In the play, "Lonely Jack likes to sit on the park bench and clear his mind. When Benny reaches out the hand of friendship Jack doesn't know what to do. When Jack takes Benny home to meet his mother Eve, she is suspicious and angry. She knows what happened the last time. But Benny has a rough charm that worms its way into the hearts of these brittle people. They open up to him and expose their sorrow. Benny has a choice. Will he be the friend he says he is? Or will he be the avenging angel of the past?"

The 3 PM reading is free and open to the public. To RSVP call (212) 727-2737. The Irish Repertory Theatre is at 132 W. 22nd Street in Manhattan.

Felciano was seen in Broadway's recent Sweeney Todd and Off-Broadway's Shockheaded Peter; Roberta Maxwell starred in The Carpetbagger's Children, and Lee Sellars is known from A Small, Melodramatic Story and The Alchemist.

Chris Lee's plays include Hummingbird (The Old Red Lion Theatre, London, 1996), The Optimist's Daughter (The Finborough Theatre, London, 1997), Eat the Enemy (The Old Red Lion, 1999 and TheaterLab, Houston, TX), The Map Maker's Sorrow (Peacock Theatre in Dublin, and SPF) and The Electrocution of Children (The Peacock Theatre, 1998) for which he won the Stewart Parker New Playwright Award. In 1999 he was appointed writer-in-association with the Abbey Theatre.

The Ash Boy was produced at Theatre 503 in London in spring 2006. Irish Rep's Kara Manning, literary manager, hopes that the reading series will "give playwrights, both emerging and more established, the invaluable opportunity to develop their new work in a supportive, safe environment and will also introduce some Irish playwrights, especially those who might not yet have the New York recognition they merit, to an American audience."

The final reading for 2006 is scheduled for Dec. 15.

For more information visit www.irishrep.org.