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All three of the works on this program’s “menu” came from a special program, “Food Fictions” presented at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, one of SHORTS regular touring venues. Our Getty appearances not only expose us to enthusiastic (as you’ll hear) L.A. audiences, but enable us to work with Hollywood based actors. So, our first piece, “The Long Way Home” — a lovely memoir of a mother’s love and sense of place expressed through food, by Pulitzer Prize-winner Jhumpa Lahiri — is read by Oscar nominee Shohreh Aghdashloo ("House of Sand and Fog").

The second item on the program is a short short palate clearer by Anton Chekov, “Indigestion,” read by "West Wing," and "Studio 60," star Bradley Whitford.

The final item on the menu is a classic by the American comic master Damon Runyon, whose colorful low-life characters were the basis for the musical "Guys and Dolls." One of them, Nicely Nicely Jones (or Johnson, in the musical version) is the central figure in this story, “A Piece of Pie,” about an epic eating contest and how true love knows no boundaries—or dress sizes. Regular SHORTS leading man John Shea brings this raffish but amiable collection of persons to vivid life—just in time for your Christmas dinner, or holiday leftovers.

“The Long Way Home,” by Jhumpa Lahiri, read by Shohreh Aghdashloo
“Indigestion,” by Anton Chekhov, read by Bradley Whitford
“A Piece of Pie,” by Damon Runyon, read by John Shea.