Celebrated novelist Joyce Carol Oates will attend the reading of two of her one-act plays at the Dec. 19 Food for Thought — Lunch Hour Theatre series.

Oates' Tone Clusters and Dr. Magic will be performed at the one-act play reading series, held at The National Arts Club in New York City. Tony Award winner Tammy Grimes will take part in the reading of Tone Clusters, and she will be joined by fellow actors David Schramm and Jeff Woodman. Dr. Magic will be performed by Woodman, Tasha Lawrence and Karl Kenzler, who is currently in the cast of Dinner at Eight.

Food for Thought readings begin at 1:30 PM following a buffet lunch. After the reading, Oates will take part in a question-and-answer session that also includes the day's cast members and Food's founder and artistic director Susan Charlotte. The afternoon will conclude with Oates' presentation of a "Fellowship for Emerging Writers" scholarship to a student from Washington Irving High School.

Tickets for the special event are priced at $50. The National Arts Club is located at 15 Gramercy Park South; for more information, call (212) 362 2560 or visit www.foodforthoughtproductions.com.

—By Andrew Gans