Families—comic, surreal, and touching--in a quartet of stories classic and contemporary.
“"Don't you notice anything different about Uncle Rondo?" asks Stella-Rondo.
"Why, no, except he's got on some terrible-looking flesh-colored contraption I wouldn't be found dead in, is all I can see," I says.
"Never mind, you won't be found dead in it, because it happens to be part of my trousseau…”
--Eudora Welty, “Why I Live at the P.O.”
Families—comic, surreal, and touching--in a quartet of stories classic and contemporary.
The first story on this program is a Eudora Welty classic about the rebellious daughter of a somewhat bizarre Southern family, “WHY I LIVE AT THE P.O.” The reader, at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, was Stockard Channing, beloved for her long running roll as the First Lady on NBC’s “The West Wing” among many other stage, television and film credits.
Basic questions of identity are at the core of our next story, “OTHER PERSONS,” by Juan Jose Milias.” Are husband and wife one flesh, as Hamlet says to his mother? Or are they strangers? This sensual and provocative story casts a new light on marriage. The reader is the Tony Award-winning actor and director, James Naughton.
SELECTED SHORTS’ annual Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize yields some delightful new fiction, and in 2007, a story of great delicacy and beauty. That year’s contest required that the story begin with the words, “I’m not sure I knew I was setting out on an important journey…” and end with the words “I had finally come home.” The winner, chosen by our contest committee from several hundred submissions, was Melodie Edwards, who runs a bookstore, Night Heron Books, in Laramie, Wyoming. Her story “THE BIRD WOMAN” is read by the star of the critically acclaimed revival of “South Pacific,” Kelli O’Hara.
This program concludes with Lynn Freed’s “MA, A MEMOIR.” A loving but troubled marriage is glimpsed through the eyes of an adult child in this ambivalent tale. Is memoir a non-fiction category only, or can something called a memoir rightfully take its place on our series devoted to reading and celebrating short fiction? Does what you are about to hear SOUND like a real life memoir, or like a carefully crafted work of the storyteller’s art? Listen closely and decide for yourself. The reader is the distinguished American actress Marian Seldes, a multiple Tony Award nominee (“Father’s Day,” “Death Trap,” “Ring Around the Moon”) for many of her stage appearances.
“Why I Live at the P.O.,” by Eudora Welty read by Stockard Channing
“Other Persons,” by Juan Jose Milias, read by James Naughton
“The Bird Woman,” by Melodie Edwards, read by Kelli O’Hara
“Ma, A Memoir,” by Lynn Freed, read by Marian Seldes
For additional works featured on SELECTED SHORTS, please visit Symphony Space We’re interested in your response to these programs. Please comment on this site or visit www.selectedshorts.org
"Why, no, except he's got on some terrible-looking flesh-colored contraption I wouldn't be found dead in, is all I can see," I says.
"Never mind, you won't be found dead in it, because it happens to be part of my trousseau…”
--Eudora Welty, “Why I Live at the P.O.”
Families—comic, surreal, and touching--in a quartet of stories classic and contemporary.
The first story on this program is a Eudora Welty classic about the rebellious daughter of a somewhat bizarre Southern family, “WHY I LIVE AT THE P.O.” The reader, at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, was Stockard Channing, beloved for her long running roll as the First Lady on NBC’s “The West Wing” among many other stage, television and film credits.
Basic questions of identity are at the core of our next story, “OTHER PERSONS,” by Juan Jose Milias.” Are husband and wife one flesh, as Hamlet says to his mother? Or are they strangers? This sensual and provocative story casts a new light on marriage. The reader is the Tony Award-winning actor and director, James Naughton.
SELECTED SHORTS’ annual Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize yields some delightful new fiction, and in 2007, a story of great delicacy and beauty. That year’s contest required that the story begin with the words, “I’m not sure I knew I was setting out on an important journey…” and end with the words “I had finally come home.” The winner, chosen by our contest committee from several hundred submissions, was Melodie Edwards, who runs a bookstore, Night Heron Books, in Laramie, Wyoming. Her story “THE BIRD WOMAN” is read by the star of the critically acclaimed revival of “South Pacific,” Kelli O’Hara.
This program concludes with Lynn Freed’s “MA, A MEMOIR.” A loving but troubled marriage is glimpsed through the eyes of an adult child in this ambivalent tale. Is memoir a non-fiction category only, or can something called a memoir rightfully take its place on our series devoted to reading and celebrating short fiction? Does what you are about to hear SOUND like a real life memoir, or like a carefully crafted work of the storyteller’s art? Listen closely and decide for yourself. The reader is the distinguished American actress Marian Seldes, a multiple Tony Award nominee (“Father’s Day,” “Death Trap,” “Ring Around the Moon”) for many of her stage appearances.
“Why I Live at the P.O.,” by Eudora Welty read by Stockard Channing
“Other Persons,” by Juan Jose Milias, read by James Naughton
“The Bird Woman,” by Melodie Edwards, read by Kelli O’Hara
“Ma, A Memoir,” by Lynn Freed, read by Marian Seldes
For additional works featured on SELECTED SHORTS, please visit Symphony Space We’re interested in your response to these programs. Please comment on this site or visit www.selectedshorts.org
About Selected Shorts
Selected Shorts features some of the finest artists of the American theater reading contemporary and classic short fiction-the most distinguished works of the early masters such as Chekhov, Maupassant, Malamud and dozens of others.
To listen to this program, and other recent programs, subscribe to the Selected Shorts podcast
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Comments [1]
I thought Stockard Channing's reading of "Why I Live at the P.O. was one of the most enjoyable readings I've heard on Selected Shorts and I'm a longtime listener! Thanks so much for that.
Ellen Diamond
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