24 HOUR PLAYS | WORKHOUSE #TBT

Challenge: Workhouse and Variety produced a special celebrity performance of the 24 Hour Playsto aid Working Playground ten days after the tragedy of September 11th in their efforts to help the children of New York cope with those tragic events. 

Strategy: The benefit was performed before a sold-out audience which included Robert DeNiro, Kevin Bacon, Bobby Zarem and Bart Freundlich. The 24 Hour Play performers included Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rosie Perez, Benjamin Bratt, Billy Crudup, Mary-Louise Parker, Julianne Moore, Marisa Tomei, Adam Nelson, Kyra Sedgwick, Lili Taylor, Natasha Lyonne, Scarlett Johansson, LievSchreiber, Robert Sean Leonard, DrenaDeNiro, Catherine Kellner, Brendan Sexton, Jared Harris, Sam Rockwell and Fisher Stevens who appeared in six short plays, each written less than a day before the curtain raised. Under the direction of Gregory Mosher, Seth Rosenfeld, Anna Strasberg, Tom Gilroy, Itamar Kubovy, Pippin Parker, six plays written by Frank Pugliese, Warren Leight, Richard LaGravenese, Tamara Jenkins, Nicole Burdette and Chris Shinn debuted and closed in New York on Monday, September 24th, 2001 at the Minetta Lane Theater. 

​Result: The 24 Hour Plays is now an internationally recognized event held annually with Kevin Spacey’s Old Vic in London and on Broadway in New York City and has been underwritten by Details Magazine, Glamour Magazine, Bloomingdales, EbelWatches raising countless funds for Working Playground.