The reading at the Players Club in Manhattan features the talents of actors Susan Blackwell, Bradford Cover, Mara Davi, Daniel Davis, Jack Gilpin, John Martello, Rory O'Malley, Christine Pedi, Hal Robinson, Amy Rutberg and Marc Vietor as well as New York arts journalists Gordon Cox (host), Michael Feingold, Adam Feldman, Peter Filichia, Jason Zinoman and Patrick Pacheco. Show time is 7 PM.

David Staller, the acclaimed singer-actor who has produced and directed all of the Project Shaw offerings, handles those same duties for this reading.

"A satire of theater critics, whose characters were based upon Shaw's own detractors, it features a play within a play," according to press notes for Fanny's First Play. "Originally, Shaw had the play produced without letting anyone know who actually wrote it. Ironically, this rarely seen 1911 play was Shaw’s first real commercial success, which he finally admitted to writing. The plot involves the daughter of a man who refuses to live in the present. She writes an incendiary play, anonymously, and invites a group of critics to review it." For this performance, the four critics in the play will be portrayed by four New York theatre critics.

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 $25, will be available beginning July 1 by calling (212) 352-3101. For more information visit www.projectshaw.com.