Jessica Alba, Kristen Johnston, Ted Danson and More to Appear in Atlantic's The 24 Hour Plays Benefit

Jessica Alba, Kristen Johnston, Ted Danson, Jonathan Cake, Rebecca Pidgeon (aka Mrs. David Mamet) and Siobhan Fallon will be among the 27 actors featured in Atlantic Theater Company's upcoming The 24 Hour Plays benefit, to be presented at Atlantic's Linda Gross Theater on October 19. Additional casting and creative details for the gala will be announced at a later date.

This year's event joins six writers, six directors and over two dozen actors in a race against the clock to present an evening theater in just one day as the scribes, helmers and actors work together to pen, rehearse and perform original plays created from scratch. Writers announced thus far for the event include Academy Award winner Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men, Atlantic's Offices), Pulitzer Prize winner David Mamet (Speed-the-Plow, Broadway's upcoming Race), Jez Butterworth (Jerusalem, Parlor Song) and Lucy Thurber (Scarcity, Where We're Born); Atlantic Artistic Director Neil Pepe (Speed-the-Plow), Henry Wishcamper (Port Authority, Elvis People) and Jackson Gay (10 Things To Do Before I Die, Scarcity) are set to direct.

Alba (The Fantastic Four, Awake) makes her New York stage debut in the benefit. Danson, currently of TV's Curb Your Enthusiasm and Bored to Death, makes his Atlantic debut (he appeared on Broadway once in 1973, in the play Status Quo Vadis, which closed on opening night!), while Johnston, Cake, Pidgeon and Fallon, all Atlantic Ensemble members, return to their home stage.

Founded by Mamet and Academy Award nominee William H. Macy in 1985, Atlantic has produced over 100 plays, including the Tony Award winning productions of Spring Awakening and The Beauty Queen of Leenane. Proceeds from the event benefit the scholarship fund for students of The Atlantic Acting School.