These Fine Mornings is a one-act play that tells the story of Elizabeth Bishop and The New Yorker.  It uses excerpts from letters between Bishop and editors Charles Pearce, Katharine White, and Howard Moss.  Woven between their correspondence are letters Bishop wrote to friends, internal magazine documents, poems, and questions and answers that appear on proofs.  Actors do more than one voice.  

The play was first read at the University of Chicago's International House and hosted by the Program in Poetry and Poetics and the Poetry Foundation.  Directed by Bernard Sahlins, it featured Linda Kimbrough as Elizabeth Bishop, Bruce Jarchow as the narrator, Suzanne Petri as Katharine White, and Tim Kazurinsky as Charles Pearce and Howard Moss.  

These Fine Mornings is being read by contemporary poets at a number of venues as part of the celebration of the centenary of Bishop's birth.


The Writer's Center, Bethesda, MD



Dana Gioia, narrator 
Rose Solari, Katharine White 
David Gewanter, Charles Pearce and Howard Moss  
Sandra Beasley, Elizabeth Bishop 

Listen to the performance here.


 
The Georgia Center for the Book, Decatur, GA



Bruce Covey, narrator  
Laurel Snyder, Katharine White 
Thomas Lux, Charles Pearce and Howard Moss  
Sharan Strange, Elizabeth Bishop 



KGB Bar, New York, NY


 
Kathleen Ossip--narrator
Kathrine Varnes--Katharine White
James Hoch--Howard Moss
Amy Lemmon--Elizabeth Bishop


The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA



Cal Bedient--narrator
Amy Schroeder--Katharine White
Stephen Yenser--Howard Moss


St. James United Church, Great Village, Nova Scotia



Harry Thurston--narrator
Sandra Barry--Katharine White
Suzie LeBlanc--Elizabeth Bishop
John Barnstead--Howard Moss

Listen to the performance here.



Nightbird Books, Fayetteville, AR



Sidney Burris--Howard Moss
Carolyn Guinzio--Elizabeth Bishop
Davis McCombs--Narrator



University of Maryland, College Park, MD



Stanley Plumly--Narrator
Jane Shore--Katharine White
Michele Osherow--Elizabeth Bishop
Michael Collier--Howard Moss



Woodberry Poetry Room, Harvard University  



Robert Pinsky--Narrator
Katie Peterson--Elizabeth Bishop
Lisa Olstein--Katharine White
Lloyd Schwartz--Howard Moss


George Washington University, Washington, D.C. 


Jane Shore--Elizabeth Bishop  
David McAleavey--Narrator, William Maxwell
Faye Moskowitz--Katharine White, Legal Department, Snobby Critic 2  
Hache Carrillo--Charles Pearce, Gustav Lobrano, Howard Moss, Walcott Gibbs  
Thomas Mallon--Harold Ross, Edward Weekes, Snobby Critic 1, Philip Rahv
Patricia Griffith--New Yorker Employee, Louise Bogan, Fact-Checker

Read an article here.