9 episodes
Word for Word is a San Francisco based theater company that brings works of literature to the stage. Instead of adapting a script, they use every word of a text in a dynamic, evocative style that communicates the intended beauty of the prose or poetry.
In this new podcast, the company brings their unique style into your home for the first time, revisiting some favorite stories from the past as well as exploring some works they haven’t previously performed. Fans of Word for Word will appreciate the same aesthetic from their full theatrical productions and their Off the Page reading series.
Word for Word is a San Francisco based theater company that brings works of literature to the stage. Instead of adapting a script, they use every word of a text in a dynamic, evocative style that communicates the intended beauty of the prose or poetry.
In this new podcast, the company brings their unique style into your home for the first time, revisiting some favorite stories from the past as well as exploring some works they haven’t previously performed. Fans of Word for Word will appreciate the same aesthetic from their full theatrical productions and their Off the Page reading series.
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- AUG 3, 2021
The Appropriation of Cultures by Percival Everett
The Appropriation of Cultures by Percival Everett
Percival Everett has said: “Since telling the South Carolina State Legislature in 1989 that I couldn’t continue my address because of the presence of such a conspicuous sign of exclusion [the confederate flag], I have not really considered South Carolina.” This is a wickedly subversive story, about symbols and their meaning. «The Appropriation of Cultures» was written in 1996, and published in Everett’s 2004 story collection, Damned If I Do, by Graywolf Press.
WORD for WORDcast is Word for Word Theater Company’s podcast. We specialize in bringing works of literature to the stage, using every word of a text in a dynamic, evocative style that preserves the original beauty of the prose or poetry.
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- JUL 19, 2021
Season Two of the Word for Wordcast begins this week!
Season Two of the Word for Wordcast begins this week!
It’s our incredible pleasure to announce the upcoming second season of the WORD for WORDcast!
Join us on Thursday, July 22 as we release Season Two’s first episode, “The Appropriation of Cultures” by Percival Everett. Season Two continues through the rest of 2021 and features such authors as Anna Maria Ortese, George Saunders, and Toni Cade Bambara.
We hope you’ll join us as we continue to bring your favorite short stories from the page to the airwaves (and smart phones, and home computers…) Happy listening!
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- JAN 21, 2021
Citizen by Greg Sarris, Pt. 2
Citizen by Greg Sarris, Pt. 2
“Citizen” by author Greg Sarris, tells the story of Salvador, born in the U.S., raised in Mexico; son of an American Indian mother and a Mexican father. He has returned to California to find his mother, or rather, her grave. Working in the fields and ranches around Santa Rosa, he meets his mother’s family, encountering both kindness and opportunism, as well as glimmers of hope. An American citizen, who speaks no English, Salvador procures his proof of citizenship and begins to discover his true identity, and what it means to belong.
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- JAN 14, 2021
Citizen by Greg Sarris, Pt. 1
Citizen by Greg Sarris, Pt. 1
“Citizen” by author Greg Sarris, tells the story of Salvador, born in the U.S., raised in Mexico; son of an American Indian mother and a Mexican father. He has returned to California to find his mother, or rather, her grave. Working in the fields and ranches around Santa Rosa, he meets his mother’s family, encountering both kindness and opportunism, as well as glimmers of hope. An American citizen, who speaks no English, Salvador procures his proof of citizenship and begins to discover his true identity, and what it means to belong.
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- DEC 28, 2020
The 14 Mission by Anita Cabrera
The 14 Mission by Anita Cabrera
The WORD for WORDcast returns with “The 14 Mission,” a gritty Christmas story about loneliness and friendship by San Francisco writer Anita Cabrera. On Christmas Day, a man takes a crosstown bus to visit his best friend. The man remembers his own life as a drunken outcast, so troubled he was once thrown off the bus he is now riding. As the bus ride proceeds and he traverses the neighborhoods of San Francisco, he considers what he owes his friend.
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- OCT 1, 2020
The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster, Pt. 3 — «The Homeless»
The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster, Pt. 3 — «The Homeless»
WORD for WORDcast’s final installment of E.M. Forster’s «The Machine Stops.» Written in 1909, this is a dystopian look at the future, where everyone lives underground, is controlled by “The Machine,” and communicates with each other over vast distances through glowing blue plates
Customer Reviews
Brought this SciFi gem to life
What an amazing reading! I’m not usually a fan of audiobooks, preferring to read a story, but this was something completely different. The theatrical performances and beautiful sound design is a total experience. So glad I discovered this podcast and Word for Word!
Top Podcasts In Arts
When people talk about a story brought to life, they generally mean a representation of a narrative that conforms to, or at least doesn’t clash with, their idea of what that story should look like. Reese Witherspoon goes out on the Pacific Coast Trail dressed as Cheryl Strayed did 20 years ago and voila, you’ve gone Wild. Or theatergoers attending the RSC production of Wolf Hall gape at the actors portraying members of Henry VIII’s court and nod, or say, «Anne Boleyn wasn’t that hot!»
But those productions were based on a memoir and a historical novel, respectively; you can look at pictures or likenesses of the characters in the source material and draw your own conclusions. Now think of a favorite short story; the images it conjures are yours, made from scraps the author has offered in peopling and set-decorating that world. But what if objects in the stories had a life of their own, kind of like that teapot in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (and her son, Chip); or the voices of fictional neighbors were like a Greek chorus, stepping forward to comment on the action; or snapshots described in the narrative were acted out as if in a tableau vivant, with actors striking poses, aping characters that never existed? That might give you some idea of what Word For Word is like.
«When they first approached me I was a little wary,» says Tobias Wolff (This Boy’s Life, In Pharaoh’s Army), who’s had six of his stories performed by the San Francisco–based performing arts company. «I’d had my work dramatized in different ways before but never like that.… You cannot be more respectful of the text than to render it word for word, but at the same time really making bold moves in ways of dramatizing emotions.»
Wolff is talking to me from his office at Stanford University, where he has taught creative writing for the last 17 years. «For example, there’s a wonderful moment in their version of my story ‘Down to Bone’ in which the narrator is renting a red sports car, a Miata, while he goes to visit his dying mother in Miami. Again, they stuck completely to the text but they represented the red Miata as a very sexy young woman in a low cut short dress and high heels, pulling him behind her by a scarf in her teeth. In the story the Miata is sexualized; there’s no question that he’s getting it because he wants to appear a certain way. It’s that kind of verve and imagination that they bring to the work of portraying short stories.»
«In some ways, it’s almost the opposite of what people imagine,» says Word For Word’s Joel Mullennix, who is directing the company’s production of two Alice Munro short stories, «The Office» and «Dolly» (at SF’s Z Below, March 4 to April 12). «We’re trying to find a visual way to use these words so that it’s not like reader’s theater.»
The inspiration for the company’s literature-based theater came from the Seattle repertory company Book-It, according to Word For Word co-founder Susan Harloe. «I was a librarian for a while, and I just thought it was the most incredible thing I’d ever seen,» she recalls. «The first story I ever saw performed this way was by Mark Van Doren, and it was just magical. It was just two people in this funky little space on Capitol Hill in Seattle, and I couldn’t believe it.» After working with that troupe for a few years, Harloe returned to San Francisco and with fellow founder and artistic director JoAnne Winter plotted doing something similar here.
Mullennix joined the group early on and immediately saw the potential benefits of fishing in the short fiction pond. «When you’re looking for a play, there’s good ones too but many of them have been done, or the rights are held by a major company,» he says. «But there’s such an open world of possibilities [with short stories]. I always tell people now, when I’m trying to describe what it is, ‘Whatever it is you’re thinking, it’s probably not it.'»
Since it launched in 1993, Word For Word has built a following among theatergoers and writers. Its shows have toured Europe, as will the Munro stories, and the biggest challenges have often been in getting the rights. Elizabeth Stroud’s novel-in-stories Olive Kitteridge, for instance, had already been optioned by Frances McDormand for the HBO series. («Like we’re going to kill the HBO series!» says Mullennix.) And Sam Shepard, who cut his teeth and god knows what else in experimental theater, wanted to see what Word For Word did before he gave his blessing to their production, 36 Stories By Sam Shepard.
The elusive American playwright dropped in on a Word For Word production of some Siobhan Fallon stories, read the adaptation of his work (featuring a talking severed head and a female mercenary) that company member Amy Kossow made and directed but did not interfere with the production. (When I asked Wolff if he ever crashed a rehearsal of his stories, he said, «If somebody is making a really nice dinner for you, it doesn’t seem like a really good idea to show up two hours earlier and hang out in the kitchen and ask if they wouldn’t want to put a little more salt in that stew.»)
The process generally begins with reading meetings where the core cast, all avid readers, bring short stories they think would work well on the stage. For the Munro stories they did staged readings of four of her works and then let audiences vote on which they liked best. It sounds democratic but Harloe is quick to point out that she and Winter make the final cut and to hell with democracy.
We talk in a general way about the older audiences who are the sometimes arthritic backbone of American theater and how to get younger crowds in the door («a national question,» she calls it, though perhaps even more striking in San Francisco, which has been overrun by young tech people in the last decades). I mention the long-running New York show Sleep No More, a reimagining of Macbeth that draws 20-somethings at a record rate, and she tells me, with only a tad of desperation, «There’s a punk rock musical upstairs right now [Home Street Home] in the Z Space, definitely a different crowd!»
But Munro’s work is not so punk, and she herself is getting on. The 83-year-old Canadian author declined Word For Word’s invitation to come to the opening, saying she needed to concentrate on her writing, and even skipped going to Stockholm to pick up her Nobel Prize for literature in 2013. Watching the cast rehearsing her stories I was struck with their fealty to the text—Harloe shows Mullennix that her character is lighting another cigarette, not a first—and their desire to discuss the bigger topics behind Munro’s tales: Work. Love. Death.
Sheila Balter and Howard Swain, who play the old couple fantasizing about a double suicide, discuss the importance of a note explaining their actions—whether they should leave one. «Franklin’s idea was that any explanation at all was an insult,» Munro wrote. «We belonged to ourselves and to each other and any explanation at all struck him as snivelling.»
«I would love to talk about this stuff because I feel unclear,» Balter says, after she and Swain have practiced getting out of their imaginary car to talk about the place they’ve chosen to die.
Mullennix tries to channel the thoughts of the 83-year-old husband, who seems to have a change of heart while they’re discussing the note: «I can’t be part of ending her life when she’s 71, healthy, writing books.»
The story, narrated by the wife, turns later and after a misunderstanding, the couple reunites: «‘We can’t afford rows,’ he said.
«No indeed. I had forgotten how old we were, forgotten everything. Thinking there was all the time in the world to suffer and complain.»
Mullennix, addressing the actors as if they were the fictional couple brought to life, could be any son or daughter talking to their parents as they invent difficulties for themselves: «You guys need a dog or something.»
The Appropriation of Cultures by Percival Everett
8/3/2021
Percival Everett has said: “Since telling the South Carolina State Legislature in 1989 that I couldn’t continue my address because of the presence of such a conspicuous sign of exclusion [the confederate flag], I have not really considered South Carolina.” This is a wickedly subversive story, about symbols and their meaning. «The Appropriation of Cultures» was written in 1996, and published in Everett’s 2004 story collection, Damned If I Do, by Graywolf Press.
WORD for WORDcast is Word for…
Duration:00:49:05
Season Two of the Word for Wordcast begins this week!
7/19/2021
It’s our incredible pleasure to announce the upcoming second season of the WORD for WORDcast!
Join us on Thursday, July 22 as we release Season Two’s first episode, “The Appropriation of Cultures” by Percival Everett. It will be available on our website at zspace.org/pod, as well as on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and most other major podcasting services.
This wickedly subversive story is directed by Rami Margron with a talented cast consisting of Cassidy Brown, Artis Fountaine, Safiya…
Duration:00:01:27
Books and Roses by Helen Oyeyemi, Pt. 3
3/1/2021
“Books & Roses” is the story of Montserrat, a foundling left in a Catalonian chapel at the feet of the Virgin de Montserrat. Her only possessions are a key hanging on a golden chain around her neck, and a note. Cared for by the monks of the order, she grows up and finds work in a laundry, where she encounters Señora Lucy, a painter who also wears a key. Montse eventually discovers that she and Lucy are linked, when she finds the lock that fits her key. Her reaction is bittersweet: «She’d…
Duration:00:58:59
Books and Roses by Helen Oyeyemi, Pt. 2
2/22/2021
“Books & Roses” is the story of Montserrat, a foundling left in a Catalonian chapel at the feet of the Virgin de Montserrat. Her only possessions are a key hanging on a golden chain around her neck, and a note. Cared for by the monks of the order, she grows up and finds work in a laundry, where she encounters Señora Lucy, a painter who also wears a key. Montse eventually discovers that she and Lucy are linked, when she finds the lock that fits her key. Her reaction is bittersweet: «She’d…
Duration:00:58:59
Books and Roses by Helen Oyeyemi, Pt. 1
2/15/2021
“Books & Roses” is the story of Montserrat, a foundling left in a Catalonian chapel at the feet of the Virgin de Montserrat. Her only possessions are a key hanging on a golden chain around her neck, and a note. Cared for by the monks of the order, she grows up and finds work in a laundry, where she encounters Señora Lucy, a painter who also wears a key. Montse eventually discovers that she and Lucy are linked, when she finds the lock that fits her key. Her reaction is bittersweet: «She’d…
Duration:00:58:59
Citizen by Greg Sarris, Pt. 2
1/22/2021
“Citizen” by author Greg Sarris, tells the story of Salvador, born in the U.S., raised in Mexico; son of an American Indian mother and a Mexican father. He has returned to California to find his mother, or rather, her grave. Working in the fields and ranches around Santa Rosa, he meets his mother’s family, encountering both kindness and opportunism, as well as glimmers of hope. An American citizen, who speaks no English, Salvador procures his proof of citizenship and begins to discover his…
Duration:00:58:59
Citizen by Greg Sarris, Pt. 1
1/15/2021
“Citizen” by author Greg Sarris, tells the story of Salvador, born in the U.S., raised in Mexico; son of an American Indian mother and a Mexican father. He has returned to California to find his mother, or rather, her grave. Working in the fields and ranches around Santa Rosa, he meets his mother’s family, encountering both kindness and opportunism, as well as glimmers of hope. An American citizen, who speaks no English, Salvador procures his proof of citizenship and begins to discover his…
Duration:00:58:59
The 14 Mission by Anita Cabrera
12/29/2020
«The 14 Mission» is a gritty Christmas story about loneliness and friendship by San Francisco writer Anita Cabrera. On Christmas Day, a man takes a crosstown bus to visit his best friend. The man remembers his own life as a drunken outcast, so troubled he was once thrown off the bus he is now riding. As the bus ride proceeds and he traverses the neighborhoods of San Francisco, he considers what he owes his friend.
WORD for WORDcast is Word for Word Theater Company’s podcast. We specialize…
Duration:03:40:11
The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster, Pt. 3 — «The Homeless»
10/2/2020
«The Homeless» is the third and final part of E.M. Forster’s «The Machine Stops.» As it opens, we find Kuno threatened with Homelessness for his transgressions against The Machine. Written in 1909, this story is a dystopian look at the future, where everyone lives underground, is controlled by «The Machine,» and communicates with each other over vast distances through glowing blue plates.
WORD for WORDcast is Word for Word Theater Company’s new podcast. We specialize in bringing works of…
Duration:00:59:01
The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster, Pt. 2 — «The Mending Apparatus»
9/25/2020
In «The Mending Apparatus,» part 2 of E.M. Forster’s «The Machine Stops» we find Vashti shocked by her son Kuno as they grapple with their conflicting views of The Machine. Written in 1909, this story is a dystopian look at the future, where everyone lives underground, is controlled by «The Machine,» and communicates with each other over vast distances through glowing blue plates.
WORD for WORDcast is Word for Word Theater Company’s new podcast. We specialize in bringing works of literature…
Duration:00:58:58
The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster, Pt. 1 — «The Air-Ship»
9/18/2020
We are thrilled to premier the WORD for WORDcast, a podcast from the Word for Word theater company. We specialize in bringing works of literature to the stage, using every word of a text in a dynamic, evocative style that preserves the original beauty of the prose or poetry. This podcast will be an ongoing series, with upcoming stories planned by Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Alice Munro, Tobias Wolff, Helen Oyeyemi, and George Saunders (rights pending).
Our featured story is «The Machine…
Announcing the WORD for WORDcast!
9/14/2020
Announcing the WORD for WORDcast! We are gearing up for our September 17 release. The debut episodes will feature “The Machine Stops” by E.M. Forester.
Written in 1909, this is a dystopian look at the future, where everyone lives underground, is controlled by “The Machine,” and communicates with each other over vast distances through glowing blue plates.
Released in 3 parts:
September 17: «The Air-Ship»
September 24: «The Mending Apparatus»
October 1: «The Homeless»
Directed by Gendell…
Duration:00:04:59
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Synonyms for Theater company. (2016). Retrieved 2023, April 14, from https://thesaurus.plus/synonyms/theater_company
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Synonyms for Theater company. 2016. Accessed April 14, 2023. https://thesaurus.plus/synonyms/theater_company.
Princeton’s WordNet
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theater companynoun
a company that produces plays
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Nancy Reagan:
A marriage made in Hollywood She was born Anne Frances Robbins in New York City on July 6, 1921. Her mother and father separated before her birth. Her mother, Edith, toured with a theater company while Nancy lived with an aunt and uncle. Her mother married Chicago neurosurgeon Loyal Davis when the future first lady was young. He adopted her and she settled down in Chicago, before she adopted the stage name Nancy Davis and headed west to Hollywood.
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Judy Norton:
I guess at my core, I’m an artist, and so the opportunity to utilize my imagination, create things and share stories is what makes me happy and fulfills me… It wasn’t until many years after ‘The Waltons’ when I had gone back to theater that I had the opportunity to take on a role within a theater company as a writer and director. I found to my surprise that I really enjoyed it as well. And as you get older as a woman, there are fewer roles. So it can be a bit challenging to stay satisfied as an actor. As a writer, [my] age, sex, how I looked – it didn’t matter…. It was a great training route to hone my storytelling skills.
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