The free reading will feature Bianca Amato, Denis Butkus, Catherine Curtin, David Greenspan and Laura Heisler. According to Irish Rep, "In Crumble, Janice asks for seven very strange objects for Christmas. Her perpetually anxious mother complies, suspecting Janice might blame her for the absurd circumstances in which her father disappeared. Janice reveals the dark nature of these objects to her mother on Christmas morning and a calamity ensues."

Sheila Callaghan's plays have been produced and developed with Soho Rep, Playwrights Horizons, South Coast Repertory, Clubbed Thumb, The Lark, Actors Theatre of Louisville, New Georges and Moving Arts, among others. She just received the 2007 Whiting Writers Award for Lascivious Something. Her other plays include Scab, The Hunger Waltz, Crawl Fade to White, We Are Not These Hands, Dead City and Kate Crackernuts.

She is a member of the Obie-winning playwright's organization 13P and resident of New Dramatists.

Kara Manning, Irish Rep literary manager, hopes that the reading series will "give playwrights, both emerging and more established, the invaluable opportunity to develop their new work in a supportive, safe environment and will also introduce some Irish playwrights, especially those who might not yet have the New York recognition they merit, to an American audience."

The Irish Repertory Theatre is located at 132 West 22nd Street.

Tickets are free, and the event is open to the public. To reserve, call (212) 727-2737.

For more information visit www.irishrep.org.