YARN

Nuts

Story by: Sam Hunter
Recorded: July 2005, Waterford, CT
Music: Robert Fripp

A high school student learns he’s vulnerable to more than just prejudice in his small Idaho town when he consumes a spread to which, he finds, he is fatally allergic.

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(15:00)

Sam Hunter is currently studying playwriting at The Juilliard School and teaching Theater at Fordham. When we recorded this, he and I were sitting under a tree in a meadow on the campus of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, overlooking the Long Island Sound. So if you think you hear wind whistling through the mike, it’s not your imagination.

  

One day MFA

Story by: Sarah Schulman
Recorded: February 2008, New York, NY
Music: Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto 

A young waitress in late-’70s New York attempts to further her writing career by taking the advice of her famous customers and getting an advanced degree — only to be told on her first day of class to go home and stay away. 

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(8:49) 

I met author/playwright/activist/teacher Schulman (Shimmer, Manic Flight Reaction) when a play of hers was produced by Playwrights Horizons. Here she speaks of her former teacher, noted American short story author Grace Paley (Enormous Changes at the Last Minute), and the impact Paley had on her as a writer, teacher, and human being. 

Henry

Story by: David Fraiberg
Recorded: February 2008, New York, NY
Music: Pittsburgh Symphony Brass, “Carol of the Bells”; Pink Floyd, “Time”; The Zombies, “Time of the Season”; Steve Earle, “Time Has Come Today” 

A family treasure passes from this earth, only to be miraculously resurrected, thanks to the kindness and generosity of corporate culture. 

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(13:25) 

Turn your volume up for this one. Dave’s an old friend whom I’ve long considered the Spalding Gray of the corporate world. Here’s the story I always knew he had in him.

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Story by: David White
Recorded: July 2005, Waterford, CT
Music: Vince Guaraldi Trio

A group of disillusioned college kids crash a fancy gala party at the local museum by faking French accents, only to discover, in spectacular fashion, that their success has a darker side.



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(15:19)

David White is currently a professor of theater at Towson University in Maryland. When we recorded this, he and I were sitting in a makeshift recording booth on the campus of the Eugene O’Neill Center during the 2005 Playwrights Conference, where he was literary manager at the time. 

Featuring the voices of: Kimberly Bradley, Amy Leith, Chris Robinson, Tamara Taylor, Eric Winick and Elizabeth Zale
Recorded: June 2005, Middlebury, VT (interviews); July 2005, Waterford, CT (voiceover)
Music: Yann Tiersen

What if they threw a reunion and no one showed up? Five friends share perspectives on change in the midst of a 15-year college class reunion that, through a series of bizarre events, hews far closer to their college experience than they ever imagined.

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(16:58)

Fly in the ointment

Story by: David White
Recorded: July 2005, Waterford, CT
Music: Vince Guaraldi Trio

A group of disillusioned college kids crash a fancy gala party at the local museum by faking French accents, only to discover, in spectacular fashion, that their success has a darker side.



Download
(15:19)

David White is currently a professor of theater at Towson University in Maryland. When we recorded this, he and I were sitting in a makeshift recording booth on the campus of the Eugene O’Neill Center during the 2005 Playwrights Conference, where he was literary manager at the time. 

Crass reunion

Featuring the voices of: Kimberly Bradley, Amy Leith, Chris Robinson, Tamara Taylor, Eric Winick and Elizabeth Zale
Recorded: June 2005, Middlebury, VT (interviews); July 2005, Waterford, CT (voiceover)
Music: Yann Tiersen

What if they threw a reunion and no one showed up? Five friends share perspectives on change in the midst of a 15-year college class reunion that, through a series of bizarre events, hews far closer to their college experience than they ever imagined.

Download
(16:58)