All in a day’s work – Actors leave egos offstage for 24 hour plays

The audience at the American Airlines Theatre tomorrow night (8th) will have a rare chance to see some of Hollywood’s most famous actors absolutely lose their friggin’ minds. The source of this potential meltdown is the ninth annual “24 Hour Plays,” a series of six 10-minute works in which the actors — including Brooke Shields, Jennifer Aniston, Rosie Perez, Naomi Watts, Ashton Kutcher, Demi Mooreand more — don’t get to see their scripts until 12 hours before curtain.

The sold-out show, a charity presentation for the arts-in-schools charity Urban Arts Partnership, will work as follows. Twenty-four actors, six playwrights and six directors will meet at 10 tonight, with each actor bringing a costume and prop of their choosing.

After introductions are made, each playwright — including Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire (“Shrek the Musical,” “Rabbit Hole”) and Tony winner Warren Leight (“Side Man”) — will spend all night writing short plays that must be completed by 7 tomorrow morning. Then actors spend the day memorizing lines, rehearsing and tearing their hair out before performing at 8 p.m. By 10, exactly 24 hours later, it’ll all be over.

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