Wayne Brady, Michael Urie & More to Be Featured on Tonight's THE 24 HOUR PLAYS: VIRAL MONOLOGUES

A fourth evening of The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues will stream tonight on IGTV @24hourplays and at https://24hourplays.com/viral-monologues/. 22 actors have been paired with an unrivaled group of theatre writers, who worked through the night to create unique pieces especially for their actors. From 6 PM until midnight, the new monologues will be published, one every 15 minutes.

Joining the storied lineup this week are actors Reed Birney, Wayne Brady, Bill Camp, Michael Cyril Creighton, Crystal Dickinson, Brandon J. Dirden, Deanna Dunagan, Ben Feldman, Ethan Hawke, Marin Ireland, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Mia Katigbak, Vella Lovell, Justine Lupe, Elizabeth Marvel, Adriene Mishler, Jamie Ray Newman, Isaac Cole Powell, Portia, Armando Riesco, Marlo Thomas, and Michael Urie. They will perform pieces written by Melis Aker, Will Arbery, Kevin Artigue, David Auburn, Lee Edward Colston II, Karen Hartman, Joy Kecken, Dan Kois, David Lindsay-Abaire, Roger Q Mason, Michael Mitnick, Mara Nelson-Greenberg, Christopher Oscar Peña, Max Posner, Erica Saleh, Sarah Schulman, Betty Shamieh, Jonathan Marc Sherman, Charly Evon Simpson, Blair Singer, and Lizzie Stern.

"The 24 Hour Plays are theater's rapid response team and when times are tough, we go to work," said deputy director Coleman Ray Clark. "Our small non-profit organization has always made work about the most challenging moments in our lives, and being unable to gather couldn't stop us from continuing to do that now."

"The 24 Hour Plays is committed to supporting theater education during these difficult times," said producer and licensing representative Madelyn Paquette. "Last week, we launched our licensing program to produce your own version of The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues with pay what you can licenses for schools and educational groups, and we've already seen an incredible response. We are honored to be able to help our friends around the world make sense of this moment, and hope that we can welcome even more artists and audiences into our community moving forward."

Last night at 6 PM, 20 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 this morning at 10 AM, are filming their performances throughout the day, and at 6 PM their videos begin to be released to the world, completing the 24-hour cycle.

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.

Additionally, to celebrate the continued success of the Viral Monologues, The 24 Hour Plays has partnered with B-Unlimited to create a brand-new, limited-time-only line of T-shirts, hoodies and beanies. Fans who wish to support The 24 Hour Plays during the COVID-19 shutdown can purchase apparel at https://24hourplays.com/merch.

As previously announced, Methuen Drama, one of the oldest and most well known play and performing arts publishers, will publish The 24 Hour Plays Book of Viral Monologues in print and digital form. Howard Sherman, who inspired The 24 Hour Plays to develop The Viral Monologues, will serve as the editor.

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 including 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.