The reading at the Players Club in Manhattan boasts the talents of Kelli Barrett, David Belcher, Michael Cerveris, Rufus Collins, Maria Dizzia, Jayne Houdyshell, George S. Irving and Marc Kudisch. Newsweek's Jeremy McCarter hosts; show time is 7 PM. David Staller directs and produces.

In Arms and the Man, press notes state, "an enemy soldier (Cerveris) is found hiding in the bedroom of a young woman (Dizzia), the daughter of the Major of his enemy. After she helps him escape he returns, and she finds herself torn between deciding between her heroic soldier fiance (Kudisch) and the chocolate-hungry man she'd hidden in her boudoir. Musical buffs will remember this as the play that was turned into the operetta, The Chocolate Soldier."

The new season will continue Feb. 15 with The Philanderer, March 22 with The Doctor's Dilemma, April 19 with John Bull's Other Island, May 24 with Major Barbara, June 21 with Village Wooing, July 19 with Candida, Sept. 27 with Man and Superman, Oct. 25 with Cap't Brassbound's Conversion, Nov. 22 with How He Lied to Her Husband and Dec. 20 with Heartbreak House.

The Project Shaw series is produced and directed by Staller, who acted with Dana Ivey in Shaw's Mrs. Warren's Profession at the Irish Repertory Theatre. The series intends to offer every sketch, full-length and one-act play by the late playwright.

Past participants include Blair Brown, Mark Kudisch, Kerry Butler, Tyne Daly, Jonathan Hadary, Daniel Jenkins, Rebecca Luker, Michael Cerveris, Karen Ziemba, Michele Pawk, Bruce Vilanch, Jack Gilpin and George S. Irving.

The Players Club is located in Manhattan at 16 Gramercy Park South. Tickets, priced $20, are available by calling (212) 352-3101. For more information visit www.projectshaw.com.