Hulu's Deadbeat, Girls, Melissa & Joey, Alpha House. Film: Leaves of Grass with Edward Norton, A Quiet Little Marriage. Caissie Levy (Tricia – Breaking Philip Glass) most recently starred as Fantine in the current revival of Les Misérables on Broadway. Other credits include Molly in Ghost (Broadway, West End, cast album); Sheila in Hair (Broadway, West End, cast album); Elphaba in Wicked (Broadway, Los Angeles); Penny in Hairspray (Broadway, 1st national tour, Toronto); Maureen in Rent (national tour); Sara in Murder Ballad (Off-Broadway); Israel Horovitz's St. Anne's Soup (PFAC 2014, directed by Glory Kadigan). caissielevy.com Arian Moayed (Said – Breaking Philip Glass) Broadway: Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (Tony and Drama League nomination, Theater World Award). Notable Off-Broadway: Masked (Drama Desk nomination), King Lear (Public), Homebody/Kabul (BAM, Steppenwolf). Notable Film/Television: Rock the Kasbah (Barry Levinson, dir., upcoming), Appropriate Behavior, Believe (Alfonso Cuaran, dir., series regular), The Following. Waterwell: Devised over 13 original productions and administers the Waterwell Drama Program with Professional Performing Arts School. www.waterwell.org. Imran Sheikh (Abu – Breaking Philip Glass) Theatre: Hit and Match (Planet Connections Award Nominee – Outstanding Actor), Invisible Hand (ACT/Artists Rep), Carousel of Progress (Queens Theatre), Disconnect (San Jose Rep), Radio Mara Mara (FringeNYC), Chaos Theory (Crossroads Theatre Co), Empress of Sex (PCTF – Bleecker Street Theatre, directed by Glory Kadigan). Television: Guy Code (MTV, MTV2). Film: R & J (Ready Set Go), Ovum (Oocyte), Price for Freedom. Sharon Washington (Dalia – Her Speech) Recent credits include Broadway: The Scottsboro Boys; Off-Broadway: Wild With Happy (Public Theater/NYSF/Lortel nomination); While I Yet Live (Primary Stages); Luce (Lincoln Center/LCT3); The Overwhelming (Roundabout). Regional: Dot (Actors Theatre of Louisville). Film: The Bourne Legacy, Michael Clayton. TV: Gotham, Blue Bloods, The Blacklist, and guest appearances on all three NY Law & Order franchises. John William Watkins (Driver/Police Officer/Voice – Her Speech) Theater credits include: Sleep No More (Punchdrunk), Jack (terraNOVA), The Threepenny Opera (Atlantic Theater Company), As You Like It, The Merchant of Venice and The Lonesome West (Riverside Theatre). Film: Son of a Hundred Maniacs, Blushing, Carbon, Red, and Flytrap. Frederick Weller (Mohammed - Mohammed Gets a Boner) is best known for his role as Marshall Mann in the hit USA Network series In Plain Sight (2007-2012). His theater work includes seven principal roles on Broadway and eleven Off-Broadway, an Ensemble Obie Award, an Ensemble Drama Desk Award, two Drama Desk nominations and two Lucille Lortel nominations. He's worked with Neil LaBute on four plays, a film and Neil's TV series Billy & Billie (on DIRECTV). Speakers: Cecilia Copeland (Featured Speaker) is the Founding Artistic Director of NYMadness. Light of Night (Kilroy’s Nominee IATI Theatre, Venus Theatre, Best of Plays and Playwrights 2015), Amusement Bomber (Metro Screen Australia). Plays presented at Cherry Lane, EST, HERE Arts Center, Anarchist Theatre Festival Montreal, IRT Theater, terraNOVA. Indie Theater Hall of Fame, League of Professional Theatre Women. Atlantis Unearthed to be presented at Planet Connections 2015. Candice Fortin (Emcee) worked as an acting intern for Planet Connections Theater Festivity in 2010. Shortly afterwards, she began working as an Associate Producer, Producer, Art Support and Asst. Director. Candice started working as a manager and began curating, promoting, and booking music events for artists at venues such as Webster Hall and Mercury Lounge. She currently curates a live music industry showcase in NYC called theBRINK which has residency at McCarren Hotel and the Donna Cocktail Club. Candice currently serves as Planet Connections Music Festival Director. Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin (Featured Speaker) is a Brooklyn-based writer/performer, founding member of UndiscoveredCountries (independent residency of live work), and co-creator of 2 Girls \| 1 Asian, a web series about biracial women in the arts. She recently assisted on Young Jean Lee's Straight White Men and Kaela's play Corners Grove will appear in PCTF 2015. www.kaelameishinggarvin.com Michael Hagins (Featured Speaker) is a playwright and director working with Planet Connections for the third year with the show The Long Rail North. His previous works were the award-winning productions of Hit and Match and The Quest of the Hero. Twitter: @CAGETheatreCo and Facebook: www.facebook.com/CAGETheatre. David Stallings (Emcee) most recently was the recipient of the 2014 New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Original Full Length Play for Dark Water. His play, The Baby Monitor, was a 2014 finalist for the National New Play Network. He has served as the Founding Artistic Director for Manhattan Theatre Works since 2006, and currently serves as the Literary Manager for Planet Connections and Staged Readings Co-ordinator. He has presented with Planet Connections as an actor and writer for the last four seasons. Mark Jason Williams (Featured Speaker) is a playwright and essayist whose work has been produced in New York, Chicago, Minneapolis and Washington D.C., and published by Salon, Out, and Jezebel. He is a three-time recipient of Planet Connections’ Outstanding Playwriting Award. BFA in Dramatic Writing, NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. markjasonwilliams.com Planet Connections Theatre Festivity is New York's premiere socially-conscious theatre, music and film festival. The entire festival is aligned to help artist shine a light on the issues facing our society and support the organizations working to make a difference. The 2015 Theatre Festivity will run from June 15-July 12 at the Paradise Factory (located at 64 East 4th Street between the Bowery and 2nd Avenue), and will also play host to special events at various locations in New York City’s East Village. The full lineup for the Festivity will be announced shortly. For more information on Planet Connections visit: planetconnections.org.

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