Larry Owens, Lea DeLaria, Drew Droege and More Perform in THE 24 HOUR PLAYS: VIRAL MONOLOGUES

Last night, The 24 Hour Plays and Pride Plays came together to celebrate Pride Month with a special edition of The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues, available now on IGTV @24hourplays, on The 24 Hour Plays' Facebook and YouTube channels, and at https://24hourplays.com/viral-monologues/. The evening boasted new monologues by writers from the New York-based Pride Plays plus the event's West Coast partner artists Lovell Holder and Roger Q Mason, who also helped The 24 Hour Plays assemble the all-star cast of LGBTQIA+ talent. Together, this extraordinary group wrote, rehearsed, performed and produced original pieces in just 24 hours. Beginning at 6 PM ET, the new monologues were be published, one every 15 minutes.

Lea DeLaria started things off with "Dear Divine," written by Sophie Sagan-Gutherz.

Philippe Bowgen offered "The Apology" in a piece by Ted Malawer.

Drew Doege performed "When Doves Cry," written by Rodney Hicks.

Lola Kelly gave us a "Pep Talk" in a piece by Hayley St. James.

L Morgan Lee performed "Honey, Don't Call Me Again...," written by Carmen LoBue.

Jordan Kisner performed Audrey Lang's "The Well of Miriam."

Larry Owens starred in "Holding Out," a piece by Preston Max Allen.

Josh Rivas performed "Darling," written by Garrett David Kim.

Yin Chang starred in Roger Q Mason's "Not Just In June."

Travis Coles performed "Fuck You, Lizzie McGuire," a piece by Omar Hantash.

Ianne Fields Stewart performed "Care Instructions," written by Azure D. Osborne-Lee.

"I love watching and participating in The 24 Hour Plays Viral Monologues and I am thrilled Pride Plays is partnering with them for this special Pride edition!" said Pride Plays festival director Michael Urie. "During the month of June, our Pride Plays LGBTQIA+ playwrights developed plays via virtual workshops and readings. All of those plays were written before the world changed, however, so I cannot wait to see what their brilliant minds are up to tonight. As Pride Plays continues to expand the representation and visibility of the entire queer theatrical community, we are grateful for The 24 Hour Plays' support in furthering that endeavor."

Proceeds from this round support Pride Plays, whose aim is to expand representation of the entire LGBTQIA+ theatrical community. Presenting and developing work by both writers who helped lay the groundwork for queer theatre and writers who'll be leaders of the next generation, Pride Plays is committed to telling the stories of the LGBTQIA+ past, present, and future, and honor those who showed up then and are still showing up today. Fans can donate now at 24hourplays.com/pride.

On Monday night at 6 PM, actors shared brief orientation-style videos to allow the writers to get to know them better. By 7 PM, writers and actors were paired, and writers got to work on crafting new monologues especially for their assigned actors. Actors received their monologues Tuesday morning at 10 AM, filmed their performances throughout the day, and at 6 PM their videos began to be released to the world, completing the 24-hour cycle. The monologues will be available to view on IGTV and online for four days after their initial airing courtesy of an agreement with Theatre Authority, a nonprofit organization managed by Actors' Equity.

The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues are produced by Coleman Ray Clark and Madelyn Paquette. The artistic director of The 24 Hour Plays is Mark Armstrong.

The Pride Plays Festival producers are Doug Nevin and Michael Urie. Nick Mayo is the festival director; George Strus serves as literary manager.

The 24 Hour Plays are known for their work on Broadway, off-Broadway and around the world. Since 1995, their events have brought together extraordinary artists to create time-limited theater. Past participants include Jennifer Aniston, Laverne Cox, Billy Crudup, David Cross, Rosario Dawson, Daveed Diggs, Peter Dinklage, Rachel Dratch, Jesse Eisenberg, Edie Falco, America Ferrera, Greta Gerwig, Oscar Isaac, John Krasinski, Anthony Mackie, Julianne Moore, Tracy Morgan, Cynthia Nixon, Anna Paquin, Rosie Perez, Phylicia Rashad, Chris Rock, Sam Rockwell, Liev Schreiber, Amanda Seyfried, Michael Shannon, Gabourey Sidibe, Sarah Silverman, Marisa Tomei, Naomi Watts and more!

More information for those who would like to support The 24 Hour Plays or attend a live performance in the future is available at https://24hourplays.com.