Narrativa

New American Stories presents diverse stories of contemporary American life and dreams lost and found, by four of the best young contemporary writers - Jhumpa Lahiri, Sherman Alexie, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Aleksandar Hemon - as performed by terrific stage and screen actors. All four writers have a unique perspective on the American experience, which is reflected in their work.

A collection of poignant, romantic and funny tales performed by Academy Award -winning actor William Hurt. This collection includes a bonus track of an exclusive interview with William Hurt. Hurt's readings are thoughtful, tender, romantic, and resonant. A treasure.

Julia Sweeney says she was a "happy Catholic girl" when, one day, she walked into church and signed up for a Bible-study course. "What an eye opener that was!" she says. Equally comedic and insightful, Letting Go of God is Sweeney's brilliant one-woman show about her struggle with her faith.

Nine states. Two control freaks. One steering wheel. What could possibly go wrong? It may be that a marriage ends not with a whimper but with the slam of a car door on a deserted stretch of highway. Most married couples know better than to put themselves in each other's way, but in Ken La Salle's first autobiographical monologue, he tells about how he and his wife of eight years did just that on a road trip that probably should never have happened.

Mike Daisey is a fierce storyteller, one minute hilarious, the next minute sweet, with a fine-tuned ear for digression. He circles in on his uneasy subject matter, closer and closer, until he exposes the raw heart. The New York Times calls him "the master storyteller" and he has been compared to Garrison Keillor, Spalding Gray, and David Sedaris.

Mike Daisey is a fierce storyteller, one minute hilarious, the next minute sweet, with a fine-tuned ear for digression. He circles in on his uneasy subject matter, closer and closer, until he exposes the raw heart. The New York Times calls him "the master storyteller" and he has been compared to Garrison Keillor, Spalding Gray, and David Sedaris.

José Jiménez has often been described as an ethnic character. But José is the quintessential "little man". Featured in the movie The Right Stuff, and starring at President John F. Kennedy's inaugural ball, Bill Dana's José is a most memorable, classic, and original character.

Recorded at The Portland Performing Arts Center in 1985, this performance became the basis for Tim’s second Maine PBS prime-time TV special, as well as his second LP for the Bert and I company. In the two years since the release of Downeast Standup, Tim had been busy with over 150 shows a year, and the maturation of his stage presence and storytelling style is evident here.

The classics from "The Pride of Brooklyn" are here in this collection - the best of four of Pat's albums: Our Hero, Spaghetti Sauce and Other Delights, You Don't Havee to Be Italian to Like Pat Cooper, and More Saucy Stories.

Recorded at a show celebrating the sesquicentennial of the town of Brooklin, Maine, this 1999 audio features Tim exploring his roots in growing up in Maine (including Brooklin, where Tim’s mom was born in 1923). This album includes the amazing-but-true story of Tim’s 1956 Chevy - "The American Flag Car" - which sparked a media storm when Tim was attending art school in 1970.

Selected Shorts: A Celebration of the Short Story has toured to the Mount, the stately and elegant home of the great American writer Edith Wharton, for the last several summers, presenting Broadway and Hollywood actors reading stories by Wharton and other writers. Selected Shorts now presents a collection of four of Edith Wharton's short stories, recorded live at the Mount, and featuring acclaimed actresses Kathleen Chalfant, Christina Pickles, Maria Tucci, and Brenda Wehle.

Selected Shorts: Travel Tales presents a collection of classic travel experiences. Selected Shorts is an award-winning series of classic and contemporary short fiction read by acclaimed actors. The Selected Shorts radio series is a co-production of Symphony Space and WNYC, New York Public Radio, and is heard on public radio stations nationwide.

Remember 6th grade, where the question, "Are you cool?" takes on cosmic proportions? Acclaimed storyteller Bill Harley revisits the excitement (or was it torture?) in these hilarious true (or at least real!) stories. His wacky tales capture the essence of what it feels like to be a kid, and will delight and engage children and parents alike.

Bloomsday on Broadway celebrates June 16, 1904, the most famous fictional date in literature, when Leopold Bloom walked around Dublin in the pages of James Joyce's Ulysses. Since 1981, hundreds of acclaimed actors have joined avid Joyceans, writers, critics, and scholars on stage at Symphony Space to read selections from the book that heralded the birth of modern literature.

In five autobiographical vignettes, Charlayne Woodard tells the moving and inspirational tale of her African-American family through three generations of love, struggle, and triumph.