The first stateside reading — Oct. 18 at 7 PM at NYTW's downtown home — is part of the Tribeca Theatre Festival which kicks off, Oct. 19-31. The inaugural two-week festival is presented by Tribeca Film Festival co-founders Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff, with the Drama Dept.

The actors slated for the Stuff Happens reading are Firdous Bamji (Homebody/Kabul), Reed Birney (Bug), Lothaire Bluteau (The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui), Len Cariou (Sweeney Todd) as Donald Rumsfeld, Reg E. Cathey (White Chocolate) as Colin Powell, John Ellison Conlee (The Full Monty), John Guare (playwright of Six Degrees of Separation), John Benjamin Hickey (Love! Valour! Compassion!) as Tony Blair, Arliss Howard (The Late Henry Moss) as George W. Bush, Dariush Kashani (Homebody/Kabul) as Kofi Annan, Christopher McCann (True Love), Donald Moffat (The Iceman Cometh) as Dick Cheney, Gloria Reuben ("ER," The Vagina Monologues) as Condoleezza Rice, Wallace Shawn (Aunt Dan and Lemon) as Hans Blix, Fisher Stevens (Brighton Beach Memoirs) as Paul Wolfowitz, Michael Stuhlbarg (The Invention of Love), Debra Winger (The Exonerated) as Laura Bush and Frank Wood (Side Man). Brandon Demery served as narrator and many actors also doubled for other roles.

Michael Sexton directs that reading of Hare's new work, which depicts nearly every major politico attached to the Bush White House and follows the prelude to the invasion of Iraq. The play currently makes its debut at London's National Theatre.

The work is part of the "Downtown Readings" series in which downtown theater companies will present staged readings of new and developing works at Tribeca Cinemas. (The Hare work will perform at the NYTW's space at 79 East 4th Street.)

For times and more information on all of the free reading, visit www.tribecatheaterfestival.com. For reservations, call (212) 941-2010.