Family Affairs explores the memories, lessons, and complications of childhood. Exquisite stories by Peter Moore Smith, Donald Hall, and Mona Simpson are given voice by three superb actors: Gil Bellows, Richard Schiff, and Julianna Margulies.We begin with Gil Bellows (The Weather Man, The Shawshank Redemption) who takes us into the heart and mind of an imaginative young boy struggling to come to terms with his mother's death in "Oblivion, Nebraska", Peter Moore Smith's Pushcart Prize-winning story, first published in The Massachusetts Review.
In Donald Hall's "The Ideal Bakery", Emmy Award-winning actor, Richard Schiff, (The West Wing, Ray) takes us to New Haven in the spring of 1939. This painful yet stunning recounting of a 10-year-old boy's memories of sharing breakfasts with his father will fill you with profound appreciation for this deeply observed portrayal.
And Emmy Award-winner Julianna Margulies (ER, Pacific Air) portrays a mother whose desperate need for her daughter to attend a posh New York school is revealed through a hilarious and surprisingly poignant series of letters in Mona Simpson's "Admissions", first published in Harpers Magazine.
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.