Podcast Summary: Selected Shorts – “The Role You Were Born to Play”
Date: January 1, 2026
Host: Meg Wolitzer
Episode Theme: Exploring the roles we’re cast into, willingly or not, and how we perform, reject, or transcend them—through two affecting short stories performed live by celebrated actors.

Episode Overview

This episode of Selected Shorts examines the idea of roles—familial, social, and internal—that we occupy or find assigned to us. Through the lens of sharply observed fiction and accompanying actor interviews, the show probes the interplay between who we are, who we’re seen as, and whether (or how) we break out of the parts we’re given.

Main Segments and Key Discussion Points

1. Introduction & Framing the Episode

[02:00–04:40]

• Meg Wolitzer discusses the comfort and confinement of knowing the roles we play in others’ lives, and the allure of stepping into roles unimaginable before.
• “There’s comfort in knowing the role you play in others’ lives. Also, there’s fun in imagining that one day you might break out and play some entirely new role, completely unknown to you.”
• Introduces tonight’s dual focus: stories of individuals forced into tricky, ill-fitting, sometimes thankless roles—and the yearning, or chance, to be something more.

2. The Ugly Sister by Joanne Harris

Performed by Jane Atkinson [04:53–22:36]

Story Summary

A reimagining of the Cinderella tale from the perspective of one of the “ugly sisters,” blending dark humor, emotional longing, and meta-theatricality.

Key Points

• The narrator reflects on the role of the “ugly sister,” both in the pantomime tradition and personal identity.
• She bristles at being portrayed as inherently villainous (“Evil becomes ridiculous…there’s no dignity left in being a villain.” [05:00]), reveals the jealousy and pain beneath the bravado, and skewers society’s biases toward “the lookers.”
• The story muses on how history and storytelling solidify fixed, narrow roles, leaving little room for the “discarded ones” to find happiness or self-definition.
• Amidst the routine of another Christmas pantomime, an unexpected encounter with a mysterious, attentive man in the audience gives the “ugly sister” her own taste of magic and the hope of transformation:
  • “Beneath my grotesque costume, my mask of paint, a mystery awaits. One day, I tell myself, someone will notice me.” [11:30]
  • The stranger, “Wolfie,” reveals he’s drawn not to the leading lady, but to her: “These things are just part of the roles we play...The good, the bad, the ugly. We are heroes too, in our way, the ones of us who crawl away cursing when the curtain goes down. The discarded ones.” [21:10]
• The story ends on hope: breaking free of a script and finding joy in the unexpected.

Notable Quotes

• “It is a proud and lonely thing to be an ugly sister.” [05:28]
• “Have you noticed how history favors the lookers?...Court painters have a lot to answer for. And storytellers too.” [08:10]
• “Ugly is a word I’ve dragged behind me all my life. It defines who I am. Without it, what am I?” [20:36]

Memorable Moment

• The curtain call and romantic invitation from “Wolfie,” symbolizing the chance to write a new story and escape typecasting in both art and life.

3. Actor Interview: Jane Atkinson on Playing the Ugly Sister

[22:37–24:44]

• Atkinson relates the theme of sibling rivalry to her reading: “Each one of us…has our own version of the story of our lives and who is the hero and who is the villain. So I think that actually speaks to a lot of siblings.” [22:55]
• On voicing all characters: “It’s like a one-woman show where you get to play everybody…at one point I actually felt like I was channeling Marilyn Monroe.” [24:06]
• Cherishes the Selected Shorts audience’s enthusiasm for discovery and story.

4. Underwater by Hannah Kingsley Ma

Performed by Marin Ireland [27:56–60:41]

Story Summary

Sam, a woman vacationing with her husband and his twin sister’s family, is caught between multiple identities—wife, in-law, and member of her own complicated family of sisters. Amid tick checks, minor disasters, and fraught sibling dynamics (hers, and her in-laws’), Sam negotiates her place in overlapping family narratives and wrestles with envy, insecurity, and longing for clarity.

Key Points

• Sam’s introspective, self-deprecating voice exposes her inner turmoil about blending families, oddities of twinned intimacy, and inadequacies as a sibling and spouse.
• The episode teems with details of “role confusion”:
  • Sam feels overshadowed by her husband’s serene, perfect family and his twin Lizzie, leading to tension and oversensitivity about their closeness.
  • “To be a Sam, wed to another Sam was hugely embarrassing. But what could be done?” [28:20]
  • Sam’s relationship with her own sisters is full of bickering, competition, imperfections—yet also fierce love and humor.
• Major incident: Sam accidentally kicks Lizzie’s beloved dog, souring family dynamics and creating a sense of moral imbalance.
• Night terror episode: Sam’s husband has a nightmare, the family rallies, and the boundaries between roles blur (“You made an animal sound, Sam. You went someplace wild.” [46:00])
• Efforts at alliance and repair: Sam bonds awkwardly with Lizzie in the pool, revealing vulnerabilities and the legacy of childhood experiences.
  • “After the third or fourth terror… I just started kicking him or pinching…something to jolt him out of it, and then he’d be fine. His usual smiling self.” [54:28]
• Culminates in a fraught, almost allegorical incident at a swimming hole (tossing the dog’s stick over a waterfall), with Sam feeling both out-of-place and, perhaps, finally at peace with the shifting, unsettled roles—sister, wife, outsider.

Notable Quotes

• “If personality was the story of who you’d become, who told you that story in the first place? Your family, Sam thought.” [38:50]
• “I feel like the umbilical cord is already inherently a metaphor.” [41:30]
• “You aren’t fucked up… That’s what’s fucked up.” [42:00]
• On competitiveness: “Who doesn’t love to be loved the most?” (Lizzie, [53:00])
• “Our minds, their power…We don’t have control over these things.” [51:00]

Memorable Moment

• The swimming hole scene: “There was a moment of disbelief before Sam thought to scream after the dog, but her scream meant nothing.…In a matter of seconds, Dottie…was gone too. It all happened so fast.” [59:30]

5. Actor Interview: Marin Ireland on Sibling Rivalry and Performance

[60:51–62:10]

• “This story is actually one of the most hilarious and also disturbing at the same time stories about siblings that I’ve ever encountered.” [60:56]
• On reading all voices: “It’s easier in some ways to tee up a joke if you’re playing both people.” [61:17]
• Shares personal connection: “I have a half-sister who’s twelve years older than me, so I…had some of each. I had a solo experience as well.” [61:39]
• Finds reading to a live audience immediate and gratifying.

Episode Takeaways

• Everyone has roles handed down or imposed, but transformation—through empathy, risk, or just chance—is possible.
• Sibling relationships (step/fostered/biological/adopted/twinned) inevitably shape our narratives, producing rivalry—and intimacy—in equal measure.
• Performance, whether on stage, in a marriage, or within a family, is fraught, funny, and full of opportunity for change.
• As Meg Wolitzer concludes:
  • “Some of the roles we play can be like roles in a play. We can change our approach to our parts…or if they’re parts we just don’t want to play, we might just refuse them outright.” [62:12]

Standout Quotes & Timestamps

• “It is a proud and lonely thing to be an ugly sister. And don’t you forget it.” — Ugly Sister, [05:28]
• “Ugly is a word I’ve dragged behind me all my life. It defines who I am. Without it, what am I?” — Ugly Sister, [20:36]
• “If personality was the story of who you’d become, who told you that story in the first place? Your family, Sam thought.” — Underwater, [38:50]
• “You aren’t fucked up…That's what’s fucked up.” — Sam’s Husband, [42:00]
• “Who doesn’t love to be loved the most?” — Lizzie, [53:00]
• “This story is actually one of the most hilarious and also disturbing at the same time stories about siblings that I’ve ever encountered.” — Marin Ireland, [60:56]

Final Thoughts

Packed with wit, pathos, and brilliant performances, this episode of Selected Shorts is a rich meditation on identity, family, and the possibility of stepping out of long-held roles—whether you're center stage, or playing “the ugly sister” in the wings.

Episode Segment Guide:

• Introduction & Theme: [02:00–04:40]
• The Ugly Sister: [04:53–22:36]
• Jane Atkinson Interview: [22:37–24:44]
• Underwater: [27:56–60:41]
• Marin Ireland Interview: [60:51–62:10]
• Closing Reflection: [62:12–end]

For more, visit selectedshorts.org or listen to the full episode wherever you get your podcasts.