Sarah Silverman, Kyra Sedgwick, Elijah Wood & More Sign On for 24 Hour Plays

A starry lineup has been announced for the 10th annual 24 Hour Plays on Broadway, to be held on November 15 at the American Airlines Theatre. This one-night-only performance of short plays that are written, rehearsed and performed in a single 24-hour period benefits Urban Arts Partnership, an organization that brings arts education into New York City classrooms.

Actors who have signed on to appear include Leslie Bibb (Iron Man), Claire Danes (Pygmalion, TV’s Temple Grandin), Guillermo Diaz (Weeds), Rachel Dratch (Saturday Night Live), America Ferrera (Ugly Betty), Gaby Hoffman (Life During Wartime), Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker), Christopher Meloni (Law and Order: SVU), Diane Neal (Law and Order: SVU), Rosie Perez (The Ritz), Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer), Sarah Silverman (The Sarah Silverman Program), Fisher Stevens (producer of The Cove), Julia Stiles (Oleanna), Tracie Thoms (Rent, TV’s Cold Case), Michael Kenneth Williams (Boardwalk Empire), Alicia Witt (Friday Night Lights) and Elijah Wood (The Lord of the Rings).

The impressive roster of writers who will create new works for the benefit includes Kristoffer Diaz (Pulitzer Prize finalist for The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity), Mike Doughty (singer/songwriter, Sad Man, Happy Man), Rajiv Joseph (Pulitzer Prize finalist for Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo), Lynn Nottage (Pulitzer Prize winner for Ruined), Theresa Rebeck (The Understudy, Mauritius) and musical guest M. Ward. In addition, Urban Arts Partnership graduate Elizabeth Cruz Cortes will see her award-winning 10-minute play We Don’t Have to Talk About It performed at the event by the celebrity cast.

The creative process for The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway will begin at 10:00PM on November 14 when a group of six writers, six directors, 24 actors, two musical guests, and a production staff gather at the American Airlines Theatre. Based on preliminary discussions, each writer must compose a 10-minute play by 7:00AM the following morning, when the directors return to read and select their piece. The casts meet for the first time at 8 AM on November 15 and, over the next 12 hours, the plays are rehearsed and prepped for performance at the live benefit event.