Jesse Eisenberg, Bebe Neuwirth, Raúl Esparza and More Join THE 24 HOUR PLAYS on Broadway

Initial talent has been revealed for the 23rd Annual The 24 Hour Plays On Broadway. This one-night-only event featuring distinguished artists from the New York entertainment community and beyond will be held this year on Monday October 23, 2023 at The Town Hall (123 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036) and will honor playwright and screenwriter Warren Leight, a longtime supporter of the organization.

Jesse Eisenberg (Happy Talk, Asuncion), Kenneth Lonergan (This Is Our Youth, Manchester by the Sea) and Christopher Oscar Peña (“Insecure,” A Cautionary Tale) will write new plays for the event, which will be performed by casts that include Ato Blankson-Wood (Hamlet, Slave Play), Cara Buono (“Stranger Things,” “Mad Men”), Kathryn Erbe (“Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” The Speed of Darkness), Raúl Esparza (Oliver!, Company), Clark Gregg (“Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D,” The Avengers), Olli Haaskivi (Oppenheimer, Bella), T.R. Knight (“Grey’s Anatomy,” It’s Only a Play), Mark Linn-Baker (My Favorite Year, “Perfect Strangers”), Bebe Neuwirth (Chicago, “Cheers”), Alison Pill (The Miracle Worker, Three Tall Women) and Alyah Chanelle Scott (“The Sex Lives of College Girls,” The Book of Mormon). Todd Almond (Girl From The North Country, “Gossip Girl”) will be the musical guest. Additional actors, writers, directors and more will be announced at a later date.

Actors, writers, directors and production staff will gather for the first time on the evening of October 22 to introduce themselves and share the prop and costume item they’ve been asked to bring. The writers will then use everything they’ve learned from the brainstorm session to write brand-new plays overnight. In the morning, the actors and directors will receive the six new plays and team up with production staff to begin their rehearsal and tech process ahead of curtain time on October 23.

Tickets begin at $50 and are available at 24hourplays.org/Broadway.

Since 1995, The 24 Hour Plays have brought creative communities together to write, rehearse and perform new plays and musicals in 24 hours. The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway is the annual flagship event where stars from theater, film and television write and perform new work about the world we live in. This one-night-only event showcases great artists in new ways, sparks enduring creative partnerships and offers audiences an electric you-had-to-be-there Broadway experience.

Proceeds from The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway support The 24 Hour Plays’ non-profit activities throughout the year, including education programming with students from middle school to college, professional development for emerging artists in The 24 Hour Plays: Nationals, the free Viral Monologues series, and partner productions all around the world.

Audible Theater is a supporting sponsor of The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway.

The 24 Hour Plays 2023 season is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

ABOUT THE 24 HOUR PLAYS 

The 24 Hour Plays (est. 1995, Mark Armstrong, artistic director; Madelyn Paquette, managing director) bring together creative communities to produce plays and musicals written, rehearsed, and performed in twenty-four hours. Through our radically present approach to theater, we make work that responds immediately to the world around us, builds communities and generates new artistic partnerships that extend throughout the arts and entertainment industry. Our events include The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway and The 24 Hour Musicals, as well as productions in Athens, Denver, Dublin, Finland, Florence, Germany, Little Rock, London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Sacramento, San Francisco, Savannah and more. Beginning March 17, 2020, The 24 Hour Plays Viral Monologues series generated over 600 new free-to-view theater pieces, featuring over 1000 artists, viewed millions of times worldwide and archived in the Library of Congress.

Each summer, we bring together early-career actors, directors, playwrights, producers, composers, designers and stage managers for our annual free professional intensive culminating in their own production of The 24 Hour Plays in an Off-Broadway theater. The 24 Hour Plays Nationals have introduced audiences and collaborators to a new generation of artists changing the game in theater, television, and film. The 24 Hour Plays are an enduring New York City institution, while our licensed affiliates and partners produce The 24 Hour Plays and Musicals in theaters and schools worldwide, impacting everyone from celebrities to students and strengthening creative communities worldwide — one day at a time.