Selected Shorts: Haruki Murakami Night

Selected Shorts: Haruki Murakami Night is a celebration of Murakami’s works read on stage by actors Javier Muñoz, Mike Doyle, and Jennifer Ikeda. Please note: Haruki Murakami will not appear at this event.

One of Japan’s foremost modern fiction writers, Haruki Murakami is known for his surreal, unforgettable journeys through the human psyche. To celebrate the acclaimed author of Norwegian Wood, 1Q84 and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Japan Society and the hit podcast Selected Shorts present an evening of his stories read live on stage by actors from stage and screen. Featuring oddball characters, dreamlike twists and deeply human dilemmas, this event will satisfy Murakami newcomers as well as those who know every jazz reference and talking cat.

Murakami’s works will be read live onstage by…

Javier Muñoz

Javier Muñoz is best known for starring and co-creating the role of Alexander Hamilton as part of the original cast of Hamilton on Broadway. He got his break starring as Usnavi in In the Heights on Broadway. He recently starred in the world premiere adaptation of the Emmy-winning series Schmigadoon! at the Kennedy Center and in Galileo at Berkeley Repertory Theater, opposite Raúl Esparza, and the pre-Broadway run of the musical The Devil Wears Prada, in the role of Nigel Owens, with music by Elton John. Muñoz starred in the dark comedy indie feature Monuments, the indie feature Love Reconsidered, and Three Months on Paramount+. He voices a lead character in the Disney Jr. animated series Eureka! Additional screen credits include recurring on Shadowhunters, Blindspot, and Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. Muñoz is also an outspoken activist for USAID and LGBTQ+ rights.

Mike Doyle

Mike Doyle has appeared on screen in New Amsterdam, City on a Hill, The Romanoffs, the Law & Order franchise, The Accidental Wolf, Narcos: Mexico, Jersey Boys, The Invitation, Green Lantern, Fallout and The Greatest, among others. His stage credits include The New Century at Lincoln Center and Betrayed with the Culture Project. Doyle wrote and directed the feature films Almost Love starring Kate Walsh, Patricia Clarkson, and Scott Evans and Passing Through, in which he also stars with Kevin Daniels and Amy Ryan. His next film, Bookends, stars F. Murray Abraham and Caroline Aaron.

Jennifer Ikeda

Jennifer Ikeda’s theater work includes Top Girls on Broadway, The Barbarians at La Mama, Vietgone at the Manhattan Theatre Club, Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. with Soho Rep, Love and Information with New York Theatre Workshop, Titus Andronicus at the Public Theater, Hamlet with Theatre for a New Audience, and The Bacchae at the Delacorte Theater. Her film and television credits include Advantageous, Killing Hasselhoff, Dash & Lily, Blue Bloods, Maniac, Blindspot, and Elementary. Additional projects include David Michalek’s Portraits in Dramatic Time at the Lincoln Center Festival, Selected Shorts, and more than 100 audiobooks, for which she has been honored with two Audie Awards, and including bestsellers by Deborah Harkness, Sarah J. Maas, and Jean Wakatsuki Houston’s seminal book on Japanese American internment, Farewell to Manzanar. Ikeda is a proud union member.

Maulik Pancholy can unfortunately no longer attend due to a scheduling conflict. Actors subject to change.

About Selected Shorts

Selected Shorts is a weekly public radio show broadcast on over 150 stations to over 300,000 listeners. Selected Shorts is produced by Symphony Space and distributed by Public Radio International. The series presents some of our greatest actors transporting us through the magic of fiction, one short story at a time. Sometimes funny. Always moving. Selected Shorts connects you to the world with a rich diversity of voices from literature, film, theater and comedy.

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Japan Society’s Japanese Literature Series is generously supported by a grant from the Toshiba International Foundation, and All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd., the official airline partner of the series.

Support for cultural programs is provided by an anonymous donor; Anime NYC; the Sandy Heck Lecture Fund; Mrs. Faith L. Taylor; and Jean Fan Colson and Daniel Colson.

Japan Society programs are supported by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Additional support for cultural programs is provided by an anonymous donor and the Sandy Heck Lecture Fund.

Japan Society’s 120th anniversary initiatives and related programs are generously supported by Champion Sponsor, MUFG Bank, Ltd.; Advocate Sponsor, Mizuho Americas; and Friend Sponsor, Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas).