Playwrights Shange and Bayeza, who are sisters, will read from their published and unpublished writings "related to family, personal recovery and community healing," according to press notes. The event will take place at Riverside Church Theatre, beginning with a VIP cocktail reception at 6 PM and continuing with the readings at 7 PM.

Shange, best known for her Obie-winning and Tony-nominated play for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, has also written A Photograph: Lovers In Motion, Spell #7, Boogie-Woogie Landscape, and an Obie-winning adaptation of Mother Courage and Her Children. She is also a prolific novelist and poet.

Bayeza's plays include The Ballad of Emmett Till, Amistad Voices, Club Harlem, Kid Zero and Homer G & The Rhapsodies.

The Riverside Church Theatre is located at 490 Riverside Drive. For tickets, call (212) 780-1400, ext. 7793 or visit www.communityaccess.org.

* Community Access is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping people with mental illness find independence and self-reliance.