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Selected Shorts
Guest host Hope Davis presents three stories involving irresistible impulses and twists of fate. In Shirley Jackson’s “What a Thought,” an awful idea threatens a happy marriage; the celebrated horror writer can’t leave happily ever after alone. “What a Thought” is performed by Andrea Martin. A science teacher has a crush in Jess Walter’s “Magnificent Desolation,” performed by Bobby Cannavale. And “Draft Day” affects the lives of childhood friends from different backgrounds in Thai-American writer Rattawut Lapcharoensap’s story, read by BD Wong.
Bobby Cannavale is a two-time Emmy Award winner for his work on Will & Grace and Boardwalk Empire. Additional film and television credits include The Station Agent; Nurse Jackie, for which he received two Emmy nominations; Blue Jasmine; Ant-Man; Vinyl; Master of None; I, Tonya; Homecoming; Angie Tribeca; Motherless Brooklyn; The Irishman; The Jesus Rolls; Mr. Robot; and Bojack Horseman, among others. On stage, Cannavale has appeared in Mauritius, for which he earned a Tony nomination, The Motherf**ker With the Hat, for which he won a Drama Desk Award and earned a Tony nomination, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Big Knife, The Lifespan of a Fact, and Medea. He will appear in the forthcoming films Thunder Force, Seriously Red, Superintelligence, Jolt, Once Upon a Time in Staten Island, Blonde, Nine Perfect Strangers, Sing 2, and Lapham Rising.
Hope Davis has appeared in the films About Schmidt; American Splendor; Synecdoche, New York; Captain America: Civil War; and Rebel in the Rye, among others. On television, Davis’s credits include In Treatment, The Newsroom, The Special Relationship, Allegiance, American Crime, Wayward Pines, with recent recurring roles in the series For the People, Strange Angel, and Love Life. Her theater credits include Ivanov, Two Shakespearean Actors, Spinning Into Butter, Food Chain, Measure for Measure, God of Carnage, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award, and The Red Barn. She can currently be seen in the miniseries Your Honor.
Shirley Jackson (1916 - 1965) was an American author whose works include the novels The Road Through the Wall, The Haunting of Hill House, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, and the short story collections The Lottery and Other Stories and Dark Tales. Her stories have been widely anthologized and featured in TheBest American Short Stories and the O. Henry Prize Stories, and she was twice awarded the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Short Story. The Haunting of Hill House was a finalist for The National Book Award and has been made into two feature films, a play, and most recently, a television series on Netflix. The Shirley Jackson Award was established in 2007 to honor outstanding achievements in the genres of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic.
Rattawut Lapcharoensap is the author of Sightseeing, a collection of short stories, which received the Asian American Literary Award and was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award. His work has appeared in Granta, One Story, TheGuardian, Zoetrope, Best New American Voices, and Best American Non-Required Reading, among others. He is a recipient of a Whiting Writers Award, a DAAD Artist-in-Berlin fellowship, a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honor, and an Abraham Woursell Prize through the University of Vienna. He was named by Granta magazine to its list of Best of Young American Novelists.
Andrea Martin is a two-time Tony Award winner for her performances in the musicals My Favorite Year and Pippin and a two-time Emmy award winner for her work on SCTV. Additional Broadway credits include her Tony nominated performances in Oklahoma!, Candide, Young Frankenstein, and Noises Off. On film, Martin appeared in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 1 and 2, and Night at the Museum 3, among others. Her TV credits include UnbreakableKimmy Schmidt, 30 Rock, Modern Family, Hairspray Live, Difficult People, Great News, Elena of Avalor, and The Good Fight. Martin voices the role of Queen Nefariousness in the star-studded Audible Original Heads Will Roll, and she can currently be seen on Mickey and the Roadster Racers. Her memoir, Lady Parts, was published in 2014.
Jess Walter is the author of six novels, including the bestsellers Beautiful Ruins and The Financial Lives of the Poets, The Zero, a National Book Award finalist, Citizen Vince, winner of the Edgar Award for best novel, and most recently, The Cold Millions. His fiction has been featured in Harper’s, McSweeney’s, and Playboy, as well as The Best American Short Stories and The Best American Nonrequired Reading, among other publications. Walter is also a career journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe.
BD Wong received all five major New York theatre awards – the Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Theatre World, and Clarence Derwent – for his Broadway debut in M. Butterfly. Additional theater credits include the Broadway revivals of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Pacific Overtures; and the Off-Broadway productions of The Great Leap, As Thousands Cheer, Shanghai Moon and A Language of Their Own. On screen, Wong has appeared in the films Father of the Bride, Mulan, Seven Years In Tibet, Bird Box, Jurassic Park, two Jurassic World films, and in the television series All-American Girl, Oz, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Awake, Madam Secretary, Gotham, American Horror Story: Apocalypse, Mr. Robot (Emmy and Critics Choice nominations), and most recently, Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens. Upcoming projects include Jurassic World: Dominion.
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