READINGS
"Story Time for Grownups" returns to Grendel's Coffee Shop with stories by Ray Bradbury through children's eyes. Bradbury is a master of showing the world via the eyes of a child -- but usually with a twist. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. on Monday, August 3. More details here.
I have been doing free public readings of literature in the Portland area for more than 12 years. The readings have taken place at Powell's Books, Borders Books (in both the downtown Portland store and on Bridgeport Road in Tigard), and the Multnomah County Library (Central, Woodstock, and North Portland branches).
I usually read solo, but have also performed with such estimable actors as Keith Scales, Rebecca Becker, David Heath, Ernie Casciato, Jane Bennett, and Chris Porter. I also have performed several scripts of the 1940s radio comedy "The Bickersons" with my wife, Carole.
In the above photo I'm reading Lewis Carroll at Powell's in January 1998; judging by the cover, the book is probably Sylvie and Bruno.
For the past five years, I have had regular readings at Grendel's Coffee House at East 8th and Burnside, usually on the First Monday of the month at 7:30.
I've also read a number of times at the Umpqua Bank branch at SW 10th and Jefferson. Below are several photos of one of my performances there.
I've read for private parties in Portland and Bend, and would be happy to do so for your event.
Below is a listing of the works I've read over the years.
- Allen, Woody – "Viva Vargas!" "Mr. Big," "The Whore of Mensa," "The Dead Sea Scrolls," and other humorous pieces
- Benét, Stephen Vincent – "The Devil and Daniel Webster"
- Bierce, Ambrose – "An Imperfect Conflagration," "Oil of Dog," "Killed atResaca," "Chickamauga," excerpts from The Devil's Dictionary
- Bradbury, Ray – "The Cold Wind and the Warm," "The Terrible Conflagration Up at the Place," "There Was an Old Woman," "The October Game," "The Utterly Perfect Murder," "There Will Come Soft Rains," excerpts from Something Wicked This Way Comes
- Bulgakov, Mikhail - excerpts from The Master and Margarita
- Calvino, Italo – "The Dinosaur," "All At One Point," and other stories
- Carroll, Lewis – excerpts from Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, Sylvie & Bruno
- Cortàzar, Julio
- Dahl, Roald - "The Great Switcheroo"
- Donne, John – poems and other writings
- Doyle, Arthur Conan – "Silver Blaze," "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle," "The Red-Headed League," "The Man With the Twisted Lip"
- Ellison, Harlan – "Prince Myshkin, and Hold the Relish," " 'Repent Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman," and other stories
- Englander, Nathan – "Reb Kringle"
- Epstein, Joseph – "Dubinsky on the Loose"
- Findley, Timothy – excerpts from Not Wanted on the Voyage
- Fisher, M.F.K. – "War Story," "The Standing and the Waiting," and other writings
- Fitzgerald, F. Scott – "The Offshore Pirate"
- Heller, Joseph – excerpts from Catch-22, Good as Gold, and other novels
- Helprin, Mark – "North Light: A Recollection in the Present Tense"
- Henry, O. – "The Gift of the Magi," "The Marry Month of May," "The Last Leaf" "The Love-Potion of Ikey Schoenstein," "While the Auto Waits," "After Twenty Years," and other stories
- Jackson, Shirley – "The Lottery," "About Two Nice People," "The Most Wonderful Thing"
- London, Jack – "The Madness of John Harned," "To Build a Fire," excerpts from John Barleycorn
- Marquez, Gabriel Garcia – "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings"
- McEwen, Todd – excerpts from Fisher's Hornpipe
- Milne, A.A. – poems
- Niven, David – excerpts from The Moon's a Balloon and Bring On the Empty Horses
- Poe, Edgar Allan – "The Tell-Tale Heart"
- Pratchett, Terry – excerpts from Guards, Guards!
- Seuss, Dr. – Fox in Socks, “Sneetches,” and other stories
- Robert Sheckley - "Can You Feel Anything When I Do This?", "The Mnemone," and "Cordle to Onion to Carrot"
- Simon, Neil – "A Quiet Duel" from The Good Doctor
- Singer, Isaac Bashevis – "The Cat Who Thought She Was a Dog and the Dog Who Thought He Was a Cat"
- Southern, Terry – selections from "Dr. Strangelove" and other works
- Toole, John Kennedy – excerpts from Confederacy of Dunces
- Twain, Mark – selections from a Burlesque on Etiquette Books, a poster for the Roman gladiatorial games, and other obscure humor pieces
- Vonnegut, Kurt – "Miss Temptation," excerpts from Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse-Five
- Yates, Richard – excerpts from Revolutionary Road
Valentine's Day Show: humorous pieces on love and marriage by James Thurber, E.B. White, Dave Barry, Robert Fulghum, and two radio scripts from "The Bickersons" (performed with wife Carole)
Beowulf Show: excerpts from Beowulf explicated, discussed, and read in the original Anglo-Saxon by Dick Lewis (former executive director of the Oregon Council for the Humanities and professor of Old and Middle English Literature) and excerpts from John Gardner’s Grendel read by me - performed in July of 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 at Grendel's Coffee House