Friday, January 26, 2007

Short Story - WordTheatre presents The Wild West



WordTheatre presents The Wild West Performed Live at The Met Theatre in Hollywood, Produced and Directed by Darrell Larson and Cedering Fox

The Wild West offers an introduction to WordTheatre's comprehensive survey of the literature inspired by the West. This vital genre has, for the past 150 years, shown us who we are by reflecting the struggles of individuals facing a lawless frontier.

We begin our journey with "Deadwood Dick: At the Met," a rambunctious example of the notorious dime novels. Amy Madigan (Pollock, Carnivale) gives a rip-roaring reading of Edward Wheeler's 1887 account of one night inside Deadwood's wildest saloon, featuring a cameo appearance by Calamity Jane.

Next, Sheila Kelley (The Sopranos, Dancing at the Blue Iguana) offers a heartbreaking performance of Dorothy M. Johnson's short story, "Journey to the Fort," a psychologically acute rendering of one woman's path back to civilization.

Gary Dourdan (C.S.I., Alien Resurrection) smoothly inhabits "The Naked Gun," a powerful fable of fate working through innocent hands from John Jakes's Western story collection, The Bold Frontier.

WordTheatre brings people together to share stories in a unique way. Through this collective experience, we aim to deepen our sense of community as we celebrate the oral storytelling tradition. We welcome you to join world-class writers and actors at our literary salons in Los Angeles, New York and London for live readings and book signings. For more information on WordTheatre please visit www.wordtheatre.com

Publisher: Harper Collins US
Author: Various
Narrator: Various
ISBN: 0061120421

Best of O. Henry, The

Seven great stories: 'Voice of the City,' 'The Gift of the Magi,' 'The Cop and the Anthem,' 'The Romance of a Busy Broker,' 'The Green Door,' 'The Hiding of Black Bill' and 'The Ransom of Red Chief'.


Publisher: In Audio
Author: O.Henry
Narrator: Michael Hanson
ISBN: 1 58472 213 4

John Updike Audio Collection, The

The extraordinarily evocative stories depict the generation born in a small-town America during the Depression and growing up in a world where the old sexual morality was turned around and material comforts were easily had. Yet, as these stories reflect so accurately, life was still unsettling, and Updike chronicles telling moments both joyful and painful. The texts are taken from his recent omnibus, The Early Stories, 1953-1975.

In describing how he wrote these stories in a small, rented, smoke-filled office in Ipswitch, Massachusetts, he says, "I felt that I was packaging something as delicately pervasive as smoke, one box after another, in that room, where my only duty was to describe reality as it had come to me -- to give the mundane its beautiful due."


Publisher: Harper Collins US
Author: John Updike
Narrator: Various
ISBN: 0 06 057721 5

Ballet Stories

The magic of ballet is evoked in these enchanting stories presented with many musical excerpts from the works themselves. The stories of two French ballets - Giselle and Coppelia - and the three great ballets by Tchaikovsky are presented in engaging style by Jenny Agutter, who was herself a dancer before turning to acting.

These are tales of princes and princesses, of good fairies and bad witches, and, in Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, the brave soldier and Clara - but does it happen, or is it a dream?

And there is the music - the lovely melody from Swan Lake, the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and the waltzes and the richly atmospheric passages painting, in sound, castles, forests, mists and lakes.


Publisher: NAXOS
Author: David Angus
Narrator: Jenny Agutter
ISBN: 9 62634 231 5