18 episodes
Selected Shorts Symphony Space
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- Arts
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4.4 • 2.4K Ratings
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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.
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Slippery Roads and Fancy Shorts
Host Meg Wolitzer presents two stories in which some things are saved and some are left behind. Both stories also have a connection to the German language. In Haruki Murakami’s “Lederhosen,” performed by Aasif Mandvi, the traditional German shorts become a singular obsession for one half of a married couple. In Elizabeth McCracken’s “Robinson Crusoe at the Waterpark,” a couple and their son find themselves in over their heads. Mike Doyle is the reader.
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The World According to Vonnegut
Host Meg Wolitzer presents stories by Kurt Vonnegut in which the Slaughterhouse Five author somehow managed to make a bleak dystopia funny and a high school band teacher a hero. The stories explore the darkly absurd side he’s known for—“Harrison Bergeron” performed by Becky Ann Baker––and a softer, touching side in “The Kid Nobody Could Handle” performed by Dylan Baker. The show features commentary from The Daily Show’s Jordan Klepper and backstage interviews with the Bakers, a husband-and-wife duo.
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Too Hot For Radio: Roxane Gay "Men On Bikes"
Read by Jane Kaczmarek, author Roxane Gay's playful story somehow confronts alcoholism, matrimony, masculinity, the nuclear family and the failure of the American Dream, while making us laugh. And host Aparna Nancherla talks to her friend, comedian Alison Leiby her solo show, "Oh God, a Show About Abortion," and how to craft comedy from uncomfortable situations.
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The Road Not Taken
On this Selected Shorts program, host Meg Wolitzer presents stories about journeys—physical and emotional—that end in unexpected places. In “A Woman Driving Alone,” by Marie-Helene Bertino, the main character travels s long way to see a friend, but seems also to be escaping a challenging moment in her life. The piece was commissioned for Selected Shorts’ anthology Small Odysseys, and is read by Amber Tamblyn. In Tom Perrotta’s “Nine Inches”, a teacher drives only across town, to chaperone a middle school dance, but almost gets into trouble himself. The story is performed by Santino Fontana.
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Work of Art
Host Meg Wolitzer presents stories of inspirations small and large. In these tales, writers investigate moments in which art inspires life, or life inspires art, especially in a visual medium. In Elizabeth Crane’s “Blue Girl,” read by Valorie Curry, a young woman's secret life is given an unusual public forum. In Jai Chakrabarti’s “Lessons with Father,” commissioned for our Small Odysseys anthology, a middle-aged child tries to connect with her late father through brushstrokes. The reader is Purva Bedi. And in William Boyd’s “Varengeville” read by Dan Stevens, a young man strays from his famous family as he discovers himself on canvas.
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Almost Like Love
On this week’s SELECTED SHORTS, Meg Wolitzer presents two stories about love, or the next best thing. In Pam Houston’s “How to Talk to a Hunter” a smart woman can’t get enough of what her man can’t offer. The reader is Mia Dillon. And a widow and a lonely man make an odd couple in Lisa Ko’s “Pat + Sam,” performed by Jennifer Ikeda.
Customer Reviews
Thank you Meg, we’ll let you know
Love the stories, but I’m fast forwarding past the intros, outros and interstitial comments.
Can you please just tell me a story, let me savor and reflect on it, and save the writer’s workshop prattle for another podcast?
Disappointed
…in how this show has changed. I listen for the stories and the intros that used to be brief. I don’t enjoy the new format at all.
Stories Without Personal Commentary
I agree with several fellow listeners that the podcast was better before Wolitzer became host. She is fine when limiting her commentary to the story at hand but, frequently, she inserts annoying bits and bobs from her own life.
I am also dismayed to see Wolitzer being permitted to have her mother pop up on the podcast sometimes, which I feel to be an inappropriate use of Wolitzer’s platform as host. The mother’s recent story was cute, but not of the caliber listeners have come to expect. It then went on to include an interview with Wolitzer’s mother during which Meg as host shamelessly continued to promote her mother’s work, as she did during a Mother’s Day segment. That, too, included a not-terribly-interesting interview of mother by daughter, during which her mother offered rather prosaic thoughts about writing, under the guise of insights.
I listen for the stories, not for background about Meg — or her mother. Meg seems not to understand or care about this. (Does anyone on the Selected Shorts’ Board read these reviews?)
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