The 6:30 PM evening will celebrate the life of teacher and "Up the Down Staircase" author Bel Kaufman. Proceeds will benefit the Emerging Playwrights' Program at Theater for the New City. Phoebe Legere and Matt Morillo will host the benefit that promises performances by Stritch (Company, A Little Night Music, At Liberty), Grimes (The Unsinkable Molly Brown, 42nd Street), singer-songwriter Louisa Bradshaw, Michael-David Gordon, Ben Harburg, Jennifer Babiak (Fiddler on the Roof), Eric Poindexter, COBU Japanese Women's Drum and Dance and Thunderbird American Indian Dancers.

Bel Kaufman, who turned 100 in May 2011, became the oldest-known working professor when she was hired by her alma mater Hunter College to teach a course on Jewish humor.

For tickets, priced $135, phone (212) 254-1109 or visit www.theaterforthenewcity.net. The National Arts Club is located at 15 Gramercy Park South, between Irving Place/Park Avenue.