Adam Ross, Mary Ellen von der Heyden Fellow in the fall 2014, gives a captivating reading of his novel in progress, “Playworld”, which draws on his experiences as a child actor. Ross calls this work a Bildungsroman, set in Manhattan from the beginning in fall of 1980, just before Jimmy Carter loses his re-election bid to Ronald Reagan, to November 1999, immediately before the dot-com bubble burst. Ross writes, ‘“Playworld’ tells the story of Griffin Hurt, a child actor who finds himself surrounded by adult children—by adult actors who are wittingly or unwittingly borrowing against his emotional future, who are so indulgently at play that they function as terrible role models.  Ross is introduced by Joshua Cohen, short story writer and novelist in residence.