Putting on a theater production always seems like something of a miracle\u2014it’s an organized chaos of moving parts, artistic choices, technical elements and logistical nightmares that have to align perfectly in real time, live in front of an audience, night after night. It’s a wonder the magic that’s conjured the moment the curtain falls, so just imagine that sheer sorcery of doing that all in only 24 hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Such is the delightful challenge of the fittingly titled 24 Hour Plays, a one-night-only charity benefit that tasks artists with writing, rehearsing and performing brand-new 10-minute plays in a single day-long stretch. Founded in October 1995 on the Lower East Side by Tina Fallon, the initiative makes its\u00a0star-studded return to its native New York this very evening, November 2, at 7pm at\u00a0Broadway’s Todd Haimes Theatre<\/a>\u2014and you can see it for yourself tonight.\u00a0<\/p>\n RECOMMENDED:\u00a0Lisa Rinna, Phaedra Parks, Dolores Catania and more ‘Housewives’ will star in this Off-Broadway comedy next year<\/a><\/p>\n This year’s event honors Tony Award-winning theater director Thomas Kail\u2014who you know from In the Heights, Hamilton<\/a>, Sweeney Todd<\/a>\u00a0and this year’s Proof<\/a>\u2014and brings together\u00a0talents\u00a0from across his acclaimed career to create six brand-new plays.<\/p>\n Among\u00a0the cast you’ll find Busy Philipps, Hugh Dancy, Amber Tamblyn, David Cross, Constance Zimmer, Justin Bartha, David Burtka, Chris Chalk, Josh Hamilton, Daphne Rubin-Vega,\u00a0Jin Ha, Shannon Purser and more.\u00a0Participating playwrights include\u00a0Eboni Booth (Primary Trust), Sarah Burgess (Dry Powder), Julia Jordan (Murder Ballad), Steven Levenson (Dear Evan Hansen), David Lindsay-Abaire (Kimberly Akimbo), and Jonathan Marc Sherman (Things We Want). And the six plays will be directed by\u00a0Sherri Eden Barber (The Bad News Bears), Nichole Greene (resident director, Hamilton), David Ruttura (Electra in a One-Piece), Tiffany Kate Sullivan (Nineteen), Patrick Vassel (supervising director, Hamilton), and Deanna Weiner (Townhall’s Spring Shout Gala).<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n “Many of my subsequent assistants and associates were directors I met through The 24 Hour Plays and I\u2019m delighted many of them will be participating this year,\u201d said Kail. \u201cI can\u2019t wait to see what this talented group of theater-makers cook up for the evening.\u201d<\/p>\n The cast and creative team kicked off the marathon process at 7pm last night\u2014capping off an already busy weekend of Halloween celebrations<\/a> and the NYC Marathon<\/a>\u2014with the writers, directors, actors and production staff gathering for a short orientation. As the actors left to get a (hopefully) good night’s sleep, the scribes began crafting the 10-minute plays, with the directors arriving to begin rehearsal early this morning. And come 7pm tonight, six brand-new plays will take the stage for one night only in front of a live New York audience.\u00a0<\/p>\n