The 24 Hour Plays® 2019: A Tribute to Nicky Martin and Spencer Cox '90
On January 21, 2019, Bennington College presented a one night–only benefit to support the Nicky Martin Scholarship for Performing Arts and the Spencer Cox ’90 Field Work Term Fellowship for Student Activists. The performance took place at The Lucille Lortel Theatre in New York City.
A cast and crew of Bennington alumni and friends—six writers, six directors, and 24 actors— created, produced, and performed six short plays in just 24 hours. Proceeds from the benefit will go towards the Nicky Martin Memorial Scholarship for Performing Arts and the Spencer Cox '90 Field Work Term Fellowship for Student Activists at Bennington College.
About the Nicky Martin Scholarship
The Nicky Martin Memorial Scholarship for Performing Arts at Bennington College is awarded on an annual basis to a continuing (third or fourth year) outstanding student with financial need who has an academic concentration in the performing arts (including theater, dance, music, and film) and who has a demonstrated history of, and a passion for, creative and high caliber work in the performing arts.
The Scholarship is named in honor of Nicky (Joel) Martin the Tony-nominated and Obie Award-winning theater director and beloved former faculty member at Bennington College. Martin was an actor for most of his life and turned to directing when he was in his early 40s. He was at Bennington from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s and inspired a younger generation of directors and actors whom he continued to work with throughout his career at the Huntington Theater Company and the Williamstown Theater Festival. He was nominated for the Lucille Lortel Award for outstanding director of the Lincoln Center Theater production of Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme featuring Justin Theroux ’93 and casting by Amy Christopher '89, and the Lucille Lortel Award winner for outstanding set design by Alexander Dodge ’93.
About the Spencer Cox '90 FWT Fellowship
The Spencer Cox '90 FWT Fellowship will be awarded on an annual basis to an outstanding Bennington student in their junior or senior year with a passion for social activism and demonstrated commitment to socially conscious action. Recipients are those who bring a fearless spirit and incisive intellect to bear on pressing social issues in the ways that Spencer demonstrated in his lifetime.
Spencer, who died in 2012, was a pivotal member of ACT UP, the direct-action advocacy group with a mission to end AIDS. He played a defining role in the formation of the Treatment Action Group (TAG) to focus on accelerating AIDS treatment research and lent creative intellect and intense focus to help fight one of the most pressing social and public health crises of our time.
Participants
Remarks: Brooks Ashmanskas '91; Alexander Dodge '93; Sekka Scher '91
Writers: Mohammed Ali '95; Jill Eisenstadt '86; Sarah Gancher '01; Lily Houghton '17; Jonathan Marc Sherman '90; Maia Villa '15
Actors: Bahar Baharloo'14; Aadya Bedi '01; Chris Boscia '87; Danielia Cotton '90; Julia Crowley '18; Andrew Duff '06; Dominik Eisenschmidt '13; Abigail Gampel '85; James Habacker MFA '94; Deidrea Hamid '12; Colin Hinckley '14; Maya Macdonald '07; Joel Marsh Garland '97; Eben Moore '96; Gregory Nanopoulos MAT '07; Mercedes Olea '88; Julia Prud'homme '87; Jane Ray '84; Molly Tarlov '08; Nathan Thompson '86; John Wills Martin '88; Brandi Nicole Wilson '00
Directors: Tara Elliott '09; Lorca Peress '79; Loren Segan '84; Julie Tucker '89; Elizabeth Williamson '99;
Assistant Directors: Michaela Brown '19; Caitlin Brzezinski '14; Inas Gacanin '19; Tamar Giligashvili '21; Kelly Nichols-Hoppe '14; Emma Welch '17
Producers: Kelcie Beene; Blaine Graboyes '95; Ed Needham '88; Laura Vogel
Production Assistants: Rob Ascher '19; Limore Ricciardi '90
Set Designer: Sally Jules '93
Light Designer: Kryssy Wright '03
Light Assistant: Kaiya Kirk '20
Stage Manager: Alice Perlmutter '83
Assistant Stage Manager: Angelique Kenney '86
Sound Designer: Mike Rugnetta '06
Sound Assistant: Molly Warncke '19
Costume: Simone Duff '06; Valerie Marcus Ramshur '89; Michael Sylvan Robinson '89; Emily Woods Hogue '10
Musical Guest: Michael Severens '89
Special Guests: Therese Bruck (costume); David Drake (director); Jane Drinkard (co-writer with Jill Eisenstadt '86)
Remarks
Writers
Actors
Maya Macdonald '07
Directors
Michaela Brown '19
Tamar Giligashvili '21
Production
Sally Jules '93
Molly Warncke '19
Past Events:
About The 24 Hour Plays®
The 24 Hour Plays® (Mark Armstrong, Executive Director) bring together extraordinary artists to create time-limited theater around the world. In addition to The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway and The 24 Hour Musicals in New York City, regular events take place in London, Los Angeles, Dublin, Minneapolis, Germany, Athens, Finland, Mexico City, and Florence. Through collaborations with organizations including The Old Vic Theatre, Dublin Youth Theatre, Urban Arts Partnership, Roundabout Theatre, The Orchard Project, Bennington College, Hennepin Theatre Trust, The University of Minnesota-Duluth, Cornerstone Theater Company, PlayGround, The Del Sole Foundation and Rakastajat-teatteri, The 24 Hour Plays have raised millions of dollars for charities. Each summer, The 24 Hour Plays: Nationals partner with the New School for Drama to bring together the best young actors, directors, playwrights, and producers for an intensive professional experience that culminates in their own production of The 24 Hour Plays. Licensed affiliates have produced their own versions of The 24 Hour Plays® in regional and professional theaters, colleges and universities, and just about everywhere you can find a curtain and a stage.
