Marriage & Other Odd Occurrences: An Evening of Short Stories & Jazz

Dennis Boutsikaris will read The Thing Itself (2008 Arts & Letters Prize winner) and John Shea will read That Of Which We Cannot Speak (Honorable Mention as one of the 100 Finalists for The 2008 Best American Short Stories collection, edited by Salman Rushdie). Director Elliott Forrest will moderate a discussion with the writer and actors about the process of writing, directing, and performing the works.

The two stories are tied together by the theme of marriage – one from the point of view of a married man facing the disappointment of a childless marriage and an unfulfilling career, and the other about a regretfully divorced man. Both stories are emotionally incisive, as well as charmingly humorous. As the title of the evening, Marriage & Other Odd Occurrences, might suggest, each story contains the presence of unexplainable events and impulses, some of which are life-changing.

With a Musical Interlude with Jazz Singer Jody Sandhaus, accompanied by Steinway Artist Pete Malinverni.