NEW YORK CITY: The 24 Hour Plays has announced the benefit “The 24 Hour Plays: A Bennington Tribute to Nicky Martin and Spencer Cox.” The event, taking place at New York’s Lucy Lortel Theatre on January 21, is the result of a partnership with Bennington College and will showcase six short plays. Bennington College alums and friends will create, produce, and perform these plays in 24 hours.

“There is so much creativity and drive in the Bennington community,” said Mark Armstrong, executive director of the 24 Hour Plays, in a statement. “We’re proud to partner with them on a third event to celebrate the extraordinary lives of Nicholas Martin and Spencer Cox, while raising needed funds for student scholarships.”

Proceeds from the benefit will go to the Nicky Martin Memorial Scholarship for Performing Arts and the Spencer Cox ’90 Field Work Term Fellowship for Student Activists at Bennington College. Nicky Martin, a Tony-nominated and Obie-winning director, died in 2014. Martin was a faculty member of Bennington College from the late 1970s to the mid ’80s.

“No one else in my life experience has been as much of a champion of young people and fledgling artists as Nicky Martin,” said Tony-nominated scenic designer Alexander Dodge in a statement. “Nicky inspired us to step up to the plate and he often knew what we were capable of before we did ourselves. I am among many who are so grateful for his trust and encouragement.”

Spencer Cox, who died in 2012, was a Bennington alum and a crucial member of AIDS research advocacy groups such as ACT UP and the Treatment Action Group.

“Spencer Cox was so smart and so imaginative and so filled with passion for our cause,” Larry Kramer, founder of ACT UP, said in a statement. “I’m glad Spencer’s memory lives on with evenings such as this one.”