Instant Artifacts of a Disconnected Time (and Lots of Hugh Dancy) During the pandemic, writers and actors have taken on an “adrenalizing” challenge: creating video monologues, more than 400 so far, in 24 hours. Clockwise from top left: Hugh Dancy in viral monologues by Chrisopher Oscar Peña (on March 17); Donald Margulies (March 31); Alex Edelman (July 21); and Mario Correa (Dec. 15).Credit...via Viral Monologues March 16, 2021 The 24 Hour Plays move fast. That’s been their nature since their first production in 1995: short plays written, rehearsed and performed onstage in a scant 24-hour span. And when the pandemic shuttered theaters, the 24 Hour Plays responded with astonishing alacrity.