Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Thursday 14 July
8:00 PM - 9:40 PM
Ira Glass is famous for his distinctive radio voice and as a master storyteller – but can he do meaningful and expressive jazz hands? Even the most devoted listeners of Glass’s wildly successful radio program and podcast, This American Life, couldn’t confirm his skills in this area … until now: Ira Glass is coming to Melbourne with a contemporary dance production.
The show explores what happens when you combine live radio and contemporary dance – two forms that, as Glass himself has said, ‘have no business being on stage together’. In collaboration with two extraordinary dancers, Anna Bass and Monica Bill Barnes (who has been called the ‘Tina Fey of dance’), the performance includes radio interviews restaged as dance pieces, alongside stories from the lives of the three performers.
The collaboration was borne of a shared style and artistic approach. ‘Monica Bill Barnes and Anna Bass are such funny, human-scale, relatable sorts of performers,’ Glass has said. ‘Their sensibility somehow matches a lot of what we do on the radio show.’
Join us for a funny, moving and highly original performance featuring an icon of contemporary American storytelling.
Presented by the Wheeler Centre and Arts Centre Melbourne.
Note: there are two performances of this event. To view the event page for the Friday 15 July performance, click here.
Featuring
Ira Glass
Ira Glass is the host and creator of the public radio program This American Life.
The show is heard each week by over 2.2 million listeners on more than 500 public radio stations, with another 2.2 million downloading the podcast. The show also airs each week on the CBC in Canada, ABC RN in Australia, and on BBC Radio 4 Extra in the UK. For years, the podcast of This American Life was the most popular podcast on iTunes – until the show started its first spin-off program Serial, which quickly became the most popular podcast ever created. Over 8 million people have downloaded each episode.
Glass began his career as an intern at National Public Radio’s network headquarters in Washington, DC in 1978, when he was 19 years old. Over the years, he worked on nearly every NPR network news program and held virtually every production job in NPR’s Washington headquarters. He has been a tape cutter, newscast writer, desk assistant, editor, repor ter and producer. He has filled in as host of Talk of the Nation and Weekend All Things Considered.
Under Glass’s editorial direction, This American Life has won the highest honors for broadcasting and journalistic excellence, including five Peabody awards. The American Journalism Review declared that the show is 'at the vanguard of a journalistic revolution'. A television adaptation of This American Life ran on the Showtime network for two seasons in 2007 and 2008, winning three Emmy awards including Outstanding Nonfiction Series.
Monica Bill Barnes
Monica Bill Barnes is a New York City-based choreographer and performer. Born and raised in Berkeley, California, Barnes moved to New York in 1995 after receiving her B.A. in Philosophy and Theatre from the University of California at San Diego.
She has created 14 evening-length dance works, numerous site-specific events and multiple cabaret numbers for her company. Her work has been presented in a wide range of venues including the Joyce Theater, Upright Citizens Brigade, Symphony Space, New York City Center, David Koch Theater and alongside the hot tub at the Standard Hotel.
Lincoln Center Institute invited Barnes to tour two of her shows, This Ain’t No Rodeo! (2003–2005) and Suddenly Summer Somewhere (2009–2010) as part of their Repertory Season. Barnes has been an invited Guest Artist at North Carolina School of the Arts, Vassar College, Virginia Commonwealth University, Connecticut College, the College at Brockport, Florida State University, James Madison University, University of Michigan and Emory University.
In addition to stage works, she has created several site-specific works and choreographed for theater productions at the Signature Theater (Home), the Altantic Theater (The Jammer) and Under the Radar Festival (Goodbar). Recent dance commissions include new works for Parsons Dance (Love, Oh Love) and the Juilliard School (The Way it Feels).
Barnes was thrilled to be a part of This American Life Live! last May alongside her favorite radio host Ira Glass and for the wonderful opportunity to create a solo for David Rakoff for this event.
Anna Bass
Dancer Anna Bass joined Monica Bill Barnes and Company in 2003. She has performed Barnes’s work all over the US, and on stages ranging from public fountains and city parks, to New York City Center and Carnegie Hall.
Bass and Barnes began their duet work in Barnes’ Suddenly Summer Somewhere (2007) and have continued in The Way it Feels (2009), The Snow Globe Show (2012) and Luster (2012).
In addition to her performance work with the company, Bass also teaches repertory workshops and master classes. She assisted Barnes with new dance works for Parsons Dance and Juilliard New Dances, with roller derby choreography for The Jammer at the Atlantic Theater, and in This American Life Live! with a solo for David Rakoff.
Bass is also a certified yoga instructor and teaches in New York City. Her early dance training included studying ballet at Virginia School of the Arts and performing with her local studio in jazz and tap competitions around the Southeast. Bass is originally from Forest, Virginia and holds a B.A. in Dance and Theater from James Madison University.