The 6 PM reading, "A House Divided: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates," will also feature commentary from Columbia University professor Eric Foner. The reading is presented as part of the free public program series "Mystic Chords of Memory: Abraham Lincoln and the Performing Arts," which runs through March 21.

In honor of the Lincoln bicentennial, Ivey and Rebhorn will read from the transcripts of the historic 1858 debates between presidential candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas. The papers also inspired the Norman Corwin drama The Rivalry.

Dana Ivey earned Tony nominations for her performances in Butley, Heartbreak House, Sunday in the Park with George, The Last Night of Ballyhoo and The Rivals and won Drama Desk Awards for The Last Night of Ballyhoo and Sex and Longing. She appeared in the original Off-Broadway staging of Driving Miss Daisy and will appear in The Savannah Disputation at Playwrights Horizons this season.

James Rebhorn most recently concluded performances in the Lincoln Center Theater production of Noah Haidle's Saturn Returns. His stage credits also include The Overwhelming, Prelude to a Kiss, Twelve Angry Men, Dinner at Eight, The Man Who Had All the Luck, Our Town, I'm Not Rappaport and Are You Now or Have You Ever Been.

The free reading will take place in the Bruno Walter Auditorium at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, located at 111 Amsterdam Avenue (between 64th and 65th Streets). For further information visit NYPL.org.