Five Short Stories by Women
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $5.42
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Emily Bergl
-
Lynn Collins
-
Sarah Drew
-
Alex Kingston
-
Rita Moreno
About this listen
L.A. Theatre Works presents Five Short Stories by Women: A quintet of tales from some of America’s most distinguished female authors.
"Life after High School", by Joyce Carol Oates, read by Sarah Drew: Oates takes us to a time in the late 1950s, to South Lebanon High School, and shows us the lives of three people at a time of self-discovery.
"The Banks of the Vistula", by Rebecca Lee, read by Emily Bergl: An ambitious student wants desperately to make her mark in a linguistics class. Published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill ©2013.
"Never Marry a Mexican", by Sandra Cisneros, read by Rita Moreno: The story of a woman named Clemencia who remembers her family, her parents' culture, and her affair with a married man.*
"In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried", by Amy Hempel, read by Lynn Collins: What do you say to someone on their deathbed? Amy Hempel addresses this question head-on, as a young woman describes her visit to a dying friend.
"Once Upon a Time", by Nadine Gordimer, read by Alex Kingston: This is anything but a fairy tale. It’s more of a dystopian fantasy - with overtones of the racial inequality in Gordimer’s native South Africa.
*From WOMAN HOLLERING CREEK. Copyright © 1991 by Sandra Cisneros. Published by Alfred A. Knopf, Vintage Books and by Vintage Español as EL ARROYO DE LA LLORONA, translation, © 1996 by Liliana Valenzuela. Available on Random House Audiobook read by the author. By permission of Susan Bergholz Literary Services, New York City and Lamy, N.M. All rights reserved.
Mixing Engineer: Mark Holden for The Invisible Studios, West Hollywood.
©2016 L.A. Theatre Works (P)2016 L.A. Theatre WorksListeners also enjoyed...
-
Crumbs from the Table of Joy
- By: Lynn Nottage
- Narrated by: Deidrie Henry, Russell Hornsby, Tinashe Kajese, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 47 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the pen of the winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama! The Crump family is adrift and in trouble. Widowed Godfrey is under the spell of Sweet Father Divine, while his teen daughters, Ernestine and Ermina, immerse themselves in the illusions of Hollywood to escape racial prejudice. But things change quickly when free-spirited Aunt Lily shows up: Godfrey remarries a white woman, Ermina discovers boys, and Ernestine is torn between Communism and bebop!
By: Lynn Nottage
-
Paradise
- By: Laura Maria Censabella
- Narrated by: Jeff Marlow, Medalion Rahimi
- Length: 2 hrs and 3 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Yasmeen is a Yemeni-American high school senior with big dreams. Dr. Guy Royston is her science teacher with a mysterious past. When Yasmeen asks Dr. Royston for an important favor, it sets off a series of events that challenges their core beliefs about science, faith, and the nature of love. Includes a conversation with playwright Laura Maria Censabella.
-
-
Fantastic Listen
- By D on 02-01-22
-
The House on Mango Street
- By: Sandra Cisneros
- Narrated by: Sandra Cisneros
- Length: 2 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes deeply joyous, The House on Mango Street tells the story of Esperanza Cordero, whose neighborhood is one of harsh realities and harsh beauty. Esperanza doesn't want to belong, not to her rundown neighborhood, and not to the low expectations the world has for her. Esperanza's story is that of a young girl coming into her power, and inventing for herself what she will become.
-
-
Spare yourself
- By Fred on 04-08-10
By: Sandra Cisneros
-
This Is Our Youth
- By: Kenneth Lonergan
- Narrated by: Mark Ruffalo, Missy Yager, Josh Hamilton
- Length: 1 hr and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Starring Mark Ruffalo, Josh Hamilton and Missy Yager, the original cast was reunited for this exclusive L.A. Theatre Works performance of This is Our Youth. In 1982, on Manhattan's Upper West Side, three pot-smoking teenagers are resoundingly rejecting the 1960s ideals of their affluent parents. In hilarious and bittersweet detail, This is Our Youth follows 48 turbulent hours in the lives of three very lost souls at the dawn of the Reagan Era.
-
-
A contemporary masterpiece
- By Nathan B. Lawrence on 03-13-15
By: Kenneth Lonergan
-
Pressure
- By: David Haig
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cake, Josh Cole, Sarah Drew, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A Scottish meteorologist locks horns with his American counterpart as both men try to convince General Dwight D. Eisenhower that they can accurately predict the atmospheric conditions needed to launch the greatest amphibious assault in the history of mankind - the D-Day invasion.
-
-
Powerful drama, gripping story. Excellent production.
- By Ace777 on 01-24-20
By: David Haig
-
Speech and Debate
- By: Stephen Karam
- Narrated by: Andrea Bowen, Reed Diamond, Nora Dunn, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 29 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They may go to the same school, but misfits Solomon, Diwata and Howie have never met and their teachers and peers just don't take them seriously - until a sex scandal involving one of their teachers brings them together. Soon they realize that three voices are stronger than one. And since their school has no speech and debate squad, maybe this is their chance to be heard at last - by the school and even the world.
By: Stephen Karam
-
Crumbs from the Table of Joy
- By: Lynn Nottage
- Narrated by: Deidrie Henry, Russell Hornsby, Tinashe Kajese, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 47 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the pen of the winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama! The Crump family is adrift and in trouble. Widowed Godfrey is under the spell of Sweet Father Divine, while his teen daughters, Ernestine and Ermina, immerse themselves in the illusions of Hollywood to escape racial prejudice. But things change quickly when free-spirited Aunt Lily shows up: Godfrey remarries a white woman, Ermina discovers boys, and Ernestine is torn between Communism and bebop!
By: Lynn Nottage
-
Paradise
- By: Laura Maria Censabella
- Narrated by: Jeff Marlow, Medalion Rahimi
- Length: 2 hrs and 3 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Yasmeen is a Yemeni-American high school senior with big dreams. Dr. Guy Royston is her science teacher with a mysterious past. When Yasmeen asks Dr. Royston for an important favor, it sets off a series of events that challenges their core beliefs about science, faith, and the nature of love. Includes a conversation with playwright Laura Maria Censabella.
-
-
Fantastic Listen
- By D on 02-01-22
-
The House on Mango Street
- By: Sandra Cisneros
- Narrated by: Sandra Cisneros
- Length: 2 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes deeply joyous, The House on Mango Street tells the story of Esperanza Cordero, whose neighborhood is one of harsh realities and harsh beauty. Esperanza doesn't want to belong, not to her rundown neighborhood, and not to the low expectations the world has for her. Esperanza's story is that of a young girl coming into her power, and inventing for herself what she will become.
-
-
Spare yourself
- By Fred on 04-08-10
By: Sandra Cisneros
-
This Is Our Youth
- By: Kenneth Lonergan
- Narrated by: Mark Ruffalo, Missy Yager, Josh Hamilton
- Length: 1 hr and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Starring Mark Ruffalo, Josh Hamilton and Missy Yager, the original cast was reunited for this exclusive L.A. Theatre Works performance of This is Our Youth. In 1982, on Manhattan's Upper West Side, three pot-smoking teenagers are resoundingly rejecting the 1960s ideals of their affluent parents. In hilarious and bittersweet detail, This is Our Youth follows 48 turbulent hours in the lives of three very lost souls at the dawn of the Reagan Era.
-
-
A contemporary masterpiece
- By Nathan B. Lawrence on 03-13-15
By: Kenneth Lonergan
-
Pressure
- By: David Haig
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cake, Josh Cole, Sarah Drew, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A Scottish meteorologist locks horns with his American counterpart as both men try to convince General Dwight D. Eisenhower that they can accurately predict the atmospheric conditions needed to launch the greatest amphibious assault in the history of mankind - the D-Day invasion.
-
-
Powerful drama, gripping story. Excellent production.
- By Ace777 on 01-24-20
By: David Haig
-
Speech and Debate
- By: Stephen Karam
- Narrated by: Andrea Bowen, Reed Diamond, Nora Dunn, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 29 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They may go to the same school, but misfits Solomon, Diwata and Howie have never met and their teachers and peers just don't take them seriously - until a sex scandal involving one of their teachers brings them together. Soon they realize that three voices are stronger than one. And since their school has no speech and debate squad, maybe this is their chance to be heard at last - by the school and even the world.
By: Stephen Karam
-
Awake and Sing!
- By: Clifford Odets
- Narrated by: Emily Bergl, Ben Gazzara, Jonathan Hadary, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 38 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Clifford Odets’ masterpiece, starring Mark Ruffalo, Jane Kaczmarek, Richard Kind, and Ben Gazzara, brings to life the struggles of a working-class family aspiring to the promise of the American Dream. Even as they endure the country’s worst economic nightmare, three generations of an immigrant family are crowded into a Bronx tenement, fiercely determined to stay afloat, no matter what the cost.
-
-
Top talent, top play.
- By Eleanor Corner on 10-05-11
By: Clifford Odets
-
Nuremberg: The Trial of the Nazi War Criminals
- A BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Drama
- By: Jonathan Myerson
- Narrated by: Alex Kingston, full cast, Henry Goodman, and others
- Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Summer, 1945. The war is over, and Germany has surrendered. Across Europe, the top surviving Nazis are being tracked down, arrested and imprisoned in a once-opulent Luxembourg hotel, on 24-hour suicide watch. Now, the Allies must decide what to do with them. After much deliberation, Britain, America, Russia and France agree that Hitler's high command must be formally tried. This will be an entirely new kind of trial, with utterly new charges: those of 'crimes against humanity' and 'genocide'. And before it can even take place, numerous crises and obstacles must be overcome.
-
-
History at it's most powerful
- By Stefan Filipovits on 04-08-23
By: Jonathan Myerson
-
The Baltimore Waltz
- By: Paula Vogel
- Narrated by: Jenny Bacon, Christopher Donahue, Jerry Saslow
- Length: 54 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A darkly satirical play written at the height of the AIDS crisis. As a young woman is diagnosed with a mysterious new illness, she and her beloved brother flee to Europe in search of a cure...and to escape the pain and uncertainty of the future.
-
-
Far from the original.
- By Remberto on 08-20-23
By: Paula Vogel
-
A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories
- By: Flannery O'Connor
- Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The collection that established O’Connor’s reputation as one of the American masters of the short story. The volume contains the celebrated title story, a tale of the murderous fugitive "The Misfit", as well as “The Displaced Person” and eight other stories.
-
-
Meater story teller
- By Gary Hunt on 02-04-20
-
In Cold Blood
- By: Truman Capote
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 14 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On November 15, 1959, in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, four members of the Clutter family were savagely murdered by blasts from a shotgun held a few inches from their faces. There was no apparent motive for the crime, and there were almost no clues.
-
-
Still the Best
- By Lisa on 01-10-06
By: Truman Capote
-
Mary Stuart
- By: Friedrich Schiller
- Narrated by: Alex Kingston, Jill Gascione
- Length: 2 hrs and 1 min
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Elizabeth I of England is threatened by the survival of her Catholic cousin, Mary Stuart. Wrestling with her own conscience, the queen agonizes over Mary's fate, amidst fears for her own life. Court intrigue has never been more gripping than in this 'acute study in the art of double-dealing politics'.” (The New York Times)
-
-
Fully dramatic
- By Timoteo on 03-07-18
-
Red
- By: John Logan
- Narrated by: Jonathan Groff, Alfred Molina
- Length: 1 hr and 23 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The artist Mark Rothko has just hired Ken, an aspiring artist, to be his assistant and errand boy. Ken discovers that Rothko's temper can run hot, but as he gets to know his boss better, he finds that Rothko has opened him up to more than just painting. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast performance.
-
-
Brilliant and over too soon
- By Emily C. on 03-30-19
By: John Logan
-
Reasons to Be Pretty
- By: Neil LaBute
- Narrated by: Jenna Fischer, Thomas Sadoski, Josh Stamberg, and others
- Length: 2 hrs and 7 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What does it mean to be pretty? Do you really need someone to validate your appearance? Neil LaBute tackles our obsession with physical beauty head-on in a work nominated for multiple Tony and Drama Desk Awards. Our production, directed by the playwright, includes original Broadway cast member Thomas Sadoski, whose acclaimed performance also earned aTony nomination. Includes a backstage conversation with Neil LaBute and the cast. An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast production.
-
-
An exquisite reading of one of my favorite plays
- By Suzannah McLellan on 06-11-18
By: Neil LaBute
-
Pipeline
- By: Dominique Morisseau
- Narrated by: Sophina Brown, Eugene Byrd, Demetrius Grosse, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 13 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nya, a dedicated teacher at an inner-city school, is desperate to give her only son opportunities that her own public high school students will never have. When a controversial incident at his private school threatens to get Omari expelled, Nya must confront her own deepest fears to give her son a future.
-
-
Riveting story
- By Camron Love on 12-16-24
-
Later Life
- By: A.R. Gurney
- Narrated by: Valorie Armstrong, David Dukes, Judith Ivey, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 17 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Austin is a distinguished Bostonian with a WASP pedigree, an unbeatable squash game, and a frightening secret. After he meets up with his old flame Ruth, they begin a comic and painful voyage of self-discovery.
By: A.R. Gurney
-
She Said
- Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement
- By: Jodi Kantor, Megan Twohey
- Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman, Jodi Kantor, Megan Twohey
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On October 5, 2017, the New York Times published an article by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey - and then the world changed. For months, Kantor and Twohey had been having confidential discussions with top actresses, former Weinstein employees, and other sources, learning of disturbing long-buried allegations. But nothing could have prepared them for what followed the publication of their Weinstein story. With superlative detail, insight, and journalistic expertise, Kantor and Twohey take us for the first time into the very heart of this social shift.
-
-
Great until the Kavanaugh tangent
- By JC on 09-14-19
By: Jodi Kantor, and others
-
The Money Shot
- By: Neil LaBute
- Narrated by: Ari Graynor, Eric McCormack, Amber Tamblyn, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 38 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Desperate times call for desperate measures, and for aging Hollywood stars Karen and Steve that means agreeing to a shocking contractual clause. On the eve of a "climactic" day of shooting, they finally tell their significant others what's to come.
-
-
Neil LaBute is great...this cast made him better
- By AmazonEasy on 01-03-18
By: Neil LaBute