Will Swenson, Marin Ireland & More to Launch 24 Hour Plays' Viral Monologues Initiative

A slew of stage writers and performers have signed on to take part in Viral Monologues, a new program featuring performances released digitally on the Instagram video application IGTV. The first-ever series is an initiative of The 24 Hour Plays.

Among the participants taking part are performers Will Swenson, Marin Ireland, David Cross, Richard Kind, Rachel Dratch, Bobby Moreno, Amy Hargreaves, Andre Royo, Joel Marsh Garland, Denis O’Hare, Timothy Douglas, Hugh Dancy, Russell G. Jones, Tavi Gevinson, Isabelle Fuhrman, Katherine McNamara, Ashlie Atkinson, Haskiri Velasquez, Patrick Wilson and Dagmara Domińczyk.

The original monologues were written by David Lindsay-Abaire, Hilary Bettis, Hansol Jung, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Christopher Oscar Peña, Howard Sherman, Jesse Eisenberg, Simon Rich, Sam Chanse, Kathleen Hale, Jenny Rachel Weiner, Lily Padilla, Harrison David Rivers, Ken Greller, Rachel Axler, Lily Houghton, Charlie O'Leary and Monique Moses.

Last night at 6:00pm, 20 actors shared brief orientation-style videos to allow the writers to get to know them better. By 7:00pm, writers and actors were paired, and writers got to work on crafting new monologues especially for their assigned actors. Actors received their monologues today and are filming their performances throughout the day, and at 6:00pm their videos begin to be released to the world, completing the 24-hour cycle.

The 24 Hour Plays program is known for its work on Broadway, off-Broadway and around the world. Since 1995, their events have brought together extraordinary artists to create time-limited theater.