The Project Shaw series — which is directed and produced by David Staller — will present the George Bernard Shaw play Dec. 17 at the Players. Staller will also perform in the evening, the first time the director/producer has played a part in one of the series' offerings.

Staller will portray Henry Higgins in a cast that also includes Jennifer Smith as Mrs. Eynsford-Hill, Liz Morton as Clara Eynsford-Hill, Allen McCullough as Bystander/Footman, Matt Cavenaugh as Freddy Eynsford-Hill, Hannah Cabell as Eliza Doolittle, Daniel Jenkins as Colonel Pickering, Beth Fowler as Mrs. Pearce, Brian Murray as Alfred Doolittle and and Marian Seldes as Mrs. Higgins. NY Post columnist Michael Riedel will narrate the evening; David Cote (Time Out NY) will host. Show time is 7 PM.

Pygmalion, according to press notes, is "a robust comedy [in which Shaw] takes on almost every major social and political issue." The Roundabout Theatre Company revival describes the work as such: "When Professor Henry Higgins comes across a poor and uneducated Cockney girl named Eliza Doolittle, Higgins makes a bet that he can take Eliza from the gutters of London and pass her off as a society lady, by simply teaching her the right dialect in which to speak."

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. Dates stretching throughout 2007 and beyond will provide an airing of every sketch, full-length and one-act play by the 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 $15, will be available Dec. 1 by calling (212) 352-3101. For more information visit www.projectshaw.com.