Three Acts, Two Dancers, One Radio Host

Overview

Monica Bill Barnes & Company and Ira Glass, host of This American Life, have been working together to combine two art forms that – as Ira puts it – “have no business being together – dance and radio.” The result is a funny, lively and heartfelt evening of dance and stories that has brought down the house wherever it’s been performed, starting with its first test run at Carnegie Hall in 2013.

The show includes radio interviews restaged as dance pieces, plus stories from the lives of each of the three performers, Ira Glass, Monica Bill Barnes and Anna Bass. “What makes it work is a shared sensibility,” Glass says. “As dancers, Monica and Anna are these amazingly relatable and funny storytellers without words.” Bass notes, “I think it’s still blowing Ira’s mind to see some of the radio pieces remade this way, with props and costume changes and lighting cues.” Barnes adds, “combining these art forms has led to a show that’s unlike anything I’ve ever choreographed before.”

As the title indicates, the show is in three acts. Act one is about the job of being a performer. Act two: falling in love and what it means to stay in love. Act three: nothing lasts forever. “People who like This American Life will probably like this,” says Glass “because it’s just like the radio show, um, if you picture dancing during all the stories.”