Seemingly small problems quickly spiral out of control in two encore stories from the 2004 season of Stories on Stage—“The Bone of Contention,” by Zora Neale Hurston, and “Reasonable Terms,” by Hannah Tinti.

Daniel Bryant reads about a town divided in Hurson’s “The Bone of Contention.”

Wendi Weber reads Tinti’s tale about protesting zoo animals, titled “Reasonable Terms.”