Selected Shorts: Odd couples On 'Selected Shorts,' an international trio of tales reflects on love and family, read by Robert Sean Leonard, Frances Sternhagen, and Paul Hecht.
by Isaiah Sheffer
Listen to the show:
First, Aimee Bender's quirky take on first impressions, "The Meeting," read by Paul Hecht. Next, from a strange meeting in America, to a strange marriage in Iran: "Mrs. Farrokhlaqa Sadraldivan Golchehreh" was written by political refugee Shahrnush Parsipur. Her poignant story of failed marriage and lost love was read by two-time Tony Award winner Frances Sternhagen. Finally, Israeli author Etgar Keret's story "Pride and Joy" features the usual overachieving child, and doting parents, but with a twist. It is read by Tony-winner Robert Sean Leonard ("The Invention of Love").
"Selected Shorts: A Celebration of the Short Story" presents some of the finest artists of the American theater and screen reading short fiction by classic, contemporary and bold new writers. Performances have featured distinguished works by classic masters such as Chekhov, Edith Wharton, de Maupassant, Ernest Hemingway and Isaac Bashevis Singer; stories by contemporary greats such as Alice Munro, John Updike, John Edgar Wideman, Grace Paley, William Trevor and Alice Walker; as well as the fresh, vivid and diverse works of a new generation of remarkable literary talents, from Pulitzer Prize-winning Jhumpa Lahiri, Academy of Rome Prize-winner Tom Bissell and celebrated Haitian-American writer Edwidge Danticat to promising newcomers like Rattawut Lapchararoensap, Yiyun Li and Etgar Keret.
There are currently a dozen "Selected Shorts" thematic CDs, which feature listeners' best-loved stories, including "Baseball!," "Timeless Classics," "Food Fictions," "Travel Tales," "Falling in Love," "Edith Wharton," and most recently, "Pets!," "Tales of Betrayal," "Family Matters" and "Wartime Lives."
