Selected Shorts is an event at New York's Symphony Space on the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...

, in which screen and stage actors read classic and new short fiction before a live audience. The stage show began in 1985 and continues today at Symphony Space's Peter Jay Sharp Theater. The annual season of the live events at Symphony Space begins in the mid-fall and ends in mid-spring. There is a theme to each Selected Shorts episode and performance. Several stories are presented around each theme. The stories are always fiction, sometimes classic, sometimes new, always performed by actors from stage, screen and television who bring these short stories to life. Evenings are often co-hosted by writers, literary producers, and other interesting characters. Selected Shorts was originally created by

Kay Cattarulla The name Kay is found both as a surname (see Kay (surname)) and as a given name. In English-speaking countries, it is usually a feminine name, often a short form of Katherine or one of its variants; but it is also used as a first name in its own r ...

, who in 1995 went on to create another successful literary program in Dallas, Arts & Letters Live, which is sponsored by the Dallas Museum of Art. Symphony Space's Artistic Director Isaiah Sheffer formerly hosted the live events, although many Selected Shorts also feature guest hosts, often well-known writers, who also choose which stories will be read. Mr. Sheffer died on November 9, 2012, at age 76. Actor

BD Wong Bradley Darryl Wong (born October 24, 1960) is an American actor. Wong won a Tony Award for his performance as Song Liling in ''M. Butterfly'', becoming the only actor in Broadway history to receive the Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critic ...

acts as the host of the live events since the fall of 2012. The readings are recorded live and become the basis of a one-hour radio program, hosted by actors, authors, and entertainers such as

David Sedaris David Raymond Sedaris (; born December 26, 1956) is an American humorist, comedian, author, and radio contributor. He was publicly recognized in 1992 when National Public Radio broadcast his essay " Santaland Diaries.” He published his first c ...

Stephen Colbert Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program '' The Colbert Report'' from 2005 ...

Cynthia Nixon Cynthia Ellen Nixon (born April 9, 1966) is an American actress, activist, and theater director. For her portrayal of Miranda Hobbes in the HBO series ''Sex and the City'' (1998–2004), she won the 2004 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supp ...

Wyatt Cenac Wyatt John Foster Cenac Jr. (; born April 19, 1976) is an American comedian, actor, producer, and writer. He was a correspondent and writer for ''The Daily Show'' from 2008 to 2012. He starred in the TBS series ''People of Earth'' and in Barry ...

Jane Kaczmarek Jane Frances Kaczmarek (; born December 21, 1955) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Malcolm's mother Lois on the Fox television sitcom '' Malcolm in the Middle'' (2000–2006), which earned her three Golden Globe nominat ...

, and

Meg Wolitzer Meg Wolitzer (born May 28, 1959) is an American novelist, known for '' The Wife'', ''The Ten-Year Nap'', ''The Uncoupling,'' ''The Interestings'', and ''The Female Persuasion.'' She works as an instructor in the MFA program at Stony Brook Southa ...

, with literary commentator Hannah Tinti of

One Story ''One Story'' is a literary magazine which publishes 12 issues a year, each issue containing a single short story. The magazine was founded in 2002 by writers Hannah Tinti Hannah Tinti (born 1973) is an American writer and the co-founder of '' ...

Magazine, and are produced in conjunction with

WNYC WNYC is the trademark and a set of call letters shared by WNYC (AM) and WNYC-FM, a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations located in New York City. WNYC is owned by New York Public Radio (NYPR), a nonprofit organization that ...

. The programs are distributed by Public Radio International and air on PRI-affiliated public radio stations in the United States. The radio program airs weekly throughout the year. Originally, the program was distributed by

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

. However, in October 2007, it moved its distribution to PRI, Public Radio International. The program's theme is David Peterson's "That's the Deal," performed by the Deardorf/Peterson group. Until 2011, the radio show began and ended with the piano and cello duet "Come to the Meadow" by

Roger Kellaway Roger Kellaway (born November 1, 1939) is an American composer, arranger and jazz pianist. Life and career Kellaway was born in Waban, Massachusetts, United States. He is an alumnus of the New England Conservatory. Kellaway has composed commissi ...

External links

Selected Shorts
official website
Symphony Space
official website
Selected Shorts Program Archive at WNYC
Public Radio International programs American radio dramas 1985 radio programme debuts