Tony Roberts & Isaiah Sheffer to Perform at Kingsborough Performing Arts Center 10/16

On Saturday, October 16, at 8:00 p.m. at Kingsborough Performing Arts Center, beloved founder of the world-renowned Symphony Space, Isaiah Sheffer, will take the stage with a program created especially for KPAC. Selected Shorts: Funny Food Fictions will serve up a menu of hilarious short stories about food and love. Stories by award-winning authors T. Corraghessan Boyle, M.F.K. Fisher, and "Yinglish" comic book master Milt Gross will be read by Broadway, film, and television star (and frequent Woody Allen co-star) Tony Roberts, the Tony-nominated stage actress Maria Tucci, and Isaiah Sheffer.

"We are so delighted to have Symphony Space in residence with us this season for three unique programs, starting with the brilliantly entertaining Selected Shorts program," stated Anna Becker, Kingsborough Performing Arts Center's Executive Director. "There has been great excitement and anticipation on the part of our audience members as we await a wonderful evening of masterful stories, artfully told."

Praise for Symphony Space's Selected Shorts:

Symphony Space is the angel of the short story. - Grace Paley

Selected Shorts is one of the best evenings at the theatre - David Sedaris

GENERAL INFORMATION:
Symphony Space's Selected Shorts: Funny Food Fictions
Hosted by Isaiah Sheffer, and Starring Tony Roberts & Maria Tucci
Saturday, October 16th at 8 p.m. Tickets: $25
Tickets are now on sale, and available as follows:

In Person: Kingsborough Performing Arts Center, Kingsborough Community College, 2001 Oriental Boulevard, Brooklyn, NY.

Box Office Hours: 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday through Friday
By Phone: (718) 368-5596
Online: www.Kbcc.Cuny.Edu/PerformingArtsCenter
There is ample, free parking on the campus.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

T.C. Boyle is the author of A Friend of the Earth, Riven Rock, The Tortilla Curtain, The Road to Wellville, East is East, World's End (winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award), Budding Prospects, Water Music, Drop City (nominated for the 2003 National Book Award), The Inner Circle, Talk Talk, The Women and nine collections of stories. In 1999, he was the recipient of the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction. His stories appear regularly in major American magazines, including The New Yorker, Harper's, Esquire and Playboy. His newest book, When The Killing's Done, will be released in the fall.

M.F.K. Fisher (1908-1992) was once called "America's greatest writer" by W. H. Auden. Best known for her writings on culinary subjects, her food essays have been collected in several volumes, including The Gastronomical Me and The Art of Eating: The Collected Gastronomical Works of M. F. K. Fisher. Her work also included a translation of Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin's treatise The Physiology of Taste, a screenplay, several travelogues, a novel and a children's book. She received lifetime achievement awards from the James Beard Foundation and the American Institute of Wine and Food.

Milt Gross (1895-1953) was a Bronx-born cartoonist known for his use of phonetic dialect in dialogue. He published the books Nize Baby, Hiawatta witt No Odder Poems, De Night in De Front from Chreesmas, Dunt Esk, Famous Fimmales Witt Odder Ewents From Heestory, Pasha The Persian, What's This?, I Shoulda Ate the Éclair, and Dear Dollink. Gross was hired by Hearst in 1931, and he produced many comic strips for newspapers and magazines. A new edition of Gross' wordless graphic novel He Done Her Wrong came out in 2006 from Fantagraphics. The most recent Gross publication, The Complete Milt Gross Comic Books and Life Story, was published in the spring.

Tony Roberts has starred on Broadway in The Royal Family; Xanadu; both the revival and original productions of Barefoot in the Park; and also in How Now, Dow Jones; Play It Again, Sam; Don't Drink The Water; Doubles; Absurd Person Singular; Sugar; They're Playing Our Song; Jerome Robbins' Broadway; The Sisters Rosensweig; Victor, Victoria; Cabaret; The Tale of the Allergist's Wife; and others. His many films include the Academy Award-winning Annie Hall; Play It Again, Sam; and Serpico. He has won two Audiobook of the Year awards.

Isaiah Sheffer is the founding artistic director of Symphony Space, as well as host and director of Selected Shorts live at Symphony Space, on tour and on public radio nationwide. He is also a co-creator of The Thalia Follies political cabaret.

Maria Tucci has worked on and off Broadway in plays such as Night of the Iguana, The Rose Tattoo, Athol Fugard's A Lesson from Aloes, Requiem for a Heavyweight, Spokesong, Mrs. Warren's Profession, The Little Foxes, Drinks Before Dinner, The Winter's Tale, Romeo and Juliet, Antigone, The Stendhal Syndrome, and others. She translated Filumena and Christmas in Naples by Eduardo De Filippo for the Williamstown Theatre Festival, and a collection of her translations was published in 2001. Ms. Tucci has appeared on television in Law & Order and Third Watch. Her film credits include Sweet Nothing and To Die For. In 2009, she starred in the Broadway play Mary Stuart.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER:

Kingsborough Community College Founded in 1963, Kingsborough Community College, a college of the City University of New York (CUNY), has provided half a million students with liberal arts, applied science, and career education. Our 70-acre waterfront campus is on Manhattan Beach, at the extreme southern end of Brooklyn. The college's mission is to respond to the educational, cultural, and economic needs of our students and our community.

Kingsborough Performing Arts Center brings artistically and culturally diverse, multi-disciplinary performances from masters of the form to the varied communities within and surrounding the college. We strive to create an environment where the arts are an accessible and integral part of life, and the Arts Center is a community gathering place for interaction and inspiration. We offer performances in theatre, dance, literature, and music, as well as family shows. Our schooltime shows welcome classes from local public and private schools, a majority of which serves economically-disadvantaged or special needs populations.

The 2010-2011 season reflects KPAC'S commitment to present world-class artists in music, dance, theatre, literature, and family shows in exclusive Brooklyn engagements. The coming season of classic and classical performing arts will offer performances by companies who set the standard in their field, such as Soledad Barrio's Noche Flamenca from Spain, St. Petersburg Classic Ballet Theatre from Russia, London's Tall Stories, and the upper west side's Symphony Space. Prices are a fraction of what audiences would pay elsewhere and several sneak previews of upcoming premieres will be offered free of charge.