THE 24 HOUR PLAYS: NEW VICTORY to be Presented in May

Today, New Victory Theater and The 24 Hour Plays announced The 24 Hour Plays: New Victory, featuring seven short plays written by select young playwrights and performed by leading actors from Broadway, television and film. The 24 Hour Plays: New Victory will play the New Victory Theater for one night only on May 4, 2024. 

Seven New York City students participating in Speak Up, Act Out: Celebrating Student Voices, a creative writing program uplifting student writers, will debut original short plays on the New Victory stage in collaboration with professional directors, playwrights, and actors.

The student writers for The 24 Hour Plays: New Victory include Annabelle Borsanyi (Grade 11), The Chapin School; Jeury Cortorreal (Grade 8), Mott Hall Science and Technology Academy; Celestine Deaton (Grade 10), The Chapin School; Amanda C. Deliz (Grade 10), Brooklyn Collaborative Studies; Zion Park (Grade 6), De La Salle Academy; Emma Perez Maturen (Grade 7), Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy; and Adaa Rahul (Grade 6), NYC Lab Middle School for Collaborative Studies. 

These short plays will feature performances by T.R. Knight, David Burtka, Amy Hargreaves, Russell G. Jones, Olli Haaskivi, Haskiri Velazquez, Mirirai Sithole, Natalie Walker, Heath Saunders, Marcia DeBonis, Ray Anthony Thomas, Alex Hernandez, Brett Epstein, and more to be announced. 

Prior to this one-night-only live theatrical performance, student finalists participated in a series of developmental workshops to strengthen their dramatic writing skills alongside professional playwright mentors, including Chisa Hutchinson, Dylan Guerra, Lily Houghton, Danny Tejera, Tasha Gordon-Solmon, SMJ, and Marissa Joyce Stamps. In addition to the developmental workshop series, each student will be paired with one of the professional playwrights to receive one-on-one mentorship, dramaturgical input, and additional writing resources as they write an original play 24 hours before the live event. 

New Victory Theater and The 24 Hour Plays previously partnered with The Lillys and The Lillys’ Executive Director Julia Jordan on Speak Up Act Out: Celebrating Student Voices, which amplified the voices of young writers and activists with monologues written by New York City students inspired by the life and legacy of celebrated playwright Lorraine Hansberry.