Shelagh Stephenson, whose An Experiment With an Air Pump and The Memory of Water both played at Manhattan Theatre Club, will be the opening playwright for the Women's Project and Productions First Look Reading series Jan. 14.

Melanie Sutherland directs this play about three old friends, an American movie star, England's Martha Stewart and a Katie Couric in crisis, who get together on a stormy Christmas night and find themselves re-evaluating their lives. Stephenson won an Olivier Award for The Memory of Water, which is being made into a film starring Julie Walters, John Hannah, Patricia Hodge, Tom Wilkinson, Joanne Morley and Victoria Hamilton

The reading schedule follows:

Jan. 21: Suzanne Bradbeer's Full Bloom, directed by Mary Robinson
Feb. 4: Michele Miller's Real Estate, directed by Alexandra Aron
Feb. 18: Michele Aldin's Back Burner Murder, directed by Carolyn Cantor
Feb. 25: Brighe Mullins' Monkey in the Middle, directed by Mark Wing-Davey
March 18: Beatrice Taylor's Over a Barrel

First Look Readings take place at 4 PM and are free to the public. The Women's Project Theatre (formerly Theatre Four) is located at 424 West 55th Street. For reservations, call (212) 765-1706. Founded in 1978 by current Artistic Director Julia Miles, Women's Projects and Playwrights is a non-profit Off-Broadway theatre dedicated to the development of new plays by women. Recent productions include Marlane Meyer's The Chemistry of Change, Joan Vail Thorne's The Exact Center of the Universe with Frances Sternhagen, Karen Hartman's Gum with Daphne Rubin-Vega, Jule Jensen's Two Headed with Lizbeth Mackay and Bridgette A. Wimberly's Saint Lucy's Eyes with Ruby Dee, currently playing the Cherry Lane Theatre through Sept. 2.

— By Christine Ehren