Nominated for outstanding director are Mark Brokaw ("Lobby Hero"), Michael Grief ("Dogeaters"), Marion McClinton ("Jitney"), Daniel Sullivan ("Proof") and Simon McBurney ("Mnemonic").

The awards will be presented May 7 at Greenwich Village's Lortel Theatre, named in honor of Lucille Lortel, the late actress and producer known as the "Queen of Off-Broadway" who instituted the awards 16 years ago.

For modern couples, being apart doesn't mean staying out of touch.

Just ask Julianna Margulies and Ron Eldard. The acting pair will spend a considerable time apart when Margulies stars in "Ten Unknowns" at Lincoln Center and Eldard goes to Morocco to be in Ridley Scott's next film, "Black Hawk Down."

"He'll be in the desert and I'll be in cold New York," said Margulies.

But she added, the separation shouldn't be too bad.

"For Christmas, (Ron) got me a Palm Pilot with E-mail so I can E-mail him from my dressingroom," she said.

"We'll visit back and forth," Eldard added quickly. "It should be in our contract - is there a plane ticket?"

Interestingly, Margulies hopes their separation isn't too short.

"I only hope he's still in Morocco when I finish here, so I can go there and visit," she said.

"But I knew I'd be a coward if I didn't do it," said the actress, flanked on the stage of Manhatten's Westside Theatre by Ensler, Julianna Margulies and Rosie perez at a press conference yesterday (Jan 17) announcing the third annual V-Day fund raiser at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 10.

They will be among the more than 70 women, including Jane Fonda, Oprah Winfrey, Winona Ryder, Lily Tomlin and Brooke Shields, who will read excerpts- from "Monologues" as part of a benefit to help combat global violence against women. The event will mark the return to the stage of Fonda, who is honorary chair and who has donated $1 million to what Ensler described as "a movement, not a charity.".

Ensler expressed the hope that this year's V-Day at the 18,000 seat Garden will "be the biggest event ever" in the history of the anti-violence movement. "There are too many women being desecrated" she said, adding that Winfrey would be performing a new monologue. Ensler wrote it following a trip to Afghanistan, where women were being persecuted and, she said, "killed in droves" by the Islamic fundamentalist regime.

Following the press conference, Close expressed hope that the V-Day event would draw men as well as women. "It's not about feminism," she said, "It's about humanism."

If you want to purchase tickets to V-Day at Madison Square Garden, you can call TICKETMASTER at 212-307-7171 or at ticketmaster.com. They are also available at Madison Square Garden Box Office or at thegarden.com.

The party that followed at the Supper Club in Manhattan drew star George Clooney, who spent most of the evening chatting with his former ER co-star Julianna Margulies.

Clooney, who looked relaxed and fit, was enthusiastic about his next gig: co-starring with Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and a big gang in Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven. He told me that brothers Luke and Owen Wilson would not be in the film after all, but that Casey Affleck had joined the cast, Don Cheadle was definitely in and that Matt Damon had also signed on.

After Oceans, Clooney fits in 10 days of work — right before the expected actors’ strike — to play a CIA agent in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. This is the film about Gong Show creator Chuck Barris and his fevered imagination involving international plots. The script is by Being John Malkovich creator Charlie Kaufman. Clooney confirmed for me that John Cusack will most likely play the nutty Barris, ex-ing out rumors that Ben Stiller might get the role.

Margulies, who’s always fun and charming, just returned from Prague where she shot Mists of Avalon for television, with Joan Allen and Anjelica Huston as her heavyweight co-stars. The star said, "Then next month I start a play written by Jon Robin Baitz, at Lincoln Center. My co-star is Donald Sutherland and I haven’t even met him yet. I’m a little nervous because he’s the real thing. I said, 'Can we get together and have a cup of coffee first?'"

Shaw, who's often booked a year in advance for the Academy Awards, gained fame for her cosmetics line when she introduced lipsticks named after the celebrated women who wear them. The must-have hues include Jada (Pinket- Smith), Winona (Ryder), Nicole (Kidman), Kim (Bassinger), JULIANNA (MARGULIES), and Martha (Stewart), among others.

All three have signed on to star in "The Man From Elysian Fields," an indie film to be directed by "Big Brass Ring" helmer George Hickenlooper. Garcia plays a man whose financial troubles cause a break-up with his wife (played by Margulies), and goes to work at an escort service operated by Jagger's character.

Complications arise when Garcia's character falls for a wealthy woman married to a character played by Jason Robards, Variety said.