Working Playground in association with Moxie Pictures, Gran Centenario Tequila and The 24 Hour Company present the sixth annual star-studded benefit which will culminate Oct. 23 at 8 PM at the American Airlines Theatre. Proceeds will support Working Playground.
The above stars will appear in six new plays, schedules permitting. Playwrights, directors and more actors are yet to be announced. (Playbill.com previously listed Marisa Tomei, Liev Schreiber, Anna Paquin, Brooke Shields, Mariska Hargitay, Jesse L. Martin, Amanda Peet, Lili Taylor, Anthony Mackie and Fisher Stevens — as per the company's website — which are now unconfirmed.)
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.