Three Acts, Two Dancers, One Radio Host

This American Life host Ira Glass teamed up with dancers Anna Bass and Monica Bill Barnes three years ago to create Three Acts, Two Dancers, One Radio Host. Their production, intertwining radio and dance, proved to be an enthralling excursion through stories of ambition (Riverdancers trying to win the lottery), love (middle school dances, marriage as customer service) and loss (of partners, livelihoods, family). Each story successfully combined Glass' sensitive-guy charm, and his trustworthiness - he has a way of speaking to people that is disarming and warm, that allows them to open up, he gives people permission to speak; and the at times funny, at times heartfelt choreography of Bass and Barnes who, during a high point of the show, bring audience members onto the stage to awkwardly slow dance. There's theatrics, with confetti, balloons, a curtain from which they emerge; Glass demonstrates his skill as a balloon artist, slyly alludes to Serial and speaks about his personal life; and, through interviews and radio, the artistic practice of Bass and Barnes is revealed.

There is an intimacy to podcasting - it's really just a person, or persons, speaking directly to you, while you're in your living room or walking along the street or driving alone in your car. Listening is a solitary exercise, and the heart of podcasting is a person-to-person connection - although the widespread appeal of that connection does foster a community of people touched and/or inspired by the work. Somehow Ira Glass managed to make a room as large as Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, filled with that very community of people, feel just as intimate as if he were telling the stories to you and you alone.