Presented as a benefit for Vermont CARES and the HIV/HCV Resource Center, Kramer's explosive play about the dawn of the AIDS crisis will take place at 7 PM.

Joining Butler ("Frasier," Olive and the Bitter Herbs, Standing On Ceremony, The Irish Curs) for the staged reading are Lisa Harrow (Wit), Alan Gelfant Eben Brown, Michael Fisher, Spencer Morrissey, Alex Nicosia and Bill Pelton.

"The Normal Heart stunned me when I first saw it in New York City in 1985, and there are issues in it regarding national health care and coming out which are as potently current now as they were then," Butler said in a statement. "Though the face of AIDS seems to have changed, no longer as life-and death as it was then, Larry Kramer continues to remind us that the dying continues worldwide on a massive, unreported scale; and that denial and apathy and ignorance and fear are as alive as ever. This play is a chronicle of a certain terrifying, paralyzing time of crisis when brave people discovered the courage and resolve to take care of their own, and I think it’s also a wake-up call that we're all on our own."

A discussion and reception will follow the reading.

The Normal Heart will be presented at the Chandler Music Hall. There is a suggested donation of $20 or $15 (students). Group reservations are required and can be made by phoning (802) 728-6464.