The reading at the Players Club in Manhattan features the talents of Jayne Houdyshell, Hannah Cabell, Rufus Collins, Richard Easton, Ruth Leon, Charlotte Parry, A.J. Shively, Marilyn Sokol, Evan Thompson and Diane Stilwell Weinberg. The host for the evening is New York Magazine's Jesse Green. Show time is 7 PM.
David Staller, the acclaimed singer-actor who has produced and directed all of the Project Shaw offerings, handles the same duties for this reading.
"In Great Catherine," press notes state, "the lusty titular Empress, Catherine of all the Russias (Jayne Houdyshell), doesn't waste much time beating around the bush. When an emissary from London arrives in her court, she does what she must to get what she wants. In Annajanska, The Wild Grand Duchess, written immediately after the 1917 Russian revolution, a mysterious Grand Duchess (Hannah Cabell) doing her bit for both sides."
Past participants include Blair Brown, Kerry Butler, Tyne Daly, Jonathan Hadary, Daniel Jenkins, Rebecca Luker, Michael Cerveris, Karen Ziemba, Michele Pawk, Bruce Vilanch, Jack Gilpin and George S. Irving.
The Players Club is located in Manhattan at 16 Gramercy Park South. Tickets, priced $25, are available by calling (212) 352-3101. For more information visit www.projectshaw.com.