Selected Shorts: A Celebration of the Short Story
The Getty Center
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Produced by New York's Symphony Space, Selected Shorts is an annual series featuring actors from stage, screen, and television reading classic and new short fiction. The series is held each spring at the Getty Center.
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Next in the series
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Selected Shorts 2013:
Passions and Pursuits
Date: Saturday, March 23 and Sunday, March 24, 2013
Time: 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on Saturday; 3:00 p.m. on Sunday
Location: Getty Center, Harold M. Williams Auditorium
The popular public-radio series is back with live performances at the Getty that detail fictions about our favorite leisure activities. Actors from stage and screen perform stories about the pleasures and travails of all the things we love to do—from baking to ballroom dancing, card playing to movie watching, and knitting to sex. This year's stellar lineup includes readings by Leonard Nimoy, Robert Sean Leonard, Kate Burton, Alison Pill, and more. A collection of works by Etgar Keret, Tess Gallagher, Joyce Carol Oates, John Cheever, and Dorothy Parker have been selected to feed your passion for short fiction.
Cast and stories are subject to change.
Saturday, March 23, 3:00 p.m.
Dreams
Hosted by Christina Pickles, cast also includes Parker Posey, Lindsay Crouse, Josh Radnor, and Leonard Nimoy
"The Waltz" by Dorothy Parker
This wallflower-heroine is at the ball and dying to dance.
"Anaconda" by Martha McPhee
The stakes of a family card game get higher and higher.
"The Grid" by Rick Moody
The romantic, sexy, intense, dangerous, sad, memorable history of a kiss.
"In Dreams Begin Responsibilities" by Delmore Schwartz
On a summer Sunday in Brooklyn in 1909, a young man discovers truths about his parents at the movies.
Saturday, March 23, 7:00 p.m.
Discoveries
Hosted by Kate Burton, cast also includes David Furr, Christina Pickles, and Kirsten Vangsness
"Art of Cake" by Michael Chabon
This boy's life as a cook begins on the back panel of a Bisquick box, with velvet crumb cake.
"Summer at Strandhill" by John McGahern
A lonely boy fuels his spirit of adventure through comic books he reads on a beach vacation.
"People Are Becoming Clouds" by Joe Meno
Something very surprising is happening to Eleanor and her husband isn't quite sure what he thinks about it.
"The Lover of Horses" by Tess Gallagher
Through caring for her dying dad and discovering his passion for cardplaying, gambling, and life, a woman comes to think differently about her own.
Sunday, March 24, 3:00 p.m.
Escapes
Hosted by Robert Sean Leonard, cast also includes Alison Pill, Billy Campbell, and Anika Noni Rose
"Flying Carpets" by Steven Millhauser
In this fanciful fantasy, a child's summer is filled with magical rides on a flying carpet.
"Beg, S1 Tog, Inc, Cont, Rep" by Amy Hempel
A woman turns to knitting when her life falls apart.
"Nairobi" by Joyce Carol Oates
A woman enjoys an afternoon of shopping, and she comes away with more than a new wardrobe.
"True Loves" by Mark Strand
Romance blooms in Machu Picchu, Hollywood, Sydney, Halifax, Belgrade, and Rome in this tale of a life on the road.
Dreams
Hosted by Christina Pickles, cast also includes Parker Posey, Lindsay Crouse, Josh Radnor, and Leonard Nimoy
"The Waltz" by Dorothy Parker
This wallflower-heroine is at the ball and dying to dance.
"Anaconda" by Martha McPhee
The stakes of a family card game get higher and higher.
"The Grid" by Rick Moody
The romantic, sexy, intense, dangerous, sad, memorable history of a kiss.
"In Dreams Begin Responsibilities" by Delmore Schwartz
On a summer Sunday in Brooklyn in 1909, a young man discovers truths about his parents at the movies.
Saturday, March 23, 7:00 p.m.
Discoveries
Hosted by Kate Burton, cast also includes David Furr, Christina Pickles, and Kirsten Vangsness
"Art of Cake" by Michael Chabon
This boy's life as a cook begins on the back panel of a Bisquick box, with velvet crumb cake.
"Summer at Strandhill" by John McGahern
A lonely boy fuels his spirit of adventure through comic books he reads on a beach vacation.
"People Are Becoming Clouds" by Joe Meno
Something very surprising is happening to Eleanor and her husband isn't quite sure what he thinks about it.
"The Lover of Horses" by Tess Gallagher
Through caring for her dying dad and discovering his passion for cardplaying, gambling, and life, a woman comes to think differently about her own.
Sunday, March 24, 3:00 p.m.
Escapes
Hosted by Robert Sean Leonard, cast also includes Alison Pill, Billy Campbell, and Anika Noni Rose
"Flying Carpets" by Steven Millhauser
In this fanciful fantasy, a child's summer is filled with magical rides on a flying carpet.
"Beg, S1 Tog, Inc, Cont, Rep" by Amy Hempel
A woman turns to knitting when her life falls apart.
"Nairobi" by Joyce Carol Oates
A woman enjoys an afternoon of shopping, and she comes away with more than a new wardrobe.
"True Loves" by Mark Strand
Romance blooms in Machu Picchu, Hollywood, Sydney, Halifax, Belgrade, and Rome in this tale of a life on the road.
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The Getty mourns the loss of Isaiah Sheffer (1935–2012), founder of Symphony Space and the Selected Shorts series. Isaiah will be remembered as a tireless promoter of performing arts and literature in New York, Los Angeles, and beyond.
Most recently in the series
Selected Shorts 2012: Objects of Desire
March 3 and 4, 2012
The hit public-radio series returned for its annual weekend of live performance at the Getty with a great lineup of actors from stage and screen that read funny, passionate, and mysterious classic and modern tales about objects of desire. Historical, religious, magical, humorous, beloved, or bewitched—every object tells a story. Featuring readings by Leonard Nimoy, Corey Stoll, Brian F. O'Byrne, Jane Kaczmarek, Robert Sean Leonard, Isaiah Sheffer, and others, the programs included works by Jonathan Lethem, Raymond Carver, Abigail Thomas, Maeve Brennan, Susan Perabo, and Aimee Bender and more.
March 3 and 4, 2012
The hit public-radio series returned for its annual weekend of live performance at the Getty with a great lineup of actors from stage and screen that read funny, passionate, and mysterious classic and modern tales about objects of desire. Historical, religious, magical, humorous, beloved, or bewitched—every object tells a story. Featuring readings by Leonard Nimoy, Corey Stoll, Brian F. O'Byrne, Jane Kaczmarek, Robert Sean Leonard, Isaiah Sheffer, and others, the programs included works by Jonathan Lethem, Raymond Carver, Abigail Thomas, Maeve Brennan, Susan Perabo, and Aimee Bender and more.
Selected Shorts 2011: Delicious Fictions
March 26 and 27, 2011
Leonard Nimoy, Tim Curry, Denis O'Hare, and Josh Radnor lead this year's lineup of terrific actors reading luscious tales of food and passions, politics, mystery, and deep-sea adventure. Classic and new, the stories are set in diverse locales: a shabby Brooklyn kitchen, a submarine off the West African coast, a fancy Manhattan society dinner party, Don Quixote's Karaoke Bar in Oklahoma City, and beyond.
March 26 and 27, 2011
Leonard Nimoy, Tim Curry, Denis O'Hare, and Josh Radnor lead this year's lineup of terrific actors reading luscious tales of food and passions, politics, mystery, and deep-sea adventure. Classic and new, the stories are set in diverse locales: a shabby Brooklyn kitchen, a submarine off the West African coast, a fancy Manhattan society dinner party, Don Quixote's Karaoke Bar in Oklahoma City, and beyond.
Selected Shorts 2010: At Home
May 1 and 2, 2010
The annual literary series returned in 2010 with a weekend of stories about home. Moving, comical, romantic, heart wrenching, heartwarming, and thought provoking, these readings examined the way we live. Featuring readings by René Auberjonois, Kirsten Vangsness, Fionnula Flanagan, Ed Asner, Jane Kaczmarek, and others, the programs included works by Richard Ford, Miranda July, Yasunari Kawabata, John Updike, and Julie Otsuka, to name a few.
May 1 and 2, 2010
The annual literary series returned in 2010 with a weekend of stories about home. Moving, comical, romantic, heart wrenching, heartwarming, and thought provoking, these readings examined the way we live. Featuring readings by René Auberjonois, Kirsten Vangsness, Fionnula Flanagan, Ed Asner, Jane Kaczmarek, and others, the programs included works by Richard Ford, Miranda July, Yasunari Kawabata, John Updike, and Julie Otsuka, to name a few.
Selected Shorts 2009: Unforgettable Journeys
May 2 and 3, 2009
The 2009 lineup explored destinations real and imaginary, far flung, and close at hand, with journeys featuring wild adventures, comic mishaps, and unexpected encounters. Stories by Todd McEwen, Lorrie Moore, Hunter S. Thompson, Marguerite Yourcenar, and more were read by a distinguished lineup of actors including James Cromwell, Kate Burton, Alec Baldwin, and Fionnula Flanagan, and more.
May 2 and 3, 2009
The 2009 lineup explored destinations real and imaginary, far flung, and close at hand, with journeys featuring wild adventures, comic mishaps, and unexpected encounters. Stories by Todd McEwen, Lorrie Moore, Hunter S. Thompson, Marguerite Yourcenar, and more were read by a distinguished lineup of actors including James Cromwell, Kate Burton, Alec Baldwin, and Fionnula Flanagan, and more.
How to Get Here
The Getty Center is located at 1200 Getty Center Drive in Los Angeles, California, approximately 12 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. See Hours, Directions, Parking for maps and driving directions.
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