Uncharted Territories: Life, Relationships, and Storytelling With Selected Shorts
Award-winning actors read short stories at the Performing Arts Center on October 25, as part of an event held by the “Selected Shorts” podcast.
by Emma Ivanov
On a quiet Sunday, at a time when many students were still in bed, mostly folks from the Broadview Senior Living Community went over to will-call to pick up tickets and head to the bright green Recital Hall, following the neon designs on the Performing Art Center’s carpet. The “Selected Shorts” live show brought them here— a podcast many there listen to.
“Selected Shorts” is a podcast all about storytelling— it takes new short stories, written in literary magazines and anthologies alike, and with a regular cast of award-winning actors as dramatic narrators, brings these written words to life weekly. It is hosted by Meg Wolitzer, a novelist, whose well-prepared and steady jokes opened up the crowd as the event began. She explained that each episode has a theme— this one, excitingly, was “uncharted territory.” There were four stories on offer, compellingly read by three talented actors: Santino Fontana, Susie Essman, and Andrea Patterson— Patterson and Essman being Purchase alums.
The first was titled “Fruit Vendor (Diary Excerpts)” and was written by Demetri Martin. The relatively short and almost slapstick story was performed by Santino Fontana— a Tony-and-Drama-Desk-winning actor and singer, and a “Selected Shorts” regular.
Fontana’s comedic timing was immediately obvious— his narration from the perspective of the unnamed main character is quick paced and upright, slowly losing patience, but delivering each twist that made the audience laugh without losing composure. The only thing that pulled its weight more than the narration was the short story’s title—“dear diary” was used, repetitively, as a frame and an only friend, while the main character and their new fruit stand go through one bad event after another, to an almost Sisyphean level— and does not learn their lesson, ending on another comically bad business decision— a glass pane moving company.
The second story was much longer and much more solemn, although still achingly beautiful. It was written by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson, titled “Virginia Is Not Your Home,” and was performed by Andrea Patterson, an Obie-winning actress best known for her work in live theatre.
This story, and Patterson’s even-toned but confident narration, slammed the listener into its perspective immediately— directly in second person but still deeply aware of who this narrator is. Her performance felt at once like a how-to guide and a poem: soft but sure and stern. It demanded attention and felt like a steady, forced march as the instructions that the second-person perspective character Virginia becomes less high-reaching, as she returned to her home state she swore to escape. Patterson’s voice quieted and strained and slowed as time went on— plucking at the heartstrings of the audience who may have never lived a life like that, but feel the experience anyway.
The third story was a bit softer— fable-like, as Wolitzer put it, and marked the return of Santino Fontana. It was called “The White Bird of the Forest,” written by Ben Loory. It was about a young couple as they go through a forest looking for the eponymous White Bird, which will tell them whether they are ready to be married. While his first story of the day was more comedic, this reading and Fantana’s tone felt almost sweet, as he leaned a little closer to the podium, and, in effect, the audience. It had the quality of a spoken fable at bedtime— likely Loory’s goal— entrancing as he pitched up his voice for the presumably younger and naive, but still in love, main two characters.
The final story was read by Susie Essman, a comedian and actress best known for her role in “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and her prolific voice acting career. The story itself is called “Granna,” written by Claire Beams.
It was much lighter in tone, but that is what made its darker moments more poignant, when Essman took on the kind of grandmotherly tone of voice expected of the titular character— somehow wise and open hearted all at once. While the title suggests Granna as the main character, the actual lead role is Theresa, who copes with a recent breakup by taking her family, including her elderly grandmother, to the mountain cabins they visited in her youth.
As the trip continues, it becomes obvious that Granna is almost growing younger and younger as Theresa grows older— and comes to terms with the loss of a relationship and whether or not she would make a good mother. The ending was ambiguous, following the trailing off of Essman’s voice, but it is incomplete in a way that feels real— the characters are alive and goofy but also heartbreaking at times, even if you cannot always make full sense of what they’re doing or why.
This story’s ending, though abrupt, was a bit of a mirror for the event itself— Wolitzer called everyone on stage, took their bows, waved to Claire Beams, who attended the reading, in the audience, which garnered a small applause, and then wrapped up in that perfect podcast voice way, and then everyone dispersed— an almost kind of open ending in real life that left me wondering where more of it was. The theme of “uncharted territory” was apt— what was new and uncharted was exciting, scary, unfair, thought provoking and unexpected, and these stories, and their relatively entertaining and sometimes deeply moving narrations, are a kind of appetizer— an open ending meant to make the listener think, and then leave them to it.
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