Courtship and What Comes After

Guest host Jane Curtin offers up tales of courtship and its consequences. In “Prince Amilec,” by the late fantasy writer Tanith Lee, a handsome prince pursues a beautiful princess, but it’s not the same old, same old fairy tale. Lee (1947 - 2015) was the first woman honored with the British Fantasy Award for her novel Death’s Master. Over the course of her career, she wrote dozens of novels and hundreds of short stories for children and adults. She twice won the World Fantasy Award for Short Fiction, for her stories “The Gorgon” and “Elle Est Trois (La Mort).” Her novels include The Dragon’s Hoard, The Birthgrave, and the Flat-Earth Cycleseries.

Gildart Jackson gives a wonderfully nuanced read, capturing both the fairy-tale tradition and Lee’s sly digs at it. Jackson is best known for his role on the reality television series “Whodunnit?” His film and television credits include “The Big Brass Ring,” “General Hospital,” “Providence,” “Charmed,” “You,” “Atlas Shrugged: Part II,”” Burn Notice,” “Supernatural,” and “The Bold Type.” He has been featured on stage in regional productions of “The Seagull,” “My Fair Lady,” and “Private Eyes.” He has also narrated numerous audiobooks, including “The Son” and “You Will Not Have My Hate.” Jackson will appear in the forthcoming films “Medicine Men” and “Merrily.”

In our second work, by A.M. Homes, a couple explores their relationship in ways that are both playful and contentious. Just what you’d expect from this adroit satirist. Homes is the author of the memoir The Mistress’s Daughter, the short story collections The Safety of Objects, Things You Should Know, Days of Awe, and the novels Jack, In a County of Mothers, The End of Alice, Music for Torching, This Book Will Save Your Life, and May We Be Forgiven, winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, NYFA, and The Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the NYPL. She has published fiction and essays in The New Yorker, Granta, Harper’s, McSweeney’s, One Story, The New York Times, and Vanity Fair, where she is a contributing editor. Additionally, she serves on the Board of Directors of Yaddo and on the Board of Poets and Writers. Homes also teaches in the Creative Writing Program at Princeton.

“Be Mine was performed by Sanjit De Silva and Adina Verson. De Silva was recently seen in the New York Theatre Workshop's production of “An Ordinary Muslim.” Additional theater credits include “The Little Foxes,” “Troilus and Cressida,” “Dry Powder,” “Macbeth,” “The Ragged Claws,” “Awake and Sing,”and on Broadway, “War Horse.” His film and television credits include “Man on the Moon,””Summer of Sam,” “The Company Men,” “The Girl Is In Trouble,” “August,” “Arranged,” “ Time After Time,” “Madam Secretary,”” Blacklist,” “High Maintenance,” “Elementary,”” Homeland,” and the upcoming short films “Remind Me,” “Time After,” and “Saving Rohan.”

Adina Verson was nominated for the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for her role in “The Lucky Ones,” following her Broadway debut in the Tony Award-winning play “Indecent.” Additional theater credits include “The Servant of Two Masters,” at Theater for a New Audience, Seattle Rep, the Guthrie, and ArtsEmerson; “As You Like It” with the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC; and “Machine Makes Man,” which she co-created with Michael McQuilken. Verson’s screen credits include “The Strain,” “Mozart in the Jungle,” “Wormwood,” and “The Kitchen.” Ms. Verson holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama.

Our final story is called “The Idea of Marcel,” which seems appropriate, since it was read along with “Prince Amelic,” at the Aspen Ideas Festival. It’s by Marie-Helene Bertino, a writer we really like for her unexpected takes on love and romance. For example, what if, after an messy breakup, you could just summon up an ideal version of your ex? Bertino is the author of the novel 2 A.M. at the Cat’s Pajamas and the short story collection Safe as Houses, which was the recipient of the Iowa Short Fiction Award. She has also been honored with the O. Henry Prize, a Pushcart Prize, and fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, the Hedgebrook Writers Colony, and the Center for Fiction. Her work has been featured in numerous publications, including Tin House, Granta, Guernica, Epoch, and Gigantic. She teaches at NYU, The Institute of American Indian Arts in Sante Fe, and serves as Editor-at-Large for Catapult, an independent publisher.

So listen to this romantic reboot, as read by Jenna Ushkowitz. Ushkowitz is best known for her leading role on “Glee,” as well as film roles in “Yellow Fever” and most recently, “Hello Again.” On stage, she has appeared in “Spring Awakening,” “Waitress,” and “The 24 Hour Plays” on Broadway, and in regional productions of “Hair” and “The Wedding Singer.” She is the co-founder of the podcast network At Will Radio and the adoption advocacy group the Kindred Foundation. Ushkowitz is a co-producer of the current Broadway revival of “Once on This Island.”