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Selected Shorts 2006:
A Celebration of the Short Story
Food Fictions!

Date: Friday, May 19, Saturday, May 20, and Sunday, May 21
Time: Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m., Sunday at 3:00 p.m. Location: Getty Center, Harold M. Williams Auditorium
Admission: Tickets for Saturday and Sunday are $20; students/seniors $15. Friday's performance is sold out. Call (310) 440-7300 for tickets.

Cooking and eating take center stage in this special edition of Selected Shorts.

Hear actors of stage and screen read short fiction that ranges from the wistful to the wacky.

Produced by New York's Symphony Space and presented by the J. Paul Getty Museum.

Please note that readers are subject to change.

Much Ado at Dinner (Friday, May 19)

Eating Out, Eating In (Saturday, May 20)

Delicious Escapades (Sunday, May 21)


Jane Kaczmarek

Much Ado at Dinner
Friday, May 19, 8:00 p.m.

Sold Out

"Enough" by Alice McDermott, read by Fionnula Flanagan
In telling a woman's life from one savored, delicious meal to the next, McDermott suggests what makes life satisfying and complete.

"Just a Little More" by V.S. Pritchett, read by René Auberjonois
An old man reminisces about the foods of a lifetime over dinner with his son and daughter-in-law.

"Mr. Badger" by Kenneth Grahame, read by Samantha Eggar
A sweet excerpt about a meal from the classic tale The Wind and the Willows.

"Taste" by Roald Dahl, read by John Lithgow
Over dinner, a daughter is wagered over a vintage of a bottle of wine.


John Lithgow

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Eating Out and Eating In
Saturday, May 20, 8:00 p.m.

"Grandfather Knows Best" by Calvin Trillin, read by Isaiah Sheffer
Trillin talks takeout: an essay comparing the takeout scenes in San Francisco and New York City.

"How to Tell a Fine Old Wine" by James Thurber, read by Raphael Sbarge
How to become a great wine connoisseur—or learn to fake it.

"I Was Really Very Hungry" by M.F.K. Fisher, read by Christina Pickles
A fantasy meal in a French country inn.


Christina Pickles

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Delicious Escapades
Sunday, May 21, 3:00 p.m.

"Why I Love Cookbooks" by Laurie Colwin, read by Jane Kaczmarek
The joys of reading cookbooks.

"The Long Way Home" by Jhumpa Lahiri, read by Shohreh Aghdashloo
The author talks about her training in the art of Indian cusine.

"A Piece of Pie" by Damon Runyon, read by John Shea
A Guys and Dolls-style romp about a pie-eating contest starring Nicely-Nicely, Horsey, and Miss Violette Schumberger.

"Indigestion" by Anton Chekhov, read by Bradley Whitford
Semyon Petrovich Podtikin impatiently gobbles his blini and other treats.


Shohreh Aghdashloo

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Sponsored in part by
  Gelson's
From May 10 through the 31, bring your Gelson's receipt to the Getty Center and receive a sweet gift.