Ana Villafañe, Brandon Espinoza, Raviv Ullman, and more stage alums will appear in the latest edition of The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues August 25. The evening of performances will highlight the real-life stories of immigrants, who each spoke with an assigned playwright last week to help them create a monologue.
The videos air beginning at 6 PM ET on IGTV and YouTube, with new ones released every 15 minutes. This iteration of The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues benefits New Sanctuary Coalition, an organization working to free immigrants from detention centers and help these Friends remain safely in the United States.
Joining Villafañe (On Your Feet!), Espinoza (SpongeBob SquarePants), and Ullman (Roundabout's Usual Girls) are Jonathan Burke, Sean Carvajal, Alex Hernandez, Danny Hoch, Rachel Leslie, Joél Pérez, Emma Ramos, and Tony Sancho. The playwrights are Matt Barbot, Juliette Carrillo, Donna Clovis, Michael John Garcés, Dylan Guerra, Tony Meneses, Julián Mesri, Elaine Romero, Jesse J. Sanchez, Tamara Sevunts, and Caridad Svich.
“Our work offers artists the opportunity to respond immediately to the world around us, and these stories from the New Sanctuary Coalition's community of Friends are given powerful voice by a remarkable group of playwrights and actors,” said Mark Armstrong, Artistic Director of The 24 Hour Plays. “We hope that our partnership brings meaningful attention to the real human beings whose lives are being impacted by ICE incarceration and electronic incarceration.”
The process began August 24 at 6 PM, when actors shared orientation-style videos to allow the writers to get to know them better. By 7 PM, writers and actors were paired, and writers went to work crafting original pieces, highlighting the experiences of Friends they had spoken to. Actors received their monologues this morning and will continue to film their performances throughout the day. The 24-hour cycle is completed with the launch of the first video at 6 PM.
Past editions of Viral Monologues have included “Fists Up/Underlying Conditions,” which raised money for Communities United For Police Reform. A collaboration on the intersection of COVID-19 and incarceration featured Rebecca Naomi Jones and André De Shields, while another challenged performers to present a musical monologue, with Daveed Diggs, John Gallagher, Jr., Sarah Steele, and more joining in.
Coleman Ray Clark and Madelyn Paquette serve as producers for the series.
