B.D. Wong To Read 'Selected Shorts' At Westport Playhouse

Campbell Scott, Isaiah Sheffer and B. D. Wong will read short stories at 'Selected Shorts: A Celebration of the Short Story,' the live performance version of the renowned public radio show of the same name, on Monday, May 19, 8 p.m., at Westport Country Playhouse. 

"Selected Shorts," produced by Symphony Space in New York City, is co-presented at Westport Country Playhouse by the Westport Arts Center and Westport Country Playhouse, and sponsored by WSHU.

Hosted by Isaiah Sheffer, the evening's program will be "New Fiction from The Paris Review."  The story selections will be "Stump Louie" by Lisa Halliday, read by Isaiah Sheffer; "The Mathematician" by Daniel Kehlmann, read by B.D. Wong; and "Silver" by Karl Taro Greenfeld, read by Campbell Scott.

Campbell Scott has appeared in many films, including "The Exorcism of Emily Rose," "The Sheltering Sky," "The Spanish Prisoner," "Dying Young," "Singles," "Roger Dodger," "The Secret Lives of Dentists," "The Dying Gaul and "Duma." His Broadway credits include "The Real Thing," "Long Day's Journey into Night" and "Ah, Wilderness!"  Along with Stanley Tucci, he directed the film "Big Night," which received the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best First Film. He was the narrator in the 2007 documentary on "Iraq, No End in Sight." Also recently, he starred in the ABC series "Six Degrees" and wrote and directed the feature "Company Retreat."

Isaiah Sheffer is artistic director of Symphony Space in New York and host of NPR's "Selected Shorts." A founder of Symphony Space, Sheffer is also a playwright and creator of the book and lyrics to several works including "Demons and Dreamers," based on the life and work of Isaac Bashevis Singer.  He is currently creating the libretto for a modern-baroque opera-ballet about the making of the American Constitution, "A More Perfect Union." 

B. D. Wong received all five major New York theatre awards – Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Clarence Derwent – for his Broadway debut in "M. Butterfly." His other theatre work includes his roles in Stephen Sondheim's "Pacific Overtures," the Broadway musical revival of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" and Off Broadway appearance in "As Thousands Cheer" and "The Tempest." He appears in the films "Stay," "The Freshman," "Jurassic Park," "Father of the Bride" and "Seven Years in Tibet." Recently, he directed "Yellow Wood," which appeared at the 2007 New York Musical Festival. Currently, he plays the part of Dr. George Huang in "Law & Order: SVU."

Karl Taro Greenfeld is the author of "Speed Tribes," "Standard Deviations" and most recently, "China Syndrome."  A longtime staff writer and editor for The Nation, Time and Sports Illustrated, his writing has also appeared in GQ, Vogue, Outside, Men's Journal, The Paris Review, The New York Times Magazine and numerous other publications.  His fiction has been anthologized in "The Best American Nonrequired Reading," and his travel writing appears in several "Lonely Planet" travel guides.  He lives in New York City with his wife and two daughters.

Lisa Hallliday lives in New York and London and is working on a novel.

Daniel Kehlmann was born in Munich and lives in Vienna.  His novels and story collections have been translated into more than a dozen languages and have won several prizes, including the 2005 Candide Award.  His novel "Measuring the World," from which "The Mathematician" is drawn, became an instant bestseller in several European countries.  In 2006, Kehlmann was a writer-in-residence at New York University's Deutsches Haus.

About The Paris Review

Founded in Paris by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen and George Plimpton in 1953, The Paris Review has introduced the important writers of the day. Adrienne Rich was first published in its pages, as were Philip Roth, V. S. Naipaul, T. Coraghessan Boyle, Mona Simpson, Edward P. Jones and Rick Moody. In addition to the focus on original creative work, the founding editors found another alternative to criticism—letting the authors talk about their work themselves. The Review's "Writers at Work" interview series offers authors a rare opportunity to discuss their life and art at length; they have responded with some of the most revealing self-portraits in literature. Among the interviewees are William Faulkner, Vladimir Nabokov, Joan Didion, Seamus Heaney, Ian McEwan and Lorrie Moore. In the words of one critic, it is "one of the single most persistent acts of cultural conservation in the history of the world."

Now in its 21st season on the airwaves, "Selected Shorts" is produced for radio by Symphony Space and WNYC, New York Public Radio.  The award-winning program is heard locally on Saturdays at 3 p.m. on WSHU (FM 91.1). 

Tickets to "Selected Shorts" are $15, $20 and $25.

The Westport Arts Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating arts experiences that contribute to individual growth and community enrichment.  WAC believes that encouraging the arts is essential to the renewal and well-being of society.  WAC works hard to bring to the community a rich, accessible roster of visual and performing arts programs, including exhibitions, concerts, lectures, children's classes and outreach programs.

Celebrating its 78th season, the venerable Westport Country Playhouse (Joanne Woodward and Anne Keefe, Artistic Directors; Jodi Schoenbrun Carter, Managing Director) is creating innovative new works and dynamic revivals. The Playhouse has produced more than 700 plays, 36 of which later transferred to Broadway including Come Back, Little Sheba with Shirley Booth; Trip to Bountiful with Lillian Gish; Butterflies Are Free with Keir Dullea and Blythe Danner; Absurd Person Singular with Sandy Dennis, Geraldine Page and Tony Roberts; and Our Town with Paul Newman.  The list of actors, directors, and other theatre artists who have worked and continue to perform on the Playhouse's legendary stage reads like a "Who's Who" of the American theatre.  Following a multi-million dollar renovation completed in 2005, the Playhouse now produces year-round, welcoming 85,000 audience members annually. In addition to a full season of theatrical productions, the Playhouse presents educational programming and workshops; a children's theatre series; symposiums; music; films; and readings of short fiction, classical works and new plays.  Westport Country Playhouse serves as a treasured home for the theatrical arts, its audiences and its artists.  For the State of Connecticut, it is a true cultural landmark. Your experience begins at www.westportplayhouse.org.

For more information or reservations for "Selected Shorts," visit www.westportplayhouse.org, or call Westport Country Playhouse box office at (203) 227-4177, or toll-free at 1-888-927-7529.  Westport Country Playhouse is located at 25 Powers Court, off Route 1, Westport.