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Putting on a theater production always seems like something of a miracle—it's an organized chaos of moving parts, artistic choices, technical elements and logistical nightmares that have to align perfectly in real time, live in front of an audience, night after night. It's a wonder the magic that's conjured the moment the curtain falls, so just imagine that sheer sorcery of doing that all in only 24 hours.
Such is the delightful challenge of the fittingly titled 24 Hour Plays, a one-night-only charity benefit that tasks artists with writing, rehearsing and performing brand-new 10-minute plays in a single day-long stretch. Founded in October 1995 on the Lower East Side by Tina Fallon, the initiative makes its star-studded return to its native New York this very evening, November 2, at 7pm at Broadway's Todd Haimes Theatre—and you can see it for yourself tonight.
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This year's event honors Tony Award-winning theater director Thomas Kail—who you know from In the Heights, Hamilton, Sweeney Todd and this year's Proof—and brings together talents from across his acclaimed career to create six brand-new plays.
Among the cast you'll find Busy Philipps, Hugh Dancy, Amber Tamblyn, David Cross, Constance Zimmer, Justin Bartha, David Burtka, Chris Chalk, Josh Hamilton, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Jin Ha, Shannon Purser and more. Participating playwrights include Eboni Booth (Primary Trust), Sarah Burgess (Dry Powder), Julia Jordan (Murder Ballad), Steven Levenson (Dear Evan Hansen), David Lindsay-Abaire (Kimberly Akimbo), and Jonathan Marc Sherman (Things We Want). And the six plays will be directed by Sherri Eden Barber (The Bad News Bears), Nichole Greene (resident director, Hamilton), David Ruttura (Electra in a One-Piece), Tiffany Kate Sullivan (Nineteen), Patrick Vassel (supervising director, Hamilton), and Deanna Weiner (Townhall's Spring Shout Gala).
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"Many of my subsequent assistants and associates were directors I met through The 24 Hour Plays and I’m delighted many of them will be participating this year,” said Kail. “I can’t wait to see what this talented group of theater-makers cook up for the evening.”
The cast and creative team kicked off the marathon process at 7pm last night—capping off an already busy weekend of Halloween celebrations and the NYC Marathon—with the writers, directors, actors and production staff gathering for a short orientation. As the actors left to get a (hopefully) good night's sleep, the scribes began crafting the 10-minute plays, with the directors arriving to begin rehearsal early this morning. And come 7pm tonight, six brand-new plays will take the stage for one night only in front of a live New York audience.
And tickets are still available for tonight's special production, starting at $150 a pop. So if you want to see the creative challenge for yourself, snag a seat now on Eventbrite.