Marilu Henner, Sydney Lemmon, Jim Hogan & More to Join THE 24 HOUR PLAYS: VIRAL MONOLOGUES

Tonight, The 24 Hour Plays will present a special edition of The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues to celebrate the essential work of swings and understudies, which came to greater attention during the theater industry's unprecedented last three years. The show features a wide roster of current and former swings, understudies, and standbys including Marilu Henner (Pal Joey, 1975), Sydney Lemmon (The Parisian Woman, 2017), Betsy Morgan and Jim Hogan (Kimberly Akimbo) and more.

The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues are a marathon theater event in which monologues and scenes are written, staged, filmed, and published in 24 hours. From 6PM ET, these brand new plays will be released one every 15 minutes on The 24 Hour Plays' instagram, YouTube, and Twitter accounts.

The Viral Monologues are produced by Serena Berman and Jake Beckhard. "This program has always been about responding to the moment," said Berman. Beckhard added: "That clutch-moment readiness to leap into the unknown, often with little-to-no notice, is exactly what we admire the most about the swings, understudies and standbys that we're celebrating tonight."

Joining the above performers are Corey Brill, Alex Gibson, Nehal Joshi, Déa Julien, Alex Mickiewicz, Reynaldo Piniella, Shawn Randall, David Rosenberg, Chris Thorn, and viviana valeria - all of whom have worked as Broadway swings, understudies, standbys and alternates.

The plays will be written by Shelby Adams, Jake Brasch, Guadalís Del Carmen, Skylar Fox & Simon Henriques, Alex Goodman, Elise Kibler, Megan Chan Meinero, Michael Mitnick, and Liba Vaynberg. Additionally, this episode of The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues will be directed by current and former Resident, Associate, and Assistant Directors - artists whose job description often includes put-in rehearsals for understudies. Those directors include Borna Barzin, Daniella Caggiano, Miranda Cornell, Ryan Dobrin, Kylie Eustis-Brown, Mary E. Hodges, Graham Miller, Jenna Rossman, and Danny Sharron.

Benjamin Manno joins as lead editor for The Viral Monologues. The Artistic Director of The 24 Hour Plays is Mark Armstrong and the General Manager is Madelyn Paquette.

ABOUT THE 24 HOUR PLAYS

The 24 Hour Plays (est. 1995, Mark Armstrong, artistic director) bring together creative communities to produce plays and musicals written, rehearsed and performed in 24 hours. Through our radically-present approach to theater, we make work that responds immediately to the world around us, builds communities and generates new artistic partnerships. Our events include The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway and The 24 Hour Musicals, as well as productions from London to Los Angeles, Dublin to Minneapolis, Finland to Mexico and more. Since March 2020, The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues have generated 600 new free-to-view theater pieces featuring over 1000 artists that have been viewed millions of times and are archived in the Library of Congress. Website: www.24hourplays.com. Twitter/Instagram: @24hourplay