Selected Shorts: Ken Burns Presents Willa Cather’s America

Produced in association with the Willa Cather Foundation, filmmaker Ken Burns hosts this sesquicentennial celebration of Willa Cather, one of the most significant and treasured American writers of the 20th century. Cather crystallized the spirit of the American West with a singular voice in her body of poems, essays, short stories, and the critically acclaimed novels One of Ours, O Pioneers!, The Song of the Lark, and My Ántonia. This special evening of short fiction in performance brings to life the landscapes the Pulitzer Prize–winning author so masterfully captured in her prose. With stellar short performances by Patricia Clarkson (She Said), mezzo-soprano Linda Collazo, Sonia Manzano (Sesame Street), David Strathairn (Nomadland), and more.

Selected Shorts is produced by Symphony Space and broadcast on more than 130 stations around the country. The series began in 1985 and enjoys sold-out performances to this day. Selected Shorts was conceived with a simple premise: take great stories by well-known and emerging writers and have them performed by terrific actors of stage and screen. Featuring stories around a lively theme, the favorite works of a guest author, or a special collaboration, each Selected Shorts event is a unique night of literature in performance.

Actors subject to change. Please check back for up-to-date information.