The 24 Hour Plays, a 31-year old nonprofit, is opening a permanent home in Los Angeles for the first time. The organization’s mission is to bring creative communities together to produce plays and musicals written, rehearsed, and performed in 24 hours.
Each summer, the 24 Hour Plays brings together early-career actors, directors, playwrights, producers, composers, designers and stage managers for their annual free professional intensive, culminating in their own production of the plays in an Off-Broadway theater.
“Over the past few years, we’ve seen an incredible surge in energy from the Los Angeles community around The 24 Hour Plays, which prompted us to look for ways to solidify our presence here,” said artistic director Mark Armstrong. “Today, we mark a new era for The 24 Hour Plays on the West Coast, with the announcement that both our popular celebrity events and our flagship professional development program The 24 Hour Plays Nationals will have a permanent home in Los Angeles. I’m indebted to the city’s vibrant artistic community, particularly Gaby Cohen, our board president for California, for creating a space for The 24 Hour Plays to thrive for years to come.”
The 24 Hour Plays Los Angeles will kick off on February 28 at the brand new Huron Station Playhouse. Jon Cryer, Tatiana Maslany, Pauline Chalamet (The Sex Lives of College Girls), Justice Smith (Now You See Me: Now You Don’t), Kiana Madeira (Fear Street), Kirsten Vangsness (Criminal Minds), Lovell Adams-Gray (Power Book II: Ghosts), Shannon Purser (Stranger Things), Rich Sommer (Mad Men)
and Coral Peña (For All Mankind) are expected to appear in four brand new short plays written, rehearsed and performed in just 24 hours.
The plays will be written by Steve Yockey (The Flight Attendant), Sofya Levitsky-Weitz (The Bear), Dave Harris (Tambo & Bones) and Mark Wilding (Grey’s Anatomy). Directors for the evening are Casey Stangl (The Cake), Jaime Castañeda (The Luckiest), Kate Sullivan (The End of the Party) and Stefanie Black (Adult Interference).
“In addition to our flagship events in New York, The 24 Hour Plays have a long history in Los Angeles,” said Armstrong. “Our events in Los Angeles raised spirits after the September 11 tragedy, showed solidarity during the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes of 2023, and gathered the community following the devastating wildfires of 2025. After nearly 25 years of productions, including at Los Angeles Theater Center, The Broad Stage, the United Artists Theatre at Ace, The Bourbon Room and many more, I’m thrilled The 24 Hour Plays will have a permanent presence in Los Angeles.”
“I could not be more excited to continue to serve the rich and vibrant theater community here in Los Angeles. Live stage is the heartbeat of this industry, as it always has been. The 24 Hour Plays is a longstanding institution that not only brings the theater community together, but also helps amplify the voices of the next generation of writers, directors, actors and creators. We are thrilled to solidify our presence here on the West Coast. The 24 Hour Plays was a community-builder during the pandemic, and I hope that we can continue to grow here and help uplift the next generation at the same time,” added Gaby Cohen, president of the newly established board of The 24 Hour Plays Los Angeles and a talent agent at Gersh.
Proceeds from the event support The 24 Hour Plays’ nonprofit activities throughout the year, including the expansion of The 24 Hour Plays Nationals, a flagship professional development program for early-career artists, to Los Angeles.
“The Nationals program has served nearly 600 early-career artists since it launched in 2007,” said Serena Berman, a co-producer with The 24 Hour Plays and program director for the Nationals. “As an alumna of the program myself, I can speak firsthand as to what a life-changing experience it was for me as a young artist. In a time when theater and film communities on both coasts are more integrated than ever, I couldn’t be more excited for the opportunity to expand this iconic program to include early-career actors, directors, playwrights and producers building careers in Los Angeles.”