David Burtka in The 24 Hour Plays. Photo: Jeremy Daniel
Presented by Guild Hall & The 24 Hour Plays
For 30 years, The 24 Hour Plays has brought together acclaimed artists from Broadway, film, television, music, and comedy for one of theater’s most exhilarating creative challenges: write, rehearse, and perform brand-new plays in just 24 hours.
Created exclusively for Guild Hall audiences, this East Hampton edition features director Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother, Hedwig and the Angry Inch) alongside Tom Caruso (Emojiland, Southern Comfort) and Pippin Parker (Betrayed). The evening’s new works are written overnight by Sarah Burgess (Dry Powder), Amanda Green (Hands on a Hardbody), Josh Koenigsberg (Orange Is the New Black), and Ron Carlivati (Days of Our Lives), then brought to life by a cast including David Burtka (ELLE), Gideon Burtka-Harris, Ron Guttman (Homeland), Rebecca Salzhauer (Krav Maga in the Temple Basement Starting This Sunday, Bagels to Follow), Jaime Rosenstein (Sunday in the Park with George), Lois Robbins (One Life to Live), and more, with additional artists to be announced. Live music is provided by Max Vanderbeek (Jazz at Lincoln Center), and the evening is hosted by Colin Cosell (New York Mets).
The process begins the night before, when playwrights, directors, actors, and production teams gather without scripts, sets, or rehearsal. By the following evening, six entirely new plays—created through collaboration, imagination, and a race against the clock—take the stage before a live audience. The result is spontaneous, unpredictable, and utterly unrepeatable: a one-night-only theatrical event where every performance is a world premiere, and anything can happen.
Featured Actors: David Burtka, Gideon Burtka-Harris, Ron Guttman, Rebecca Salzhauer, Jaime Rosenstein, Lois Robbins – with more to be announced.
Playwrights: Josh Koenigsberg, Amanda Green, Sarah Burgess, Ron Carlivati
Directors: Tom Caruso, Neil Patrick Harris, Pippin Parker,
Musician: Max Vanderbeek
Emcee: Colin Cosell
Sponsors
Performing Arts programs are supported by 2026 season sponsors Galia Meiri-Stawski and Axel Stawski, with additional lead support from Henry and Peggy Schleiff, The Melville Straus Family Endowment, Monica and Peter Tessler, and Vital Projects Fund.
Guild Hall’s Performing Arts programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Additional support provided by Friends of the Theater: Natascia Ayers and Jim Ciquera, Bonnie and Joel Bergstein, Gene Bernstein and Kathy Walsh, Amy Cooney and Marty Feinman, John and Joan D’Addario, Suzanne and John Golden, Hilarie and Mitchell Morgan, Steve Pesner, in memory of his wife, Michèle Pesner, whose entire life was devoted to all aspects of culture, The Schaffner Family Foundation, Lisa Schultz and Ezriel Kornel, Stacey and Oliver Stanton, and Susi and Peter Wunsch.
