Selected Shorts

Symphony Space
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Selected Shorts

Our greatest actors transport us through the magic of fiction, one short story at a time. Sometimes funny. Always moving. Selected Shorts connects you to the world with a rich diversity of voices from literature, film, theater, and comedy. New episodes every Thursday, from Symphony Space.

  1. 4 DAYS AGO

    When Push Comes to Shove: Stories by George Saunders

    Rarely do we devote one show to just one writer, but on this Selected Shorts, we turn the show over to universally beloved author George Saunders. Saunders somehow finds the good, or at any rate the imperfectly human, in his characters. The result is a catalog as funny as it is moving, as devastating as it is hopeful. On this program, two stories that perfectly illustrate this. “Love Letter” is from Saunders’ latest collection Liberation Day. In it, an anxious grandfather who is ambivalent about the state of the world counsels an older grandchild. “Love Letter” is read by Stephen Colbert. And a favorite from our archives, “The Falls,” shows us two flawed men given a chance to do the right thing. René Auberjonois reads. The show also includes a conversation between host Meg Wolitzer and Saunders.

    58 min

  2. OCT 10

    Grass is Greener

    Meg Wolitzer presents three stories about the tricky subject of envy that question whether the grass is in fact always greener somewhere else. In Alexandra Petri’s “Seneca Falls for You,” feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton almost gets trapped in a romance novel. The reader is Ophira Eisenberg. Ben Phillipe’s sly fairy tale, “The Luck of Others,” read by Joanna Gleason, reminds us to beware of what we wish for. And a small town charity auction surfaces envy and confusion in George Saunders’ “Al Roosten,” read by Tony Hale.

    59 min

  3. OCT 3

    Didn’t See It Coming

    Meg Wolitzer presents two stories with surprises the characters didn’t anticipate. A smart Mom defies expectations in “Agouti,” by Brenda Williams, performed by Laurine Towler. And a smart house has unexpected features in a classic by sci-fi master Ray Bradbury. Stephen Colbert reads “The Veldt.”

    59 min

  4. SEP 26

    A Full Plate

    Meg Wolitzer presents two favorite Selected Shorts works in which food and nourishment figure both literally and symbolically. The narrator of Haruki Murakami’s “The Year of Spaghetti” seems to be just sharing pasta recipes, but it’s the recipe for assuaging loneliness that may elude him. The reader is Sopranos alum Michael Imperioli. And unusual family dynamics shape Amy Bloom’s “Love is Not a Pie,” performed by Hope Davis. We also share a discussion of this work by the mother and daughter book club organized by our frequent reader Rita Wolf and her daughter Anjeli.

    1h 3m

  5. SEP 19

    The Stand-Ins

    Meg Wolitzer presents a show of stories about replacements and stand-ins. While we tend to crave the original, sometimes a substitute can bring more happiness than the “real” thing. In Steve Almond’s “A Happy Dream,” read by Phil LaMarr, a young man assumes a new identity in pursuit of love. In “A Brief Note on the Translation of Winter Women, Written by the Collective Dead, Translated by Amal Ruth,” a writer speaks for those who have passed. The “real” author is Rivers Solomon, and the reader is TL Thompson. In “Saying Goodbye to Yang,” by Alexander Weinstein, a robot child and its human family learn about love all at once. The reader is Tony Hale.

    58 min

  6. SEP 12

    Unexpected Guests

    Meg Wolitzer presents two stories about unexpected guests. In Carlos Greaves’ “A Visit from the Tune Squad,” a procrastinating writer gets a surprise intervention, in performances by Santino Fontana, Dylan Marron, and Sarah Mezzanotte. In our second story, Willa Cather delivers a moving tale of sin and redemption. Patricia Clarkson reads “The Burglar’s Christmas.”

    58 min

  7. SEP 5

    Prove Your Love

    Meg Wolitzer presents a show of stories about our need to have “proof of love”—some demonstration by those nearest and dearest of exactly how much they care. A lot, in Etgar Keret’s sweetly improbable “Almost Everything,” in which a husband looks for the perfect gift for a demanding wife. It’s read by Liev Schreiber. In Jacob Guajardo’s “Conquistadors, on Fairchild,” read by Michael Hartney, old flames reconnect, but it’s not clear where they are headed. And in a classic from our archives, Haruki Murakami’s “Ice Man,” a shy woman marries a man who carries winter within and without. Jane Curtin is the reader.

    57 min

  8. SEP 2

    Too Hot For Radio: Ottessa Moshfegh "The Weirdos"

    From the author of Eileen and My Year of Rest and Relaxation, a story about weird people doing weird things. Read by Colby Minifie. This episode is hosted by Michael Ian Black.

    43 min
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Hosts & Guests

4.4
out of 5
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About

Our greatest actors transport us through the magic of fiction, one short story at a time. Sometimes funny. Always moving. Selected Shorts connects you to the world with a rich diversity of voices from literature, film, theater, and comedy. New episodes every Thursday, from Symphony Space.

Information

  • Creator
    Symphony Space
  • Years Active
    2007 - 2024
  • Episodes
    24
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2024 Symphony Space
  • Show Website
    Selected Shorts

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