The ever-popular public radio series Selected Shorts returns for a weekend of live performances by celebrity readers, offering stories revolving around the theme of food—enjoyed, prepared, devoured, or ignored. Each event includes a small bite culinary selection paired with a special drink tailored to each performance.
The literary feast touches on romances and coming of age stories, mysteries, adventures, marital woes, and the cozy complications of family life. Robert Sean Leonard hosts the series and leads a cast including Jane Kaczmarek, Michael Imperioli, Christopher Lloyd, Joshua Malina, Christina Pickles, and Amber Tamblyn reading delectable tales set in kitchens, at dinner parties, behind the scenes at a bakery, at family dinner tables, and even a mad hatter’s tea party.
Cast and stories are subject to change.
Selected Shorts: A Celebration of the Short Story is produced by New York’s Symphony Space and presented by the J. Paul Getty Museum.
Selected Shorts 2014: Drama at Dinner
Date: Saturday, March 22 and Sunday, March 23, 2014 Time: 3:00pm and 7:00pm on Saturday; 3:00pm on Sunday Location: Getty Center, Harold M. Williams Auditorium Admission: Tickets: $35; includes small bite culinary selection
Saturday, March 22, 3:00pm
Cast includes Michael Imperioli, Amber Tamblyn
The Year of Spaghetti by Haruki Murakami Translated by Philip Gabriel and Jay Rubin Pasta is on the menu in a year of loneliness and lost love.
The Occasional Pignoli Tart by Ann Hood A young woman dreams of adventure beyond the pastry counter where she works.
Serial Monogamy by Nora Ephron The famous foodie’s memoir through cookbooks.
Saturday, March 22, 7:00pm
Cast includes Robert Sean Leonard, Christopher Lloyd, Christina Pickles A Mad Tea-Party from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll Tea in Wonderland.
A selection from Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert Translated by Lydia Davis A dinner-dance at a château sets Emma Bovary longing for a different life.
Feathers by Raymond Carver A strange and revelatory dinner party.
Sunday, March 23, 3:00pm
Cast includes Jane Kaczmarek, Catherine O’Hara, Joshua Malina
Letter to a Frozen Peas Manufacturer by Lydia Davis Passionate advice about peas.
Soirée in Hollywood by Henry Miller A drunken dinner party initiates the author into the culture of 1940s LA.
Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl A cruel shock before supper turns a happy wife’s world upside down.
Where You’ll Find Me by Ann Beattie A weekend in the country, with food and romantic entanglements.