Playwright Christopher Durang will discuss his career and read from his work on Oct.23 at 7:00 PM at the Barnes & Noble Bookstore in the Princeton, NJ, MarketFair (3535 U.S. Rt. 1 South).

Joining Durang will be Eileen Blumenthal, professor of theatre arts at Rutgers University. After the presentation, Durang will answer questions from the audience.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call (609) 716-1570.

Durang's appearance is sponsored by the McCarter Theater as part of a nationwide "Writer's Harvest" to benefit Share Our Strength, the nation's leading anti-hunger organization. On Oct. 23, all Barnes & Noble Bookstores will donate a percentage of sales to Share Our Strength.

Durang's darkly comedic plays include The Marriage Of Bette And Boo, Actor's Nightmare, Sex and Longing, Beyond Therapy, and A History Of The American Film. His screenplays include The House Of Husbands, written with longtime friend Wendy Wasserstein, and The Nun Who Shot Liberty Valance. Durang, who won the 1995 Lila Wallace Readers Digest Writers Award, also appeared in the Off-Broadway Sondheim revue, Putting It Together, and a 1995 Encores! concert staging of Call Me Madam with Tyne Daly.

Since 1994 he has been co-chair with Marsha Norman of the Playwriting Program at the Juilliard School.

Smith and Kraus recently published his complete plays, Christopher Durang: 27 Short Plays and Christopher Durang: Complete Full-Length Plays (1975-1995).

--By Rebecca Paller