News Release
November 13, 2009
Inge Center lends Kansas
Accent to Broadway’s 24 Hour
Plays
Kansas again muscled its
way into Broadway’s
spotlight as William Inge
Center for the Arts Artistic
Director Peter Ellenstein
directed at the “Broadway 24
Hour Plays” and a luminous
cast. Ellenstein
directed four famed actors
in a 10-minute play that was
part of one of the
entertainment industry’s
biggest New York charity
events, held Monday November
9. His cast comprised:
Gaby Hoffman, Demi Moore,
Jeremy Sisto, and Julia
Stiles.
The script “Pen Play” was
written by Pulitzer Prize
nominee Theresa Rebeck, who
herself has twice visited
Independence. In 2003
she was the William Inge
Theatre Festival’s Otis
Guernsey New Voices in the
American Theatre Award and
then returned 2005 as a
guest presenter.
“Theresa wrote a
beautiful little gem of a
play about a family dealing
with grief. It’s
amazing that she was able to
develop such complex
characters and relationships
overnight. It was both
funny and touching,” said
Ellenstein, “The actors were
terrific to work with;
dedicated, exacting, and
really developed an ensemble
over the course of the day.
It was a joy to work with
them.”
Hoffman has almost two
dozen films under her belt,
though probably best known
for “Freaky Friday,” “Field
of Dreams’ and “Uncle Buck.”
Moore is internationally
renowned for her films that
include “Ghost” and
“Indecent Proposal.”
Jeremy Sisto has received
much acting acclaim, which
includes the lead in “Jesus”
and the HBO Series “Six Feet
Under.” Stiles’s
credits include the
blockbuster “Bourne” movies
and “10 Things I Hate About
You.”
The Broadway-Kansas
connection continued through
the evening. Tina
Howe, the 2004 William Inge
Theatre Festival Honoree,
was one of the six
playwrights. Nathan
Louis Jackson, who has a
critically-acclaimed play
currently at the Lincoln
Center Theatre, is also a
previous visitor to
Independence, Kansas; he
wrote for the Inge Center’s
“College 24 Hour Plays” in
2006, while a student at
Kansas State University.
It was the third time
Ellenstein directed at the
Broadway 24 Hour Plays—which
has ticket prices as high as
$295 and raises hundreds of
thousands of dollars for
Urban Arts Partnership, a
charity which sponsors
arts-in-education
programming at public
schools.
Tina Fallon, founder of
The 24 Hour Company, invited
Ellenstein to join the
luminous crowd because he is
a strong believer in the
positive artistic benefits
of the 24 Hour Plays format.
The Inge Center annually
hosts 24 Hour Plays for
college students across the
Midwest and for high school
students. The latter
is reportedly the only such
24 Hour Plays which gathers
student actors from numerous
high schools, both urban and
rural. Plus, the Inge Center
sponsors this artistic
challenge for the general
public at the Community 24
Hour Plays. This
performance takes place
Saturday, January 30 at 8
p.m. and participation is
open to all adults of the
region.
Those interested in
participating in the
Community 24 Hour Plays
should contact the Inge
Center at (620) 332-5492.
