"Live! Lit," a series of short story readings, continues with stories from Italy, Turkey and India on Sunday, Nov. 6, at 3 p.m. at Fairfield University's Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. Afternoon tea is served at 2 p.m. before this second installment of the 2005-06 season's "One World" series.

Conceived by Tess Link and directed by Quick Center Executive Director Tom Zingarelli, this afternoon begins with a reading of "The Abandoned Garden" by Elena Gianini Belotti. The Italian writer is the author of several novels and non-fiction works, including "Voli," "Prima le donne e i bambini" and her most recent work, "Prima della quiete," which won the Premio Grizane Cavour, a prestigious Italian literary award. "The Abandoned Garden is her first work to appear in English.

Florence Philips of Cos Cob will read "The Abandoned Garden." A veteran of regional theater productions in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Paris, Philips has appeared in television's "The Guiding Light," "As the World Turns" and "Law and Order." She participated in "Bloomsday" and "Selected Shorts" at Symphony Space in New York City and is a member of both The Actors' Ensemble and Theatre Artists' Workshop.

James Noble of Norwalk will read "Untold Hitlers" by Vijay Dan Detha, one of India's leading writers, who is among the most eminent writing in Rajasthani today. Winner of a Sahitya Akademi award, he is co-founder of the Rupayan Samsthan, an institution that documents Rajasthani folklore, art and music, which he used as inspiration for "Baatan ri Phulwadi," a 14-volume collection of his stories.

Noble, who once played John Hancock in "1776" on Broadway, has performed in an estimated 150 plays in his long, successful career. A life member of the Actors Studio, where he studied with master teacher Lee Strasberg, he's been featured in films and television, most notably his seven-year stint as the bumbling governor on "Benson." He has taught at the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York City and is a member of Theatre Artists' Workshop in Norwalk.

Zingarelli, who lives in Bridgeport, will read the last work, Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar's "The Villa in Acibadem." Tanpinar has been called the most important Turkish novelist of the 20 ^th century. Born in Istanbul, he created a cultural universe in his work, bringing together Western forms of writing and the sensibilities of a decadent Ottoman culture. In addition to writing, he taught aesthetics, mythology and literature at the University of Istanbul before his death in 1962.

In addition to his work at the Quick Center, Zingarelli has spent more than 30 years as an actor, director, writer, producer and teacher. He has performed and directed off-Broadway and regionally and has worked with such luminaries as Jason Robards, Teresa Wright, Mason Adams and Donal Donnelly. This fall he'll celebrate the release of "TallTales," a 10-part children's video productions about American folk heroes, in which he plays the on-camera host and performed all the animation, narration and character voices.

Tickets are $10. For tickets, call the Quick Center box office at (203) 254-4010 or toll free at 1-877-ARTS-396. For more information, visit www.quickcenter.com.

Posted On: 10-25-2005 10:10 AM

Volume: 38 Number: 84