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What unites this program’s two rather different stories, the first quite serious and the second very comically imaginative, is that both are tales of deepening insight, stories whose main characters undergo profound and life-changing experiences, and finally, if slowly, reach a new level of understanding.

The program begins with “The Seventh Man,” by Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, who was born in Kyoto in 1949, and has published many volumes of novels and short story collections. Many Murakami stories have a very hip, modern feel to them. But “The Seventh Man” begins with an old fashioned device--like something from one of Akira Kurosawa’s epic films: On a dark and stormy night, a group of men sit around a circle and tell their stories. The story that the seventh man tells is intimate, and awesome, as read by SHORTS regular John Shea, whose stage, film, and television credits include “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” "The Master and Margarita", "American Days", “Windy City,” “Lois & Clark,” and “Mutant X.”

Our second tale of ever-deepening insight is “The Rememberer,” by the Los Angeles-based writer Aimee Bender, who teaches creative writing at the University of Southern California and has published three books, including the story collection THE GIRL IN THE FLAMMABLE SKIRT and a novel AN INVISIBLE SIGN OF MY OWN which was an LA TIMES Pick of The Year. The heroine of this tale has a lover named Ben who undergoes a remarkable transformation that changes both their lives forever. The tale is told by the distinguished Broadway actress, Marian Seldes. A brief interview with Seldes follows the reading.

“The Seventh Man by Haruki Murakami read by John Shea
“The Rememberer,” by Aimee Bender read by Marian Seldes
For additional works featured on SELECTED SHORTS, please visit Symphony Space For information about the 2009 Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize contest, go to this site.