A Strange Loop's Larry Owens & More Set for Pride Edition of The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues

A fresh roster of actors and writers has been announced to take part in the latest edition of Viral Monologues, which features performances released digitally on IGTV. The series is an initiative of The 24 Hour Plays. For this latest edition, The 24 Hour Plays and Pride Plays will unite to mark the end of Pride Month. The evening will feature 12 new monologues by writers from the New York-based Pride Plays plus the event's West Coast partner artists Lovell Holder and Roger Q Mason, who also helped assemble this week's cast of LGBTQIA+ talent.

Performers taking part this week include A Strange Loop Lucille Lortel Award winner Larry Owens, Lea DeLaria, Philippe Bowgen, Yin Chang, Travis Coles, Drew Droege, Scott Evans, Lola Kelly, Jordan Kisner, L Morgan Lee, Josh Rivas and Ianne Fields Stewart.

Original monologues will be written by Rodney Hicks, Preston Max Allen, Omar Hantash, Audrey Lang, Carmen LoBue, Ted Malawer, Azure D. Osborne-Lee, Sophie Sagan-Gutherz, Hayley St. James as well as West Coast partner artists Lovell Holder and Roger Q Mason.

"During the month of June, our Pride Plays LGBTQIA+ playwrights developed plays via virtual workshops and readings. All of those plays were written before the world changed, however, so I cannot wait to see what their brilliant minds are up to tonight," Pride Plays festival director Michael Urie said in a statement. "As Pride Plays continue to expand the representation and visibility of the entire queer theatrical community, we are grateful for The 24 Hour Plays’ support in furthering that endeavor.”

Last night at 6PM, actors shared brief orientation-style videos to allow the writers to get to know them better. An hour later, writers and actors were paired, and writers got to work on crafting new monologues especially for their assigned actors. Actors received their monologues this morning at 10AM, are filming their performances throughout the day and at 6PM 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.