WordTheatre

WORDTheatre is a non-profit organization founded in 2003 that champions literature by staging live readings of contemporary short stories and curating original themed productions in Los Angeles, New York, and London.

The series featured authors Sam Shepard, Peter Matthiessen, James Ellroy and actors Ed Harris, Holly Hunter and Bill Pullman, among others, and ran for three years.

The station then hired Fox to direct seven and a half hours of Isak Dinesen stories performed by an all-star cast and scored by composer Jonathan Sacks.

In 2018 WORDTheatre debuted Emily Wilsons translation of The Odyssey at Southbank Centre with Danny Sapani as Odysseus and Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Penelope.

Actors like Brenda Strong, Cassidy Freeman, Carla Gugino, James Cromwell, Juliet Stevenson, Ian Hart, Rhashan Stone, Michael Boatman, and Ron Perlman were among the performers with authors such as Lore Segal, David Means, Sidik Fofana, and Joyce Carol Oates in attendance.

It brings to life the works of authors such as Charles Baxter,[15] Brian Doyle, TC Boyle, Tobias Wolff, Tim O'Brien, Richard Bausch, John Edgar Wideman, Pamela Painter, Percival Everett, Pam Houston, Hanif Kureishi, Hilary Mantel, Manuel Munoz, Ben Loory, Dana Johnson, Julie Orringer, Joyce Carol Oates, Ha Jin, Edith Pearlman, and Anthony Doerr to mainstream live audiences.

[28][40] Previous leaders of the workshops were: WORDTheatre is known for performances by well-known stage, film, and television actors, including Alfred Molina, Alfre Woodard, Amanda Seyfried, Amber Tamblyn, Angela Bassett, Belinda Stewart-Wilson, Bellamy Young, Ben Miller, Bill Nighy, Bill Pullman, Brent Jennings, Brendan Fraser, CCH Pounder, Chris Cooper, Colman Domingo, Connie Britton, Craig T. Nelson, Christina Pickles, Damian Lewis, Damien Molony, Darren Criss, David Soul, Dohn Norwood, Ed Harris, Elisabeth Moss, Elizabeth McGovern, Emily Watson, Evanna Lynch, Forest Whitaker, Gary Dourdan, Gemma Chan, Gina Bellman, Hannah Waddingham, Harriet Walter, Ian Hart, James Franco, Jason George, Jeff Goldblum, Jessica Capshaw, Jackson Rathbone, JK Simmons, Julianna Margulies, Juliet Stevenson, Kevin McKidd, Linda Cardellini, Mark Ruffalo, Mayim Bialik, Minnie Driver, Maria Bello, Rhashan Stone, Robert Pine, Olivia Williams, Sarah Paulson, Sharon Stone, Sterling K. Brown, Tony Shalhoub, Tracee Ellis Ross, Tracie Thoms, Xander Berkeley, and Zachary Quinto.

[44] Many of the same actors and authors who perform at WordTheatre's main events volunteer their time to participate in the WTIS program, including JK Simmons, Bellamy Young, Toni Trucks, Jason Isaacs, Sterling K Brown, and Ryan Michelle Bathe.