WordTheatre® Returns to Chapman University with Famed Author Ann Beattie on Monday, Sept. 21 — Free Admission Celebrated Authors’ Short Stories Brought to Life by Film and Television Celebrities and Chapman Students

WordTheatre® returns to Chapman University for a third season, presenting some of America’s finest short stories as performed by noted film and television actors — and, at Chapman, a student actor as well.  On Monday, September 21 at 8 p.m. in the Wallace All Faiths Chapel, Fish Interfaith Center, the season begins with a reading of short stories by
Ann Beattie
. The event is free and open to the public, with first-come, first-served seating.

WordTheatre®, a non-profit artistic organization, brings the world’s best contemporary literature to life through live performances. WordTheatre
^®
’s Artistic Director, Cedering Fox, selects the stories, casts esteemed film and television actors and directs the performances.

Each event at Chapman will feature one Chapman theatre student. WordTheatre® performs in Los Angeles, New York and London, and Ms. Fox is careful to find the perfect voice for each story.  WordTheatre
^®
partners with Chapman University’s Department of English and with distinguished author/professor Richard Bausch to bring these world-class writers and actors to Orange.

“Ann Beattie is one of America’s truly iconic writers,” says Bausch. “She stands along with John Updike, Raymond Carver, Eudora Welty, Flannery O’Connor, and Grace Paley, as a major contributor to the art of the modern short story. And her novels are among the best we have.”

Beattie has been included in four O. Henry Award Collections, in John Updike’s The Best American Short Stories of the Century, and in Jennifer Egan’s The Best American Short Stories 2014. She received the PEN/Malamud Award in 2000 for achievement in the short story and the Rea Award in 2005. Beattie was the Edgar Allan Poe Professor of Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Virginia (Emerita) and is currently a member of The American Academy of Arts and Letters and of The American Academy of Arts and Sciences.  Beattie is expected to attend the reading and will be happy to meet readers and sign books afterward.

The actors who will perform her stories are
Christopher Gorham,
an American actor known for the ABC hit
Ugly Betty
,
Popular
,
Odyssey 5
,
Jake 2.0
,
Medical Investigation
,
Out of Practice
,
Harper’s Island
and
Covert Affairs
; and
Joely Fisher
, an American actress known for her roles in the film
The Mask
and TV shows such as
Ellen,

Last Man Standing
and
Desperate Housewives
.  (Fisher, the daughter of singer Eddie Fisher and actress Connie Stevens, is the half-sister of
Star Wars
actress Carrie Fisher.) They’ll be joined by Chapman student
Kiera Quealy
, a junior BFA screen acting major from Beverly Shores, Ind.