Some well-known actors and actresses are putting their talents to good use to help keep theaters from closing down during the pandemic.

Actor Dan Lauria says that he saw the crisis looming as live theaters went dark at the onset of the COVID-19 crisis – telling his friends that he had to do something to save regional theaters.

He and his friends started the “Keeping Live Theater Alive” project to help.

“You get to see these actors in their homes, their dens, their backyards – reading something that is personal to them,” Lauria says.

The project includes actors reading works that they themselves have written. The money raised will help theaters across the country – including New Jersey Repertory Company. It is a nonprofit professional theater in Long Branch where Lauria has performed.

Celebrity reads, including one by Joe Mantegna and others, are posted on the NJ Rep website, along with a link to donate.

Lauria, best known for his role on the series “The Wonder Years,” says that theater preserves cultures and now itself needs to be preserved.

“Name a battle that was fought in the Hundred Years War. Nobody knows. But if I ask you to cite a line from Shakespeare, you’ll know one – at least one,” Lauria says.

More celebrity reads will be released in October and going forward.