Perez, Crudup and More Ready for Long Day's Journey into 24 Hour Plays on Broadway

By Ernio Hernandez
06 Sep 2007

Rosie Perez
Rosie Perez
Photo by Aubrey Reuben

Rosie Perez, Billy Crudup, David Cross and Kerry Washington are among the artists scheduled to appear in The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway.

Montblanc will present The 24 Hour Company's seventh annual star-studded event, which will be seen Oct. 22 at 8 PM at the American Airlines Theatre. Proceeds will benefit Working Playground.

According to the company's website, the aforementioned stars — along with Elizabeth Berkley, David Cross, Michael Ealy, Anthony Mackie and Matthew Lillard — will appear in six new plays. Playwrights, directors, additional actors and one musical guest are still to be announced.

The one-day process of The 24-Hour Plays begins at 10 PM the night prior to the performance. Traditionally, a group of theatre artists (playwrights, directors, actors and designers) meet and are briefed and photographed. The writers are then left to create a ten-minute play overnight. Come morning at 7 AM, the directors give the scripts a once-over, divvy them up and cast them. Actors are called for 8 AM and rehearse through the day. Technical rehearsals run from 5 PM to 7:30 PM. Doors open at 7:45 PM, and curtain rises at 8 PM and there it is: six shows, all in a day's work.

Over 100 writers and 1,000 actors have helped create 300 new short plays since the inception of The 24 Hour Plays in 1995. Last year, the troupe presented 24 is 10: The Best of The 24 Hour Plays at the New York International Fringe Festival in honor of the 10th anniversary of both companies. For the first time ten-minute plays from previous mountings were revisited.

Tickets to the event at the American Airlines Theater, 227 West 42 Street, are on sale by calling (212) 868-4444. For more information on the benefit and the company, visit 24hourplays.com.