Carol Kane and Bill Pullman named among stars performing in Animus Theatre Company’s 12-Hour Reading Festival

Animus Theatre Company's 12-Hour Reading Festival returns.

Animus Theatre Company has announced its annual 12-Hour Reading Festival, which will be returning to Broadway's Circle in the Square Theatre on Thursday, July 19.

This year's festival will showcase the repertoire of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Beth Henley. The company will present readings from Crimes of the Heart, The Wake of Jamey Foster, Ridiculous Fraud, The Debutante Ball, The Jacksonian, Control Freaks and Impossible Marriage.

"Animus presents our 12-Hour Festival to provide theatergoers the opportunity to experience one of the earliest and least-accessible parts of theatrical production - the reading - elevated by industry-leading actors, presented on a Broadway stage with the playwright in attendance," said Founding Artistic Director Jonathan Judge-Russo.

The readings of each play will be performed by a mixture of Animus Theatre Company members and special guest artists. This year's stars include Emmy Award-winner Carol Kane ('Taxi','The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt'), Grace Gummer ('Mr. Robot,' Frances Ha), Bill Pullman ('The Sinner', 'Torchwood'), Sami Gayle ('Blue Bloods', Candy Jar), Nnamdi Asomugha (Hello My Name is Doris, Crown Heights), Juliet Brett (The Jacksonian, 'Red Oaks'), Valorie Curry ('The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2', 'The Following'), Christine Lahti ('Chicago Hope', 'The Blacklist'), Daniel London (Minority Report, 'Manhattan'), Lauren Pritchard (Spring Awakening, 'Stuck in the Middle'), Andrew Rothenberg ('The Walking Dead', Stranger Than Fiction), Wrenn Schmidt ('The Looming Tower', 'Boardwalk Empire') and Paul Schneider ('Parks and Rec', Straight White Men).

This year's company artists will include Haley Bond, Sara Canter, Alex Correia, Alice Grindling, Jonathan Judge-Russo (A Rainy Day in New York, 'Law & Order: SVU'), Trevor Kluckman, Alan Langdon, Brad Lemons, Amy Northup, Liz Elise Richards, Erin Leigh Schmoyer, Courtney Shaw and Karen Sours Albisua ('The Chi', 'The Bridge').