Curator of the event and publisher of New Haven Review, Bennett Lovett-Graff is also a board member of the library. Photo Credit: Dylan Haviland
Dylan Haviland – General Assignment Reporter
NEW HAVEN – George Kulp, an actor of the New Haven Theater Company, stood confidently on the small stage and the crowd was attentively listening to his reading. His voice ringing clear, the actor read a story of car combat, lasers and high speed chases in a future world. Kulp was craftily switching between voices to fit the tone of the short story.
Kulp was reading his assigned literature, “Along the Scenic Route” by American author Harlon Ellison. He was soon followed by fellow New Haven Theater Company actor, J. Kevin Smith, who read “The Swimmer” by John Cheever.
The two selected readings by the theater actors were a part of Listen Here, a three part collaboration by the New Haven Review, the New Haven Theater Company and the Young Men’s Institute Library also known as the Institute Library.
Listen Here, a recently revived event has been held monthly in the Institute Library–a hidden gem in New Haven with a rich history.
“The place was founded in 1826, so this is the building that goes that far back,” said Bennett Lovett-Graff, curator of Listen Here, publisher of the New Haven Review and board member of the Institute Library. “The thing you need to remember about the library is that when libraries first started, they were not paid for in tax dollars they were supported through subscriptions. There’s a few of those libraries that still exist and this is one of them.”
The readings for Listen Here are selected by the New Haven Review, a nonprofit and all volunteer literacy journal that features local New Haven authors twice a year.
“Every month we do different stories, everything is organized by theme. The short stories are chosen with a very basic principle in mind–they should be published, they should be readable, they shouldn’t be too long, it’s great if they are classic but we include a few things sometimes stories by local authors,” said Lovett-Graff.
Members of the New Haven Theater Company then choose two members to read aloud the texts.
“We are trying to make sure that everybody in the group gets a chance to participate, it’s a real fun thing to do,” said Smith. “We typically get the stories several weeks ahead and depending what’s going on and how much snow we are shoveling, we get time to read the play or the story multiple times, get familiar and understand it.”
The theme of this month’s Listen Here was Where Ya Going? An intriguing topic which is exemplified through the two short stories, “Along the Scenic Route” and “The Swimmer.”
The two texts themselves are very different from each other, “Along the Scenic Route” was a fast paced tale of futuristic car dueling, while “The Swimmer” questioned time and reality as a man goes on a journey of pool hopping.
“These are two very different stories but they both have that idea of going somewhere but it’s not too clear where they are going,” said Lovett-Graff.
Overall, the atmosphere of the Institute Library, combined with the works of New Haven Review and the New Haven Theater Company created a compelling reading. The historic background of the building itself adds a sense of wonderment while listening to excellent pieces of literature.
“This is where people do things a little off the beaten path, it’s not always weird but one of the things that get people involved tend to be creative types. So we are trying to do off the beaten path things,” Lovett-Graff. “New Haven could use more of that.”
Photo Credit: Dylan Haviland
