Horse Trade Theater and Naked Girls Reading to Welcome BEAUTIES AND BEASTS, 4/17

Horse Trade Theater Group, in association with Naked Girls Reading, presents BEAUTIES AND BEASTS on Wednesday, April 17, 2013, at 9 p.m. at Under St. Marks (94 St. Marks Pl, NYC).

New York's "Best Story Hour" presents an evening of beautiful beasts and beastly beauties, as Naked Girls Reading presents BEAUTIES AND BEASTS. The hit nude literary salon goes beyond the fairy tale with stories of bombshells and brutes, sirens and savages, dolls and devils; horrible monsters rescued from the jaws of lovely princesses; and some of literature and history's most bewitching and most depraved.

Host Nasty Canasta welcomes Bunny Love, Jenny C'est Quoi and Jezebel Express for a night of good looks and bad behavior, as the Naked Girls prove that beauty is as beauty does at Naked Girls Reading BEAUTIES AND BEASTS.

Naked Girls Reading is the perfect intimate live event: a monthly nude literary salon featuring in-the-buff readings by local burlesque luminaries, professional librarians, authors and other Naked Girls. Past themes have included Banned Books, Science Fiction and Tween Lit, as well as their annual holiday presentation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Guests to the salon are invited to sip a drink and listen with their eyes wide open as full-frontal literature meets fine art in the intimate theatrical setting of Under St. Marks.

Naked Girls Reading is on the third Wednesday of every month at UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place between 1st Ave and Ave A) at 9pm. Tickets ($20; 2 for $35) may be purchased online at www.NakedGirlsReadingNYC.com or by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444. Seating is limited to 45; advance tickets are strongly recommended.

NAKED GIRLS READING began in Chicago in March 2009 as the creation of international showgirl Michelle L'Amour and Franky Vivid. The idea had rolled around in their heads for a few years in different formats, but with the opening of Studio L'Amour in 2008 it materialized as the perfect intimate live event. Naked Girls Reading now has branches across the country and around the world; the New York chapter, produced by Nasty Canasta, was opened in October 2009 to great acclaim and was named "New York's Best Story Hour" by the Village Voice in 2010.

HORSE TRADE THEATER GROUP is a self-sustaining theater development group; with a focus on new work, it has produced a massive quantity of stimulating downtown theater. Horse Trade's Resident Artist Program offers a home to a select group of Independent Theater artists, pooling together a great deal of talent and energy. It is also the home of FRIGID New York - the first and only festival of its kind in New York City.