The centenary of author William Faulkner's birth will be commemorated by Manhattan Theatre Club with a reading of passages from Requiem For A Nun, a stage sequel to Faulkner's novel, Sanctuary. Part of MTC's Writers In Performance series, Nun (March 10) follows the contemptuous relationship between the morally upright Gavin Stevens and southern belle Temple Drake. Playing Drake will be Marcia Gay Harden, of Angels In America and Simpatico fame. The other actor has yet to be announced.

Originally published in 1951, Requiem is Faulkner's only published foray into dramatic turf and has been printed all over the world (the French adaptation was by Albert Camus). The show came to Broadway in 1959, three years before Faulkner's death. Considered one of the great American novelists, Faulkner's works include The Sound And The Fury, Absalom, Absalom and As I Lay Dying. He won the 1949 Nobel Prize for Literature, though Sanctuary was considered controversial for its "sordid" story involving Temple's rape and imprisonment in a brothel.

Begun in 1970, MTC's Writers In Performance series has presented works by such authors as Toni Morrison, Sam Shepard and Seamus Heaney, read by such actors as Jeremy Irons, Blythe Danner, Edward Herrmann and Sam Waterston.

For information about the 7:30 PM reading at MTC, 131 West 55th St., call (212) 645-5848.

--By David Lefkowitz