The 24-Hour Company, Planet Impact and Workhouse Publicity didn't waste time in reacting to the Sept. 11 tragedies. The trio of outfits quickly put together an evening of six 24-hour plays, written, directed and acted by some stellar talents, for one night, Sept. 24, at Off-Broadway's Minetta Lane Theatre. The evening raised $30,000 for the families and victims of the terrorist attacks.
Now the triumvirate, alongside Details Magazine, is preparing to do it all over again, but in Los Angeles. The Feb. 24 event will also benefit the families and victims of Sept. 11, with monies funneled through the New York State World Trade Center and Disaster Relief Fund.
Artists confirmed for the event include playwrights Neil Labute and Frank Pugliese, and actors Buck Henry, Donovan Leitch, Jared Harris, Adam Nelson, Adam Goldberg, Gina Phillips and Sarah Silverman.
Adam Nelson of Workhouse said the location hadn't been selected yet. The Manhattan evening boasted performances by Benjamin Bratt, Billy Crudup, Jared Harris, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Kellner, Robert Sean Leonard, Sam Rockwell, Natasha Lyonne, Julianne Moore, Mary-Louise Parker, Rosie Perez, Liev Schreiber, Kyra Sedgwick, Fisher Stevens, Marisa Tomei, and Lili Taylor. Tom Gilroy, Itamar Kubovy, Pippin Parker, Gregory Mosher, Seth Rosenfeld and Anna Strasberg directed. The plays were written by Nicole Burdette, Tamara Jenkins, Richard LaGravenese, Warren Leight, Chris Shinn, and Frank Pugliese.
The productions, as is the tradition with 24-hour plays, were written, cast and staged within one day. Typically, a group of artists meet and is briefed. The writers are then left to their own wits to produce a ten- minute play. The following morning, the directors give the scripts a once over, divvy them up and cast them. The director and actors then rehearse until the doors open at 8 PM. Benefit tickets will cost $100 and will be available through TicketMaster of which the proceeds will be directed to the relief effort.
—By Robert Simonson