Raúl Esparza, J. Smith-Cameron, and more stage favorites joined the June 16 edition of The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues. The videos benefit Juxtaposition Arts, a teen-staffed art and design center based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that has played a critical role in building community alternatives to the police, led by Black, POCI, and other youth.
The monologues aired on IGTV and YouTube and are now available to view through June 20. To donate to Juxtaposition Arts, visit 24HourPlays.com.
Joining Esparza and Smith-Cameron as performers were Frankie J. Alvarez, Raúl Castillo, April Matthis, Jaime Ray Newman & Patch Darragh, Bojana Novakovic, Maria-Christina Oliveras, and Mariama Whyte.
They performed works by Matt Barbot, Clay McLeod Chapman, David Cote, Chisa Hutchinson, Garlia Cornelia Jones, David Lindsay-Abaire, Tony Meneses, Audley Puglisi, and Steve Yockey.
The process began June 15 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 new monologues. Actors received their monologues the following morning and filmed their performances throughout the day. The 24-hour cycle was completed with the launch of the first video.
A recent edition of Viral Monologues was “Fists Up/Underlying Conditions,” to raise money for Communities United For Police Reform. A May 12 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 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues, with Mark Armstrong as artistic director.
