Obie-winning playwright Maria Irene Fornes will team up with author Grace Paley for a benefit evening of readings at NY's Theatre for the New City on Jan. 25, 1999

Fornes is the author of more than two dozen plays, including Fefu and Her Friends, Mud, The Danube, and Conduct of Life. Her prolific career with be celebrated at NY's Signature Theatre next year with an entire season dedicated to her works. Other playwrights featured by Signature include Arthur Miller, John Guare and Sam Shepard.

Paley received the literary award for short story writing from the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1970, her short stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Esquire and The Atlantic Monthly. Her collected stories were published in 1994 and nominated for a National Book Award.

Theatre for the New City was founded in 1970, with plays premiering there receiving numerous awards, including 42 Obies, a Pulitzer Prize, five ASCAP awards and a Kennedy Center Award.

Tickets for the TNC event are $10, with the event being part of the company's campaign to raise $300,000 to pay off its mortgage. For tickets or more information, call (212) 254-1109. -- By Sean McGrath