'This American Life' on the big screen

Public radio's "This American Life" expanded into TV a year ago. Now fans are invited to get a sneak peek at its new Showtime season straight from host Ira Glass, who's appearing live on the big screens of 300 theaters next month.

Tickets have just gone on sale for "This American Life — Live!" which will be broadcast in high-definition to cinemas nationwide the evening of May 1. Originating from New York University's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, it will include previews of the TV series, as well as Glass to talk about it.

"I'll also perform a radio story live on stage, where I mix my voice and the quotes and the music," Glass said earlier this week from the show's Manhattan headquarters.

Tickets are available at participating theaters as well as online from National CineMedia's Fathom, which is presenting the event. It's an outgrowth of a live-and-in-person six-city tour Glass and Company did last year.

To build on that with available technology "seemed like it would be fun and be a really nice show, so we thought, `Why not?'" said Glass, who, since pioneering the radio series in 1995, has furnished its signature vision and voice.

"The idea is partly that, this way, we can go to smaller towns. It's expensive to travel our show, because there's a bunch of us, and a band and other performers.

"We'll have five or six cameras, and something called a jib," he added with a laugh. "I don't know what that is, but apparently it's very important for us to have one."

One of the stories will be shared exclusively with the theater audience — it was cut from the coming TV season when an episode ran too long.

"We found some eighth and ninth graders who decide they're going to be comedians, so they do standup for a summer," Glass explained. "It doesn't sound like much of a premise, but, truthfully, hearing them talk about it is amazing, and watching the standup routines is pretty interesting. It's very funny and very moving."

That describes "This American Life" overall. Whatever form it takes, it has won an avid following for the stories it tells about ordinary people who turn out to be unique in unexpected ways. The radio edition draws more than 1.7 million listeners each week on some 500 Public Radio International (PRI) affiliate stations.

The half-hour weekly TV version, which was warmly received last year, returns on Showtime for its second season May 4.

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On the Net:

http://www.thislife.org

http://www.FathomEvents.com

http://www.sho.com/site/thisamericanlife