Stage and screen star Billy Crudup (The Elephant Man, "Almost Famous") will play a leading role in the July 25 reading of Andrienne Shelly's screenplay, "The Morgan Family," at 45 Bleeker Street Theatre. Joining him in the Culture Project benefit performance will be fellow theatre and film thespian Paul Rudd and filmdom's Ally Sheedy. Shelly will direct and produce the reading.

"The Morgan Family" traces fifty years in the history of three sisters, Lily, Angela and Beth. They are born pre-Vietnam and age through to present times in the course of the dark, yet hopeful script.

As an actress, Shelly starred in "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me," "Sleep With Me" and "Sleeping With Strangers." As a writer-director, she created the independent films "Urban Legend," "Sudden Manhattan," "Lois Lives a Little" and "I'll Take You There."

Crudup was nominated for a 2002 Tony Award for The Elephant Man. Rudd most recently appeared on stage in The Shape of Things. Sheedy ("The Breakfast Club," "High Art") is a vet of Shelly's "I'll Take You There," which also starred theatre's Reg Rogers and Ben Vereen.

Also in the cast are Jessica Hecht (The Last Night of Ballyhoo), Callie Thorne, Amy Locane, Sasha Eden and Victoria Pettibone. Suggested donation, which directly benefits Culture Project's Women Center Stage Festival, is $15. To reserve a seat, call (212) 644-3103.