Ira Glass, 'American Life' coming to theater near you


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Posted by chicagomedia.org on April 16, 2009 at 09:50:49:

In Reply to: Trib's Steve Johnson interviews CPR's Ira Glass posted by chicagomedia.org on April 16, 2009 at 09:50:00:

Ira Glass, 'American Life' coming to theater near you

April 16, 2009

By JENNIFER THOMAS Entertainment Editor

So much has changed since the days when radio was one of the only major forms of entertainment in people's homes. But radio survived the advent of TV and the Internet, and so did storytelling. One well-known example of radio storytelling is National Public Radio's "This American Life," hosted by Ira Glass.

A two-hour, live simulcast of the radio show will be screened April 23 in 400 movie theaters, including several in the Chicago area. The show's theme will be "Return to the Scene of the Crime," and will include frequent guests of the show like Dan Savage, Starlee Kine and David Rakoff.

To make the show more suitable for a visual medium, they've added touches like a cartoon and short movies. Chicagoan Dan Savage, author of the syndicated column, Savage Love, will follow the show's theme by returning to the Catholic church of his childhood. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" creator Joss Whedon will perform a musical number.

But not much else will differ from a typical "This American Life" program.

"The big X factor is, are people going to laugh at the jokes?" Glass said. "People are so shocked to see what we look like, that carries us through the first seven minutes."

In 2006 Glass left Chicago for New York to do a TV version of "This American Life" for Showtime. They're producing another episode to air in May, but Glass is not leaving radio behind. Selecting the stories he can tell on radio is always an interesting challenge.

"We're applying the tools of journalism to something personal," he said. "We don't need a news hook; we need someone you can relate to, and we have to have something happen to the (storyteller), and for them to have thoughts about that. Sometimes people send us stories about things that have incredible meaning to their lives, but they're not surprising enough to put on the radio."

(STNG)



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