Meg Wolitzer Talks with Denis O'Hare

Summary

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Selected Shorts: Meg Wolitzer Talks with Denis O'Hare

Podcast: Selected Shorts | Host: Symphony Space
Episode Date: March 5, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode features novelist Meg Wolitzer in conversation with acclaimed stage and screen actor Denis O’Hare. The focus is on the art of reading fiction aloud—how actors bring stories to life, the nuanced choices they make with language and voice, and the alchemy that occurs between text, performer, and audience. Denis O’Hare shares behind-the-scenes insights, demonstrating his approach by reading selections from Ben Loory's story. The discussion is rich with reflections on performance, craft, and the unique challenges and delights of both acting and storytelling for a live and listening audience.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Duality of Performing for Live and Recorded Audiences

• O’Hare emphasizes the difference between reading for a microphone (recorded) versus a live audience, noting that each situation impacts performance choices.
  • “Reading aloud to an audience is different than reading aloud to a microphone... you have two constituencies.” (00:48)
  • In a live setting, the audience’s immediate responses—laughter, movement, sighs—shape the reading in real time (01:07).

2. Audience Reaction and the Unpredictability of Reception

• The way audiences respond can surprise performers, pushing them to adjust delivery on the fly.
  • “It can feed you. Or their absolute silence inspires you because you can feel the weight of the story hitting them.” (01:36)
  • Noted that what lands one night might fall flat another, echoing the experiences of comedians (01:47).

3. The Written Word vs. Spoken Performance

• Challenges arise in translating written formatting—like paragraph breaks or lack of quotation marks—to an oral experience.
  • “The thing about the written word is that you sometimes can’t get something across that’s on the page... very small sentences in paragraphs that have breaks. How do you value that for the audience’s ear?” (01:53)

4. Character Voices and Modulation

• O’Hare demonstrates the process of experimenting with voices for different characters, especially in stories where distinctions are subtle.
  • “You try it that way and you kind of go, oh, we’re missing something. I want to hear her.” (03:14)
  • He shares humorous anecdotes about audiobook work: “Dennis the Witch sounds like the cat, and you need to distinguish between the five bears. They’re all sounding a little bit like the same Russian guy.” (04:10)

5. Gathering Tools as an Actor

• O’Hare talks about collecting gestures, voices, and mannerisms from daily life, a habit ingrained from his earliest acting lessons.
  • “Every day as I’m walking around, I’m collecting things, I’m collecting people. You can’t help it.” (04:47)

6. Finding the Style and World of Each Text

• The importance of reading for context and style: what works for Sam Shepard differs from Chekhov or Neil Simon.
  • “You have to find the style... What’s the world of the text? What’s the style of the text?” (05:10)
  • Examples of how short, simple sentences in one story suggest a mythic, fairytale atmosphere, as opposed to the complex sentences of a Delmore Schwartz story (06:06).

7. Interpreting Beyond the Page

• O’Hare describes “saying things that aren’t on the page” and reading between the lines, pulling out subtext or emphasizing certain words for effect.
  • “That’s a trick that actors have—figuring out how to say something that’s not on the page that you think is in the context of the story.” (07:33)

8. Memorization vs. Reading Aloud

• The difference between performing from memory (as on stage) and reading from a script. O’Hare describes how muscle memory can enable a performance to happen even when the mind is somewhere else.
  • Story of forgetting lines after hundreds of performances and having to “re-solder all the connections.” (09:47–10:20)
  • “It’s like locking the door. Did you lock your door? You were present, you did it, you turned the key, but you don’t have any memory of it.” (10:03)

9. Live Demonstration of Storytelling

• O’Hare reads an extended passage from Ben Loory’s story, employing the techniques discussed—voice modulation, pacing, and emotional undercurrents—while providing meta-commentary on his interpretive decisions (10:46–14:43).

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Memorable Quotes & Notable Moments

Denis O’Hare [00:48]:
“Reading aloud to an audience is different than reading aloud to a microphone... you have two constituencies. And for me, as a live performer... I tend to privilege the live constituency over the microphone constituency.”

Denis O’Hare [04:10]:
“God knows, when you get too many characters, it’s a minefield. I mean, I once did a book on tape where the note that I got was so Dennis the Witch sounds like the cat. And you need to distinguish between the five bears. They’re all sounding a little bit like the same Russian guy.”

Denis O’Hare [04:47]:
“When I started studying acting when I was 18... my acting teacher was: go out and bring back observations. Bring back five walks, bring back three gestures. Bring back a couple voices, bring back a couple noses. Go out into the world and look.”

Denis O’Hare [10:03]:
“So it’s like locking the door. Did you lock your door? You were present, you did it, you turned the key, but you don’t have any memory of it.”

Denis O’Hare (on interpretation) [16:09]:
“There’s no right answer. There’s just taste. My taste, your taste, the director’s taste, the audience’s taste, and everyone’s taste is different. And all you can do is make a guess and try to stab, you know, and then someone will go, that was brilliant. Someone else will kind of go, oh, I didn’t like it.”

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Noteworthy Timestamps

• 00:48 – O’Hare on reading for live vs. recorded audiences
• 01:36 – The unpredictability of audience responses
• 03:14–04:01 – Experimenting with character voices from Ben Loory’s story; honoring the story’s sensibility
• 04:47–06:06 – How actors gather tools and adapt to different literary styles
• 09:47–10:20 – O’Hare on muscle memory and forgetting lines on stage
• 10:46–14:43 – In-studio demonstration: O’Hare reads a segment, showcasing various interpretive strategies
• 15:46–16:09 – Discussing artistic choices and subjectivity in performance

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Tone & Atmosphere

The episode is warm, insightful, and candid—marked by Meg Wolitzer’s curiosity about the craft and Denis O’Hare’s openness about the inner workings of a performer’s approach. The exchange is filled with humor, humility, and deep respect for storytelling.

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Final Insight

O’Hare’s closing thoughts encapsulate the artist’s dilemma:

“There’s no right answer. There’s just taste... all you can do is make a guess.”

Listeners are left with a sense of the artistry and ongoing discovery that infuses every live reading, every audience interaction, and every act of bringing a story to life.

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Transcript

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[Interviewer/Host]

It's always so interesting to hear a wonderful actor and in particular you read aloud. Because if I were reading aloud, it wouldn't sound good. And I just love what you do. And I'm always struck as a writer by choices that writers make. And of course, actors make choices too. Can you talk about that with regard to these stories?

[Actor/Performer]

First of all, I'll say that reading aloud to an audience is different than reading aloud to a microphone. And the weird thing about reading aloud on a microphone, knowing you're being taped with a live audience is that you have two constituencies. And for me, as a live performer, theater performer, I tend to privilege the live constituency over the microphone constituency. This is all about the microphone. And I can hear my voice in my head. So I'm very aware of shaping sound in a very different way for this microphone that makes a huge difference in a symphony space. The audiences move and shift and groan and laugh and sigh. It's a process. We take in what they do and

[Interviewer/Host]

you then maybe change the way you're going to read. Like the next line.

[Actor/Performer]

Yeah. They help you understand.

[Interviewer/Host]

Are you ever surprised by something an audience laughs at or doesn't?

[Actor/Performer]

Yeah, totally surprised. And again, it can feed you. Or their absolute silence inspires you because you can feel the weight of the story hitting them.

[Interviewer/Host]

Audiences can change from night to night too, Right. If you talk to comedians, why aren't you laughing at that? Last night they loved it.

[Actor/Performer]

And also, you know, the thing about the written word is that you sometimes can't get something across that's on the page. The way the line breaks are, you know, the way the story is. Very small sentences in paragraphs that have breaks. How do you value that for the audience's ear? And is there a way to do that? And the answer may be no. The answer may be yes. And nothing's in quotes here, so the dialogue's not in quotes.

[Interviewer/Host]

You were actually honoring the transitions. And I think a person like myself, who is not an actor wouldn't know to do that. We're always kind of like, rushing to get it over with. I almost feel sort of like superhero going through this guy. Gotta save those kids. Gotta get out of this story. And, you know, as an actor, are just staying in the story because that's where you want to be and that's where we want to be. I also was struck by the changes in the voice. And can you talk about that modulation in the Ben Laurie story?

[Actor/Performer]

I've read it several times. You read it to yourself at first and see what happens, and then you have to read it out loud. The idea in your head is going to be different than when it comes out of your mouth. So I tried on different voices for Death and for the lady. You can do without voices. You can kind of go. A lady goes to church some on Sunday morning and notices Death sitting beside her in a pew. Oh, Death, she says, very much surprised. Why, hello. I didn't see you.

[Narrator/Reader]

Hello to you, too, miss, Death says with a smile.

[Actor/Performer]

And what are we praying for today? Oh, says the lady, long life and happiness.

[Narrator/Reader]

Ah, says Death. Sounds nice.

[Actor/Performer]

That's legitimate.

[Interviewer/Host]

Totally.

[Actor/Performer]

And that's the way it's written. It's not written with any quotation marks. So you try it that way and you kind of go, oh, we're missing something. I want to hear her. So you suddenly go, oh, Death, she says, you put it a little higher. Very much surprised.

[Narrator/Reader]

Why, hello. I. I didn't see you. Hello to you, too, miss, Death says with a smile. And what are we praying for today?

[Actor/Performer]

Or, you know, you could make him Vincent Price.

[Narrator/Reader]

You can go, hello to you, too, miss. And what are we praying for today?

[Actor/Performer]

You know, that'd be a different way to go. You could do that.

[Interviewer/Host]

You could.

[Actor/Performer]

You could make her start you.

[Narrator/Reader]

Oh, Death, she says, why, hello, I didn't see you. Hello to you, too.

[Actor/Performer]

You know, you can do so many ways you can go. But for me, it was about keeping it just a little above my narrative voice and a little below my narrative voice. They're almost literary, but they're pushed toward characters.

[Interviewer/Host]

It's so interesting because it creates a uniformity. It honors the sensibility of the story. Rather than you doing funny voices. Exactly. I'm not at all about that.

[Actor/Performer]

I mean, I know some actors and they do things. They never do voices. They just always stay in one voice. And that's completely legitimate. God knows, when you get too many characters, it's a minefield. I mean, I once did a book on tape where the note that I got was so Dennis the Witch sounds like the cat. And you need to distinguish between the five bears. They're all sounding a little bit like the same Russian guy. And I was like, okay, I don't have five Russian asses.

[Interviewer/Host]

Right? You contain multitudes, but maybe that. Not that many multitudes. No.

[Actor/Performer]

No. So you do have to be careful of not backing yourself into a ridiculous

[Interviewer/Host]

system, but you have access to these options. See, most of us do not.

[Actor/Performer]

Just before, I came here thinking about how to explain what we do. And part of it is, I've been doing this for so long, the answer is, I don't know how I do it right. You know, when I started studying acting when I was 18, one of my first lessons from my acting teacher was, go out and bring back observations. Bring back five walks, bring back three gestures. Bring back a couple voices, bring back a couple noses. Go out into the world and look. And as actors, that's now part of my body. I mean, every day as I'm walking around, I'm collecting things, I'm collecting people. You can't help it. Every day. And same with technique. When we read a play, I just did a reading of Sam Shepard's True West. You read that play, and you have to figure out how to speak the way Sam Shepard wants you to speak. That's different than the way that Ibsen wants you to speak. Who's in translation? That's already a problem. Who's different than the way that Neil Simon wants you to speak? Who's different than the way Chekhov wants you to speak? So you have to find the style. We approach a text, and you look at it and you kind of go, what's the world of the text? What's the style of the text? In this particular story, for instance, it's short sentences. You automatically kind of go, oh, we're in a different world. We're in a world of kind of fairytale. It's not really a real world. So it's already given me permission to do things. The Delmore Schwartz story that I read is very different world.

[Narrator/Reader]

Long sentences. Really long sentences.

[Actor/Performer]

Super complicated sense of place. Where are we? He's in a movie theater watching his parents. Is this really happening? Whereas this is as mythical as it is, it's also concrete. They're in a church now. They're in a cafe now they're in a car. You have to find the style, I suppose, is what I'm saying. And as actors, we're trained to do that over years and years and years. And you begin to do it without even noticing you're doing it.

[Interviewer/Host]

How did you approach the Delmore Schwartz?

[Actor/Performer]

It's been a long time, so I don't remember. And it's funny. I listened to it and I didn't like my reading. You know, any point in your life you would do something different. I liked a lot of what I was doing, but some of it, I was like, oh, I would have done that differently.

[Interviewer/Host]

I do that. But there's no interpretation. There's nothing to start with. So it's not as important that I be a good reader aloud for my own work. It's internal and it doesn't have a voice. As if there's something really different and powerful about the written word than just the way people speak.

[Actor/Performer]

It makes me think of so many things. I mean, the idea that, you know, what we give ourselves permission as actors to do is to say things that aren't on the page. So she says, what a marvelous idea. The lady says, climbing in. Is this yours?

[Narrator/Reader]

She says, the car.

[Actor/Performer]

His line is, oh, no, says Death, I took a vow of poverty. My uncle let me borrow it for the day. So for me, what I want to do with that is something that's not

[Narrator/Reader]

on the page, which is, what a marvelous idea.

[Actor/Performer]

The lady says, climbing in, is this yours? She says, the car.

[Narrator/Reader]

Oh, no, says Death, I took a vow of poverty. My uncle let me borrow with the day.

[Actor/Performer]

What is this uncle?

[Interviewer/Host]

Yeah.

[Actor/Performer]

Who is this uncle? Is that Satan? Who is the uncle? You know, so you know to value the word uncle in a way that makes you go, ooh, what's that? But again, that's a trick that actors have is like figuring out how to say something that's not on the page that you think is in the context of the story. Even making words long. I mean, this great sentence, they park by a cliff and spread out a

[Narrator/Reader]

blanket and open up death's picnic basket.

[Actor/Performer]

They unpack a feast and lay it

[Narrator/Reader]

all out, and then they drink a toast.

[Actor/Performer]

That's a long sentence. You could say, they unpack a feast,

[Narrator/Reader]

they lay it all out, and then they drink a toast.

[Actor/Performer]

But for me, I want to honor the sentence as written by the writer, which is one sentence with one comma.

[Interviewer/Host]

This is just like my favorite thing to talk about. And I'm thinking now, as you have this script of this story in front of you, what's the difference between having to memorize something?

[Actor/Performer]

There's a couple of things. One is that when you are working on your instincts, you are bringing all of this crazy adrenaline to something. The minute you begin to rehearse it, it falls Apart and becomes really bad because you're no longer working on your instincts. You now have to justify everything and you now have to put it back together and say, why did I do that? Choice. But then it comes back to that place again. When you memorize it, you get to a different place. The words do have to become yours. You have to own them in a different way. For a lot of actors, I know that when you memorize, you still see the page turn and you have to get rid of that. You see the bottom of the page and you kind of go, that's top of 42. All right, top of 42. And you see it in your mind almost. You know, we do plays, they often cut lines, we often adjust the script, and that can really mess you up because it's very hard to get rid of the lines you memorized. When they're cut, they're always in you still. I did a play called Take Me out for a year and a half, did 535 shows, and probably around show 300, I came out on stage and I did not know my first line and it came out of my mouth, but then I didn't know my second line and it came out of my mouth. And I spent the entire monologue. It was a monologue about, I don't know, 15 minutes long, freaking out, completely panicking, drenched in sweat.

[Interviewer/Host]

It's like the dream. I didn't know it was like the nightmare, right?

[Actor/Performer]

Because it had gone into my long term memory. The lines had become part of my body and I was somewhere else. And I was thinking, is that sandwich shop carve open? That's the one on 48th, right?

[Interviewer/Host]

Is that open still? I wonder.

[Actor/Performer]

I could do that.

[Interviewer/Host]

Oh, my God.

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I had this soup daily.

[Actor/Performer]

Soup's good. Do they have some chicken while I'm speaking out loud? This is what my mind is doing because I've done it for 300 times. So it's like locking the door. Did you lock your door? You were present, you did it, you turned the key, but you don't have any memory of it.

[Interviewer/Host]

But the audience probably wouldn't have known a different experience.

[Actor/Performer]

They wouldn't have known I was terrified. So I had to go back and memorize the monologue again and resolder all the connections. Why do I say the next thing? How do I get from this to that? Why do I say that? What is the music of this? And I put it back together again and it was fine, but it was terrifying.

[Interviewer/Host]

That's really frightening. So I have you here in this Studio. Trapped in the studio. I would love to sort of watch in person how you do this. And would you read some of the story?

[Actor/Performer]

Yeah. It'll be different, I think. The two lie on the blanket and laugh and talk. Death tells the lady about his job.

[Narrator/Reader]

It's okay, he says, but sometimes I get lonely. I know how you feel, the lady says. You do? Says Death. I always thought you were happy. Dinner parties and photographs and all. Well, says the lady, things are different now, what with everyone gone. Gone? Says Death. But where did they go? Well, my husband, you know, the lady says. And my daughter's married and in Sweden now, and the twins have moved to Maine. Maine? Death says. But last week they were four. Oh, that wasn't last week, the lady says. Maybe time moves differently for you. But I haven't seen you in ages. But, says Death, gazing at her in awe, but you look exactly the same.

[Actor/Performer]

But even as he says that, he

[Narrator/Reader]

sees the old woman, like a ghost there, moving beneath the skin. Well, says Death. He blinks and looks away. You look the same to me, he says. It's nice of you to say, the lady says with a smile. And I still feel the same on most days. And what have you been up to? She says suddenly, brightly, as if to change the subject. Me? Says Death. Oh, well, not too much running up and down upon the earth. Well, tell me all about it, the lady says. I've never been anywhere in my life. Nowhere, says Death. Just here, the lady says, is the rest of the world as nice. Nice, Death says. I never thought of it that way. I. I like it best in Asia, I guess. Did you see the Great Wall of China? The lady says. Oh yes, says Death. Of course. So he tells her about his time there, about the houses and the domes, about the sunsets and the spires, and he tells her about Egypt and Iceland and Norway and Antarctica and everywhere else. It sounds so nice, the lady says with a sigh. I always meant to see the world, but there wasn't time. Well, says Death, it's never too late. We can go. And if you want, you can drive. He raises a hand and motions to the car. Oh, I couldn't, the lady says. And besides, don't you have a job to be at? I could take some time off, Death says. The lady looks at Death, and Death looks back. Then with a smile, she starts to nod. All right, she says. You got yourself a deal. Now please help an old lady up.

[Actor/Performer]

So Death stands up and takes the

[Narrator/Reader]

lady's arm, and he walks her slowly to the car. He helps her in and then climbs in himself. She turns the key and the engine roars. Okay, now, says Death, are you sure you want to do this? I do, says the lady. But first, a kiss. So Death leans in and they close their eyes and they kiss. Then she floors it off the cliff.

[Interviewer/Host]

That was wonderful. Tell me about your tricks.

[Actor/Performer]

It was an idea of making that section more about Death's journey than her journey, his revelations than her revelations, that she's sort of up here chittering away, and he's having this massive change. Yep, he completely, like, gobsmacked. And then just at the end, making it a little darker, showing her hesitation, she suddenly realizes what's happening and goes,

[Narrator/Reader]

oh, he's come for me.

[Actor/Performer]

You know that thing about, oh, I couldn't. Lydia says, and besides, don't you have a job to be at? You know, it's all understood.

[Narrator/Reader]

Well, I could take some time off.

[Actor/Performer]

No, you're my job. I'm here for you. So it was just sort of putting a finger on the scale a little bit more with that and just making him a little darker and a little more sinister.

[Narrator/Reader]

Finally, at the end, it's almost musical

[Interviewer/Host]

in a way, how you just did it. I'm thinking, of course, of the Emily Dickinson, because I would not stop for him. He kindly stopped for me. Yeah, that was great. How exciting to see and listen to the choices that you make in person.

[Actor/Performer]

And also you push things by giving it momentum. So Death stands up and takes the lady's arm, and he walks her slowly to the car.

[Narrator/Reader]

He helps her in and then climbs in himself. She turns the key and the engine roars. Boom.

[Interviewer/Host]

Right.

[Narrator/Reader]

Okay.

[Actor/Performer]

Now you know what I mean. As opposed to the other way I did it before, which is much more ceremonial, trying to, like, paint the picture of their movements.

[Interviewer/Host]

And you've made the case for each of them.

[Actor/Performer]

There's no right answer. There's just taste. My taste, your taste, the director's taste, the audience's taste, and everyone's taste is different. And all you can do is make a guess and try to stab, you know, and then someone will go, that was brilliant. Someone else will kind of go, oh, I didn't like it.

[Interviewer/Host]

Yeah, well, I really liked it, so thank you. And it was so great to talk to you.

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