THE 24 HOUR PLAYS: VIRAL MONOLOGUES Announces a Special Developing Artists Edition

The 24 Hour Plays has announced a special edition round of The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues, featuring brand-new monologues written, rehearsed and recorded in 24 hours by Developing Artist teens and stars of stage and screen. Beginning at 6:00 PM on Sunday, March 28th, one monologue will be released every 15 minutes on Instagram, Facebook and Youtube @24hourplays.

The evening will feature performances by Josh Groban, Julian Elijah Martinez, Portia, Russell G. Jones, Liza Colón-Zayas, Sarah Nina Hayon along with DA actors: Bryson Brunson, John Negron, Ondionna Philips, Mia Fowler, Gabriel Frias and Abigail Hosford. The writers will include: Kristoffer Diaz, J. Holtham, Gethsemane Herron, Ben Snyder, Roger Q. Mason, Garlia Cornelia Jones and DA writers: Bryson Brunson, Jaden DeArmon, Nathaniel Valdivieso, Kayla Suarez Alvarez, Brianna Suarez and Layla Joy Ferreira.

"Watching Developing Artists prepare for their collaboration with The 24 Hour Plays, has truly been a highlight in this very tough time for high school students," said Jill DeArmon, Developing Artists (DA) artistic director. "We empower culturally and socioeconomically diverse students to proclaim themselves as ARTivists, to find their place and their connection in their community, and to bring positive social change through participation in the arts. We are thrilled to get to share some of this light this Sunday night with you."

"As a New York City public school parent, I see up close the disparity in access to arts education for our young people," said Mark Armstrong, Artistic Director, The 24 Hour Plays. "Developing Artists does critical work in bringing rigorous, professional theater training to teens and it's an incredible honor to support their essential work."

Beginning at 6:00 PM on Saturday evening, the actors will share brief orientation-style videos to allow the writers to get to know them better. By 7 PM, writers and actors will be paired, and writers go to work on crafting new monologues especially for their assigned actors. Actors will receive their monologues on Sunday morning at 10 AM, will film 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.

Developing Artists (DA) teaches undervalued teens to relentlessly fight for positive social change through practical application of the performing arts. They help diverse students to proclaim themselves as artists and activists, to find their place and their connection in their community, and to bring about positive social change through participation in the arts.

Donate to support DA and their young artists for years to come.

The 24 Hour Plays has always made work about the most difficult moments in our lives, from 9/11 to Hurricane Sandy to the 2016 election, and the coronavirus pandemic is no different. In 2020, when stay-at-home orders were first issued and theatres shut down across the country, The 24 Hour Plays team was determined to find a way to continue their tradition of making time-limited theatre without physically bringing people together - and thus, The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues were born.

The finest actors and writers from the American arts and entertainment industry have come together to create over 350 original pieces for the weekly Viral Monologues series since its debut on March 17, 2020. Each week, pairs of writers and actors collaborate to write, rehearse, perform and produce new works in just 24 hours. In addition to using their mission-based theatermaking approach in a new way, The 24 Hour Plays have used the Viral Monologues to celebrate and support a host of deserving nonprofit organizations, including their own efforts to develop the young artists who will shape the future of the theater.

The incredible lineup of luminaries who have written and performed for the Viral Monologues includes Wayne Brady, Nicholas Braun, Matthew Broderick, David Cross, Hugh Dancy, Andre De Shields, Daveed Diggs, Dagmara Domínczyk, Rachel Dratch, Minnie Driver, Jesse Eisenberg, Raul Esparza, Marcia Gay Harden, Santino Fontana, Tavi Gevinson, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ethan Hawke, William Jackson Harper, Daniel Dae Kim, Richard Kind, Aja Naomi King, David Lindsay-Abaire, Kenneth Lonergan, Vella Lovell, Zosia Mamet, Alex Moffat, Cynthia Nixon, Lynn Nottage, Brittany O'Grady, Larry Owens, Ashley Park, Pedro Pascal, David Hyde Pierce, Danny Pudi, AnnaSophia Robb, Andre Royo, Tony Shalhoub, Michael Shannon, Cobie Smulders, Patrick Wilson, Rita Wilson and many more.

New editions of The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues stream on select Tuesday nights on IGTV @24hourplays, on The 24 Hour Plays' Facebook and YouTube channels, and at https://24hourplays.com/viral-monologues/. The monologues are 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.

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