Selected Shorts Symphony Space

Guest host Jane Curtin presents a cornucopia of jokes, poems, and stories from a live program with comedian Mike Birbiglia and poet J. Hope Stein.  The couple shares material from their book The New One, about the birth of their daughter, and Stein’s poems reflecting on the experience of motherhood, as well as works by other favorite writers, including poetry and short stories from David Sedaris, Simon Rich, Zadie Smith, Jo Harjo, and Maggie Smith.  Performers include Jane Kaczmarek, Carmen Lynch, Andrea Martin and Kaneza Schaal.

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Guest host Hope Davis presents two stories in which strong bonds between women are evoked, by authors reflecting very different worlds.  In Youmna Chlala’s “Nayla,” read by Rita Wolf, two young women in a traditional community form a friendship.  In Susan Perabo’s “Life Off My E,” the relationship between sisters is reflected through their shared love of Scrabble.  Hope Davis is the reader.

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Guest host Jane Curtin presents two stories from the influential literary journal Ploughshares.  “y = mx+b,” by Andrew Altschul uses an algebraic formula to explore the act of storytelling and the shape of life itself.  It’s performed by Peter Mark Kendall.  In our second story, Jamel Brinkley’s “I Happy Am,” a boy who usually imagines himself as a robot begins to imagine his own, real life.  It also reflects on the way issues of race and class can effect a child’s imagination. The reader is Karen Pittman. 

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Guest host Cynthia Nixon presents two stories about unusual family members. In Alix Ohlin’s “The Cruise,” a heartsick divorcee travels with her unconventional aunt. Laura Benanti reads.  An elderly dog is “A Permanent Member of the Family,” and a bone of contention, in this Russell Banks story performed by Zach Grenier.

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Guest host Meg Wolitzer presents our holiday show--two stories about being home for the holidays and how you can count on your Mom to be there for you—and possibly to complicate things.  First, memoirist Augusten Burroughs recalls a disastrous—and hilarious—childhood cooking project.  Reader Michael Cerveris relishes every bite.  And in “Live Wires” by Thomas Beller, a young man invites his girlfriend to his mother’s annual Hanukkah party.  The reader is Jane Curtin.

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Guest host Jane Kaczmarek presents two stories from the Best American Short Stories 2021 anthology selected by guest editor Jesmyn Ward. Both involve adolescents facing displacement or rejection, but the stories are set in very different environments: One takes place in a surreal, Soviet-occupied Afghanistan, and one inside a junior high school in Tennessee.  First, Leo Solomon reads “Playing Metal Gear Solid: The Phantom Pain,” by Jamil Jan Kochai.  Then we hear “Biology,” by Kevin Wilson, performed by Mike Doyle.  And Ward comments briefly on her approach to creating this year’s diverse anthology.

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