In “God Bless America,” by Steve Almond, read by Michael Urie, a wanna-be actor with no prospects is sure he's going to be a big star. Our second story,“The Isles of Dr. Moreau,” by Heather O’Neill, a grandfather is spinning a yarn to his grandchildren in a playful nod to the H.G. Wells’ eerie tale “The Island of Dr. Moreau.” The story is read by Valorie Curry.
You’ve got to love the goofy optimism of Billy Clamm, the hopeless hero of Steve Almond’s screwball comedy “God Bless America.” He’s a wanna-be actor with no prospects. But, as he says, “this is America, land of opportunists,” and he knows he’s going to make it big, soon.
Steve Almond is fiction writer and essayist whose books include Against Football, Candyfreak, and Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life. His short story collections include My Life in Heavy Metal; The Evil B.B. Chow and Other Stories, and God Bless America: Stories, from which this work came. His most recent collection is called Bad Stories: What the Hell Just Happened to Our Country. He has published in The New York Times Magazine,GQ, The Wall Street Journal, and Poets & Writers, among other print outlets.
Michael Urie performed “God Bless America” at the PUSH Comedy Theater in Norfolk, Virginia, as part of the Virginia Arts Fringe Festival. Michael Urie starred in the Off-Broadway one-man show “Buyer & Cellar,” for which he received the Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, LA Theatre Critics, and the Clarence Derwent Awards, and in “The Temperamentals.” Additional stage credits include “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” “The Cherry Orchard,” “Angels in America,” and “Shows for Days.” On screen, he has appeared on “Ugly Betty,” “Modern Family,” “Partners,” “The Good Wife,” “Hot in Cleveland,” “Younger,” and “Workaholics.” Urie co-directed the documentary “Thank You for Judging” and directed the film “He’s Way More Famous Than You,” the Web series “What’s Your Emergency,” and most recently, “Bright Colors and Bold Patterns.”
The main character in our first story was looking for his true self. The grandfather spinning a yarn to his grandchildren in our second story was looking for true love. Author Heather O’Neill borrows playfully from H.G. Wells’ eerie tale “The Island of Dr. Moreau.” Her version, “The Isles of Dr. Moreau,” was part of an evening devoted to the class television series “The Twilight Zone,” and fiction that shared its creepy, provocative spirit.
O'Neill is a Canadian writer and journalist whose works include the award-winning novel Lullabies for Little Criminals, The Girl Who Was Saturday Night, and The Lonely Hearts Hotel, as well as the short story collection Daydreams of Angels. She has contributed worked to The New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, “This American Life,” CBC Radio, Rookie Magazine, Elle, Chatelaine, the National Post, The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, and The Walrus.
"The Isles of Dr. Moreau," is read by Valorie Curry. Curry is a founding member of Los Angeles’ Coeurage Theatre Company, with which she starred in “Balm in Gilead” and the West Coast premiere of “Double Falsehood,” and of the production company 26 Films. She is also a member of New York’s Fundamental Theater Project. Additional theater credits include “One Day When We Were Young,” “The Diviners and “The Diary of Anne Frank.” On television, she has appeared in “The Following,” “Veronica Mars,” “Psych,” “CSI: New York,” and “House of Lies.” Her film credits include “Twilight: Breaking Dawn” and “American Pastoral.”
