20 episodes

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.

Selected Shorts Symphony Space

    • Arts
    • 4.4 • 2.5K Ratings

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.

    What’s Your Story?

    What’s Your Story?

    Host Meg Wolitzer presents three stories about the act of writing and how it can remake us--a prankish skit; a playful and tender investigation of creating with words; and a fraught social encounter between two characters who don’t ‘get’ each other’s stories. B.J. Novak takes on the old saying “Great Writers Steal” in a short piece read by Novak and Aasif Mandvi. In Etgar Keret’s “Creative Writing” a wife writes her way out of grief. It’s read by Alex Karpovsky. A dinner party becomes a scene of personal and political tension in Lorrie Moore’s “Foes,” performed by Joan Allen and Kyle MacLachlan. And Moore joins Wolitzer to talk about the story and creating fiction.

    • 1 hr 3 min
    Elements of Nature

    Elements of Nature

    Host Meg Wolitzer presents four works in which nature and the out-of-doors drive both plots and character. Humorist Jenny Allen does battle with her stubborn plants in “Garden Growing Pains,” read by Kirsten Vangsness. The majestic Canadian border separates an Indigenous family in Thomas King’s “Borders,” read by Kimberly Guerrero. A housewife masters one of the elements in “Flying,” by Alyce Miller. The reader is Kirsten Vangness again. And a sudden storm creates a sense of abandon in the Kate Chopin classic “The Storm,” read by Jane Curtin. “Garden Growing Pains,” “Borders,” and “Flying,” were presented in cooperation with CacheArts and Utah Public Radio, KUSU-FM.

    • 57 min
    Too Hot for Radio: Erin Somers "Variations on the Same"

    Too Hot for Radio: Erin Somers "Variations on the Same"

    Paget Brewster and Andy Richter perform Erin Somers' masterly comical and sardonic story about an overwhelmed mom who acts on her fantasy of getting away from it all.

    • 29 min
    Extended Families

    Extended Families

    Host Meg Wolitzer presents two works with unusual family dynamics. In Zadie Smith’s “Grand Union,” the mother-daughter bond transcends death and brings with it a whole family history. The reader is Kaneza Schaal. And Richard Bausch’s “What Feels Like the World,” read by James Naughton, explores the bond between a grandparent and a grandchild.

    • 56 min
    Selected Shorts Goes to the Movies with the Tribeca Film Festival

    Selected Shorts Goes to the Movies with the Tribeca Film Festival

    Host Meg Wolitzer presents stories so compelling that they were adapted for the screen. Selected Shorts and the prestigious Tribeca Festival collaborated and came up with three works that crossed the boundaries between fiction and film. An eerie game has unexpected consequences in Richard Matheson’s “Button, Button,” performed by Marin Ireland. The story inspired the horror film “The Box” starring Cameron Diaz and Frank Langella. Michael Stuhlbarg gives a rousing performance of Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky;” and Andrea Martin reads the story that inspired the Hollywood classic All About Eve—Mary Orr’s “The Wisdom of Eve.”

    • 58 min
    Homewreckers

    Homewreckers

    Host Meg Wolitzer presents two humorous stories about marriages not made in heaven. In James Thurber’s classic “The Breaking Up of the Winships,” a long-married couple fall out over Donald Duck. The reader is Kristine Nielsen. And in Louise Erdrich’s “The Big Cat,” read by Keir Dullea, two powerful wives, a bemused husband, and a symphony of bone-jarring snores. The program also features an interview with Erdrich.

    • 58 min

Customer Reviews

4.4 out of 5
2.5K Ratings

2.5K Ratings

joe14250 ,

Love bedtime stories!

My father used to make up stories to get us to fall asleep! I will sometime enjoy a SS at bedtime too! I love the association!

CharlesThorntonPollard ,

Love, love Meg♥️

This is more of a testament to the awesome Meg Wolitzer. Meg, your insights, interviews, and passion for good literature is refreshing. This is especially true during a season of non-literate persons foisting their elementary approach to story telling on us. You encourage and promote the best. You are the best, only to be challenged by your mom—-and I love your interviews of Mom!

bechill59 ,

Always amazed…

…by how much more life there is in the actors’ rendition of stories than there is when I read them. Many Thanks for the literary awakening.

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