Selected Shorts, the acclaimed short story series recorded live in performance at Symphony Space and broadcast nationally on public radio, has released a 2-disc set of short fiction entitled NEW AMERICAN STORIES.
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. A young Nigerian woman takes the Greyhound bus to the end of the line and starts a new life in Hartford in Adichie's longing-filled story "The Thing Around Your Neck," performed by
Condola Rashad (
Lynn Nottage's Ruined). Tony-winner
Boyd Gaines (Gypsy) performs Hemon's heart-felt tale "Good Living" in which a Bosnian emigrant seeks the American dream while selling magazines door to door in Chicago. A break-in and its dramatic consequences lead a Spokane Indian to rethink his entire life in Alexie's "Breaking and Entering," dynamically performed by
B.D. Wong (M. Butterfly, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit).
Rita Wolf gives a breathtaking performance of "Hell-Heaven," Jhumpa Lahiri's story of passions and tensions in a Bengali family in Cambridge, Mass, from her acclaimed collection Unaccustomed Earth.
All four writers have a unique perspective on the American experience which is reflected in their work. Whether they are immigrants from another country, or in the case of Sherman Alexie, a Native American, they're all writing from a vo
Ice That comes from being an outsider. They also share a well-deserved, universal praise for their work.
Jhumpa Lahiri is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and the author of the novel The Namesake and the story collections Unaccustomed Earth and Interpreter of Maladies, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize. Her story Hell-Heaven is performed by
Rita Wolf, an actress who has appeared on stage in numerous plays in New York and London including
David Greig's The American Pilot at MTC, Hanif Kureishi's Borderline at The Royal Court,
David Hare's Stuff Happens at
The Public Theater, and
Tony Kushner's Homebody/Kabul. Her film credits include Stephen Frears' My Beautiful Laundrette.
Sherman Alexie is a National Book Award-winning author, poet, and filmmaker. His many titles include The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and the short story collection War Dances, for which he won the 2010 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. His story Breaking and Entering is performed by
B.D. Wong, the recipient of all five major New York theatre awards (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and
Clarence Derwent) for his Broadway debut in M. Butterfly. His television credits include HBO's Oz, and his current role of Dr. George Huang on Law & Order: SVU
The Sarajevan-born writer Aleksandar Hemon is the award-winning author of The Question of Bruno; Nowhere Man; The Lazarus Project and most recently, Love and Obstacles. His story Good Living is performed by
Boyd Gaines, a four-time Tony Award-winning actor whose Broadway credits include Driving Miss Daisy, Gypsy, Journey's End, and The Heidi Chronicles. Some of his many film and television credits are Second Best, Heartbreak Ridge, Fame, Frasier, LA Law, and One Day At A Time.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the Nigerian author of two novels; Half of a Yellow Sun, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; and Purple Hibiscus; as well as the short story collection The Thing Around Your Neck. Her story The Thing Around Your Neck is performed by
Condola Rashad who made her New York theater debut at the
Manhattan Theater Club in Ruined, for which she garnered Drama Desk and Outer Critic Circle Award Nominations. She recently starred in the film 30 Beats.
Selected Shorts is an award-winning, one-hour radio program featuring readings of classic and new short fiction, recorded live at New York's Symphony Space and on tour around the US. Each week on public radio stations nationwide, great actors from stage, screen, and television bring short stories to life. One of the most popular series on the airwaves, this unique show is hosted by Isaiah Sheffer and produced for radio by Symphony Space and WNYC New York Public Radio, and distributed by PRI. Selected Shorts is broadcast on 143 public radio stations nationwide for 300,000 listeners weekly. The podcast has over 300,000 iTunes subscribers.
