The 24 Hour Plays will once again partner with Bennington College for a one-night-only benefit in support of the school's Nicky Martin Memorial Scholarship for Performing Arts and the Spencer Cox '90 Field Work Term Fellowship for Student Activists. The 24 Hour Plays: A Bennington Tribute to Nicky Martin and Spencer Cox will take place January 21 at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.
The evening will feature a cast and crew of Bennington alumni and friends—six writers, six directors, and 24 actors—who will create, produce, and perform six short plays in 24 hours.
Writers for the benefit are Mohammed Ali, Jill Eisenstadt, Jane Drinkard, Sarah Gancher, Lily Houghton, Jonathan Marc Sherman, and Maia Villa. Directors will be Tara Elliott, Lorca Peress, Loren Segan, Julie Tucker, Elizabeth Williamson, and special guest David Drake.
Actors include Bahar Baharloo, Aadya Bedi, Chris Boscia, Danielia Cotton, Julia Crowley, Dominik Eisenschmidt, James Habacker, Deidrea Hamid, Colin Hinckley, Maya Macdonald, Joel Marsh Garland, Melinda McGraw, Eben Moore, Gregory Nanopoulos, Mercedes Olea, Julia Prud'homme, Jane Ray, Rob Sedgwick, Molly Tarlov, Nathan Thompson, John Wills Martin, and Brandi Nicole Wilson.
Nicky Martin, who died in 2014, was a Tony-nominated and Obie-winning theatre director and former faculty member at Bennington College. Bennington alumnus, Spencer Cox, who died in 2012, was a pivotal member of ACT UP, the advocacy group working to end AIDS. He was a key force behind Treatment Action Group (TAG), whose focus was on accelerating AIDS treatment research.
"Spencer Cox was so smart and so imaginative and so filled with passion for our cause," says playwright Larry Kramer, founder of ACT UP. "I’m glad Spencer’s memory lives on with evenings such as this one. He made major contributions to the history of drug development that eventually would save the lives of a lot of us."
Tickets for The 24 Hour Plays: A Bennington Tribute to Nicky Martin and Spencer Cox are available for purchase at 24hourplays.com or by calling (802) 440-4597.
