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Event Program

Selected Shorts: The Best American Short Stories 2024

SELECTED SHORTS: THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES 2024 WITH HOST LAUREN GROFF


WED, OCT 23


Hosted by Lauren Groff


Viola in Midwinter by Marie-Helene Bertino

Performed by Rita Wolf


Blessed Deliverance by Jamel Brinkley

Performed by Kyle Beltran


The Happiest Day of Your Life by Katherine Damm

Performed by Santino Fontana



Due to a scheduling conflict, Zabryna Guevara will no longer be appearing at this event.

There will not be a book signing at this event.


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Real-time captioning (CART) will be available in our theater for patrons with hearing loss, deafness, different language and learning needs, and anyone whose experience will be enhanced by CART. To access CART on your individual smartphone or tablet, please visit bit.ly/SymphonySpace_Captions.

The Artists (in alphabetical order)

The AUTHORS (in alphabetical order)

MORE INFORMATION

About The Best American Short Stories

The Best American series, launched in 1915, is the premier annual showcase for the country’s finest short fiction and nonfiction. Each volume’s series editor selects notable works from hundreds of print and online publications. A guest editor, a leading writer in the field, then chooses the best twenty or so pieces to publish. This unique system has made the Best American series the most respected—and most popular—of its kind. Selected Shorts has partnered with Best American since 1995.

Credits

“The Happiest Day of Your Life,” by Katherine Damm, from The Best American Short Stories 2024 (Mariner Books, 2024). First appeared in The Iowa Review (Volume 52, Issue 2/Issue 3, Winter 2022/2023). Copyright © 2023 by Katherine Damm. Adapted version of the text used by permission of the author.

“Viola in Mid-Winter,” by Marie-Helene Bertino, from The Best American Short Stories 2024 (Mariner Books, 2024). First appeared in Bennington Review (Issue 12, December 2023). Copyright © 2023 by Marie-Helene Bertino. Adapted version of the text used by permission of William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, LLC and the author.

“Blessed Deliverance,” by Jamel Brinkley, from The Best American Short Stories 2024 (Mariner Books, 2024). First appeared in Zoetrope: All-Story (Volume 26, No. 4, Winter 2022/2023). Copyright © 2023 by Jamel Brinkley. Adapted version of the text used by permission of The Wylie Agency, LLC and the author.

SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SUPPORTERS

Selected Shorts is supported by the Dungannon Foundation, creator of The Rea Award for the Short Story.

Symphony Space’s season of programming is also made possible by the generous support of the Seedlings Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund, Charina Endowment Fund, Charles D. Fleischman Charitable Trust, Susan Bay Nimoy, The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, PECO Foundation, Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina, Michael Tuch Foundation, Axe-Houghton Foundation, Jody and John Arnhold and the Arnhold Foundation, The Grodzins Fund, The Isambard Kingdom Brunel Society of North America, and Theatre Development Fund.

Programming is also made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.

Symphony Space thanks our generous supporters, including our Board of Directors, Producers Circle, and members, who make our programs possible with their annual support.

Floral design by PlantShed.

Symphony Space Staff

Kathy Landau Executive Director
Peg Wreen
Managing Director
Isaiah Sheffer
*
Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director (1978-1990)
Artistic Director (1990-2010)
Founding Artistic Director (2010-2012)
Allan Miller
Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director (1978-1990)

Jennifer Brennan Director of Literary Programs
Drew Richardson
Lead Producer of Literary Programs
Vivienne Woodward
Producer of Literary Programs
Mary Shimkin
Director of Broadcast & Literary Initiatives
Sarah Montague Selected Shorts Radio Producer
Miles B. Smith Selected Shorts Recording Engineer
Matthew Love Consultant for Literary Programs
Magdalene Wrobleski
Literary Assistant
Leigh Reid Literary Intern
Mia Testa Literary Intern

*in memoriam

Your generosity makes possible a vibrant array of music, literature, film, family, and arts education programs!