Stars line up for Shelly Foundation gala

NEW YORK, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- A foundation created to honor the memory of filmmaker Adrienne Shelly is planning an inaugural benefit in New York to help female writers and directors.

Shelly, who wrote, directed and starred in this year's hit independent film "Waitress," was killed in her Manhattan office last November. An illegal immigrant has been arrested for the killing.

The non-profit Adrienne Shelly Foundation said it supports the efforts of women in film through a series of scholarships and grants, providing recipients with financial support and consultative access to the foundation's advisory board of actors, directors, producers, composers, law, public relations, academic and trade professionals.

Highlights of the foundation's Nov. 12 gala at NYU's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts will be a rare live musical performance by Alanis Morissette, followed by a celebrity reading of Shelly's screenplay, "The Morgan Stories."

Directed by actor/director/producer Fisher Stevens, the reading is scheduled to star Morissette, Matt Dillon, Edie Falco, Mary-Louise Parker, Paul Rudd, Ally Sheedy and Gina Gershon.