Woodard will direct a cast that includes Michael K. Williams ("Boardwalk Empire," "The Wire"), Lynda Gravatt (The Little Foxes, NYTW), Vladimir Versailles (Through the Yellow Hour, Rattlestick), Reynaldo Piniella (Honkey, Urban Stages) and Tijuanna Ricks (THIS, Hartford Theater Co.).

"As a gang war erupts in the south side of Chicago, a young boy conjures a magician con-artist to help him survive," according to press notes. "Can the boy find his way back to reality or must he stay in the world of his own creation?"

Lindsey Ferrentino is New York-based playwright whose work has been developed at Atlantic Theater Company, New York Theater Workshop, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, The Blank Theatre in LA, The Kennedy Center Theatre Lab in DC, The Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, among other theaters in New York and Florida. She is a recipient of The Edward Albee Foundation Playwriting Fellowship and Residency, Blue Ridge Theater Festival Residency and has received a commission from The Strasberg Institute, where she is a current faculty member.

The reading will be held at New York Theatre Workshops' rehearsal studio, which is located at 83 E. 4th Street.

There is limited seating available to the public. Email [email protected] for a reservation.