Society for the Performing Arts Presents Author David Sedaris

Society for the Performing Arts presents Houston-favorite, David Sedaris on Thursday, April 28, 2022, at 7:30 PM in the Brown Theater in Wortham Center. Delightful, hilarious, and creatively prolific, Sedaris is a force in the modern zeitgeist, daring to laugh off life's quirky complications while exploring both shared and singularly unique experiences. The great skill with which he slices through cultural euphemisms and political correctness proves that Sedaris is a master of satire and one of the most observant writers addressing the human condition today. Featuring post-event book signing!

David Sedaris is the author of Barrel Fever and Holidays on Ice, as well as collections of personal essays, Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, and his most recent book, Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls, each of which became an immediate bestseller. The audio version of Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls is a 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards Nominee for Best Spoken Word Album. He is the author of the NYT-bestselling collection of fables entitled Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary (with illustrations by Ian Falconer). He was also the editor of Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules: An Anthology of Outstanding Stories. Sedaris' pieces appear regularly in The New Yorker and have twice been included in "The Best American Essays." There are over ten million copies of his books in print, and they have been translated into 25 languages.

He and his sister, Amy Sedaris, have collaborated under the name "The Talent Family" and have written half-a-dozen plays which have been produced at La Mama, Lincoln Center, and The Drama Department in New York City. These plays include Stump the Host, Stitches, One Woman Shoe, which received an Obie Award, Incident at Cobbler's Knob, and The Book of Liz, which was published in book form by Dramatists Play Service. David Sedaris' original radio pieces can often be heard on the public radio show This American Life. David Sedaris has been nominated for three Grammy Awards for Best Spoken Word and Best Comedy Album. His latest audio recording of new stories (recorded live) is "David Sedaris: Live for Your Listening Pleasure" (November 2009).

A feature film adaptation of his story C.O.G. was released after a premiere at the Sundance Film Festival (2013). Since 2011, he can be heard annually on a series of live recordings on BBC Radio 4 entitled "Meet David Sedaris." David Sedaris's new book is a collection of his diaries, entitled Theft By Finding, Diaries (1977-2002) (May 2017). An art book about David Sedaris's diary covers was also just published and edited by Jeffrey Jenkins, entitled: David Sedaris Diaries: A Visual Compendium (October 2017, Little, Brown and Company). Among his latest works is The Best of Me (2020). Taken together, the stories in The Best of Me reveal the wonder and delight Sedaris takes in the surprises life brings him. No experience, he sees, is quite as he expected-it's often harder, more fraught, and certainly weirder-but sometimes it is also much richer and more wonderful.

The 21/22 Season features many literary greats. Participate in SPA's Pages & Stages book club series-diving into the work of David Sedaris. Join us at the theater for a pre-show conversation about Sedaris' new book, The Best of Me. Now, for the first time collected in one volume, the author brings us his funniest and most memorable work. In these stories, Sedaris shops for rare taxidermy, hitchhikes with a lady quadriplegic, and spits a lozenge into a fellow traveler's lap. He drowns a mouse in a bucket, struggles to say "give it to me" in five languages, and hand-feeds a carnivorous bird.

We'll be joined by a guest speaker and socialize with fellow readers! Pages & Stages is a partnership between SPA and Harris County Public Library (HCPL).

Other upcoming 21/22 Season Pages & Stages events include pre-show deep dives into works by Neil Gaiman (MAY 22, Jones Hall).

To support local independent bookstores, SPA has partnered with Brazos Bookstore to be the official bookseller of the 21/22 Season.

All audience members ages 5 and above will be required to show proof of vaccination OR negative professionally administered Covid-19 test (not an at-home self-test).

All attendees must also show a government-issued ID that matches the name on the negative test proof or vaccination record. Children up to age 18 may be accompanied by an adult with such identification. And masks are required inside the theater.

Please note that all Health & Safety protocols and requirements are subject to change and at the discretion of the artist, presenter, or venue. For more details, please visit our FAQ page.

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