All-Star Ensemble Acts in ’24 Hour Plays’

“I wanted to be the goddess of menopause,” Melanie Griffith said Monday night at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill in Times Square. She had just come from acting in a one-act short play, written and produced in the span of 24 hours to support the nonprofit Urban Arts Partnership. Griffith was among a pool of actors Amanda Seyfried, Peter Dinklage, Justin Long, Laverne Cox, Pablo Schreiber, Mark Consuelos who had shown up at the American Airlines Theatre the night before for the start of the Montblanc-sponsored event. Each had come with a prop or idea of something they had always wanted to do onstage, which were then spun into short plays overnight by a group of writers.

“Laverne [Cox]’s request was that she wanted to make out with a hot guy. I’m not sure how I managed to land in that category, but that’s what we did,” said Schreiber. He played the owner of a furniture shop where Griffith and Cox are competing for the same couch. At one point, Cox gets her wish and makes out with her “Orange Is the New Black” co-star.

“I don’t know what the reasoning behind putting us together was, but it worked out,” said Cox, who must have been relieved to play opposite Schreiber outside of Litchfield Penitentiary. “I love working with him,” she continued. “He taught me today about making big, bold choices and going for it.”

Justin Theroux and Jennifer Aniston took in the performances, but skipped out on the after party, along with a few of the actors. Who could blame them? They’d been running lines all day. “I feel a little shell-shocked from the whole thing,” Cox admitted. “It makes me feel like I could do anything as an artist.”