Actors often complain about short rehearsal times, but some of entertainment’s biggest names – including Melanie Griffith, Amanda Seyfried, Uzo Aduba, Peter Dinklage, Nina Dobrev and Pablo Schreiber –are about to have virtually none.
They’ll be appearing next month in the 14th annual benefit The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway, in which more than a dozen actors, six writers and six directors have to come up with six original short plays over the course of a day. Proceeds help the Urban Arts Partnership.
Rosie Perez, the actress and co-host of The View, who is the artistic chair for the partnership and a veteran of the 24-hour plays, had this advice for participants: “Anything you can do outside of being reckless and taking illegal substances, do it! You’re going to need everything.”
The other stars who have agreed to participate include Sasha Alexander, Jamie Chung, Billy Crudup, Rachel Dratch, Michael Ealy, Seth Green, Bryan Greenberg, Taran Killam, Zoe Kravitz, Justin Long, Aasif Mandvi, Stephen Merchant, Diane Neal, Jay Pharoah, Sebastian Stan, Julia Stiles, Tracie Thoms and Michael Kenneth.
The directors include America Ferrera (Ugly Betty), Andy Fickman (Reefer Madness!) and Kathy Najimy (Veronica’s Closet). Writers include Christina Anderson (Good Goods), Bekah Brunstetter (Oohrah!), the comedian David Cross, David Lindsay Abaire (Rabbit Hole) and Jonathan Marc Sherman (Things We Want). Sarwat Siddiqui, the winner of a young writers’ project from Fordham University, will join the playwrights.
Next month, the pressure will be on as the playwrights will gather at 10pm on November 16 to pen a 10-minute play by 7am the following morning. The celebrity actors will then rehearse the work for the next 12 hours. At 8pm on November 17, all six plays will have to be performed before a live audience at the American Airlines Theatre.
The one-night-only show benefits the partnership, an organisation that brings arts education into New York City classrooms. The 24-Hour play project is backed by German luxury penmaker Montblanc, which has helped fund the project for several years, as well as the Montblanc Young Writers Program.
