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“…[S]he reduced the story to a vignette; the vignette to an anecdote; the anecdote to an aphorism; and the aphorism at last to this haiku: Tiny upstate town Undergoes many changes Nonetheless endures.” --J. Robert Lennon, “Eight Pieces for the Left Hand.”
An eerie glimpse of a small town, and a rural interlude from a comic master.


This program features a remarkable intersection of two works. When host Isaiah Sheffer and the producer of Symphony Space’s literary programs, Katherine Minton, first selected J. Robert Lennon’s story “Eight Pieces for the Left Hand” for inclusion in the live season of SELECTED SHORTS, its title suggested that a musical accompaniment might be in order, and the theatre’s musicians in residence, the Ying Quartet, suggested Ned Rorem’s “United States,” a quartet in seven movements. To everyone’s general astonishment, the first rehearsal revealed that the story—a darkly humorous look at small town life--and Rorem’s sinuous and yearning piece, might have been made for each other. The effect is fully realized in Stephen Lang’s arresting reading. The story is from Lennon’s collection Pieces for the Left Hand, and he is also the author of Happyland, which was serialized in Harper’s, and has been featured in Best American Short Stories. Stephen Lang’s many stage and film credits include “Wait Until Dark,” “Hamlet,” “Death of a Salesman,” and “Gods and Generals.”

The James Thurber stories Americans know best are the ones he tells about his Ohio boyhood, such as “The Night the Bed Fell” or “The Night the Ghost Got In,” and of course, such classics as “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” But Thurber, cartoonist and writer for the urbane New Yorker, also penned subtler pieces, like our second story, “The Wood Duck,” zestfully read by the actor, writer, and political activist, Malachy McCourt.

“Eight Pieces for the Left Hand” by J. Robert Lennon, read by Stephen Lang, accompanied by the Ying Quartet performing Ned Rorem’s “United States. “The Wood Duck by” James Thurber, read by Malachy McCourt

For additional works featured on SELECTED SHORTS, please visit Symphony Space