Viral Monologues
1,000 artists persist during shutdown
At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, The 24 Hour Plays went to work immediately, adapting our time-limited theater model for the socially distanced landscape. On March 17, 2020, the first round of The 24 Hour Plays Viral Monologues premiered online, with 20 brand new monologues, written, rehearsed, performed and published free online in just 24 hours. Like The 24 Hour Plays itself, the series was intended as a one-time only production; instead, this new version of The 24 Hour Plays continued throughout lockdown, offering artists from theater, film,TV, comedy and music an opportunity to collaborate and connect. Over the next three years, over 1000 artists created 600+ free to view theater pieces that were viewed over six million times.
In the press
The 24 Hour Plays Viral Monologues garnered a rave review from Ben Brantley in The New York Times, followed a year later by an NYT Sunday feature. Artistic director Mark Armstrong wrote about the series for American Theatre and the project was covered by Slate, Vox, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian and dozens of other publications. The first three rounds of The 24 Hour Plays Viral Monologues were published by Methuen Drama and the project is archived in the Library of Congress. Our full video library is available on Youtube.
How to watch
The first round of The 24 Hour Plays Viral Monologues was published by Methuen Drama, and the series was archived by the library of congress. Our full video library is available on Youtube.
