Working Playground in association with Moxie Pictures, Gran Centenario Tequila and The 24 Hour Company present the sixth annual star-studded benefit which culminates on stage Oct. 23 at 8 PM at the American Airlines Theatre. Proceeds will support Working Playground.
Jennifer Aniston, Elizabeth Berkley, David Cross, Rachel Dratch, Michael Ealy, Gaby Hoffman, Erika Christensen, Matthew Lillard, Anthony Mackie, Julianna Margulies, Rosie Perez, Sam Rockwell, Liev Schreiber, Pablo Schreiber, Wallace Shawn, Fisher Stevens, Catherine Tate and Nia Vardalos are the actors ready to star in fresh new works by playwrights David Lindsay-Abaire, Adam Rapp and Theresa Rebeck among others. Directors scheduled to stage the works include Miguel Arteta, Andrew McCarthy, Ian Morgan, Indhu Rubasingham and Josie Rourke.
The full one-day process of The 24-Hour Plays begins at 10 PM the night prior to performance. Typically, a group of theatre artists (playwrights, directors, actors and designers) meet and are briefed and photographed. The writers are then left to their own wits to produce a ten-minute play. The following morning at 7 AM, the directors give the scripts a once-over, divvy them up and cast them. Actors make their entrance at 8 AM and rehearse through the day. The technical rehearsals run from 5 PM to 7:30 PM. Doors open at 7:45 PM and curtain rises at 8 PM and voila: six shows, all in a day's work.
Those involved in this production join a long line of artists who have participated in more than 100 writers, 1000 actors and 300 new short plays that The 24 Hour Plays has produced since its inception in 1995. The troupe recently presented 24 is 10: The Best of The 24 Hour Plays at the New York International Fringe Festival, for the first time revisiting ten-minute plays from previous mountings, in honor of the 10th anniversary of both companies.
Tickets to the event at the American Airlines Theater, 227 W. 42nd St., are on sale by calling (212) 868-4444. For more information on the benefit and the company, visit www.24hourplays.com.
