Selected Shorts

Four entrancing short stories full of humor and pathos deal with the ramifications of artificial intelligence and imagine unprecedented times eerily reminiscent of our own. In Selected Shorts, a highly popular series of fiction readings produced by New York’s Symphony Space, distinguished American theater, film, and TV actors read texts in front of a live audience.

Selected Shorts has been around for 30 years and is now an institution, broadcast by more than 150 stations in the U.S. and among the most popular podcasts on iTunes. Every night is a one-of-a-kind literary and artistic event, whether the text at hand is the work of a renowned author or a new artist.

At the Summer Nostos Festival: RetroFuture Edition, actors Nia Vardalos, Kathleen Chalfant, Sam Underwood, and Valorie Curry present their chosen works exploring the complex relationships between humans and their creations.

Hosted by Valorie Curry

Cat Pictures Please by Naomi Kritzer
Performed by Nia Vardalos

There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury
Performed by Kathleen Chalfant

The Eyes of the Soul by Michel Faber
Performed by Sam Underwood

Sci-Fi by Tracy K. Smith
Performed by Valorie Curry

Watch the video from the event here.