April 11, 2012
This American Life - Live! with Host Ira Glass Simulcast to Cinemas
NCM Fathom Events, WBEZ-Chicago and BY Experience, in Collaboration with Public Radio International, Present a Live Cinema Experience in Select Movie Theaters Nationwide on May 10
CENTENNIAL, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Ira Glass, host of WBEZ Chicago's critically acclaimed radio show This American Life, returns to movie screens nationwide with This American Life — Live!, a special live performance on Thursday, May 10 at 8:00 p.m. ET / 7:00 p.m. CT and tape delayed to 7:00 p.m. MT / 8:00 p.m. PT, HI and AK, with an encore in select theaters on Tuesday, May 15 at 7:30 p.m. local time. Broadcast live from the Skirball Center at New York University, Glass will present stories by writer David Rakoff, comedian Tig Notaro and Snap Judgment host Glynn Washington. Together they will perform a live stage version of the radio show, centered on the theme "The Invisible Made Visible." The performance will also feature a new short film by Mike Birbiglia, live music by the rock band OK Go, a dance performance by Monica Bill Barnes & Company, original animation and illustration, and special surprise guests.
Tickets for This American Life — Live! are available at presenting theater box offices and online at www.FathomEvents.com. For a complete list of presenting theater locations and prices, please visit www.FathomEvents.com or www.ThisAmericanLife.org (theaters and participants may be subject to change).
"I saw this amazing dance performance by Monica Bill Barnes' company, and I thought - that is totally in the style of our radio show," said host Ira Glass. "But obviously you can't have dance on the radio. Then I realized, we have to do another cinema event! We've built this lineup of stories mixed with super visual things, including the dancers I saw that night, so it's going to feel like the radio show but also totally unlike anything we've done before. I really can't wait to see how it turns out."
Presented by NCM Fathom Events, WBEZ-Chicago and BY Experience in collaboration with Public Radio International (PRI), This American Life — Live! will be broadcast to more than 550 select movie theaters across the country through NCM's exclusive Digital Broadcast Network. NCM Fathom Events and BY Experience also teamed up for the highly successful cinema presentations of This American Life — Live! in May 2008 and April 2009.
"This American Life — Live! will be an in-theater celebration of visuals and performance, encompassing storytelling, dance, music, and more," said Shelly Maxwell, executive vice president of NCM Fathom Events. "This live event will take the traditional style and sensibility of the popular radio program, and bring it to life on the big screen in a whole new way."
This American Life is a weekly hour-long radio program which debuted in 1995 on WBEZ-Chicago. Now distributed by Public Radio International, it is broadcast to more than 500 radio stations reaching 1.7 million weekly listeners. Often the most popular podcast in the country averaging more than 750,000 weekly downloads, the show has won major broadcasting awards including the Peabody, duPont-Columbia and Edward R. Murrow Awards. In 2001, Time Magazine named Glass the "best radio host in America." From 2007-2008, a television version of This American Life aired on Showtime, winning three Emmy® Awards.
"Previous This American Life digital cinema events have been as lively, entertaining and amazing as the radio show," said Alisa Miller, president and CEO of Public Radio International (PRI). "Ira Glass is a master storyteller on the radio and in this new live show, Ira promises to add new dimensions to that art form. As the organization that brings diverse perspectives to public media, PRI is proud to support this digital cinema event, and all of Ira's work."
About National CineMedia (NCM)
NCM operates NCM Media Networks, a leading integrated media company reaching U.S. consumers in movie theaters, online and through mobile technology. The NCM Cinema Network and NCM Fathom present cinema advertising and events across the nation's largest digital in-theater network, comprised of theaters owned by AMC Entertainment Inc., Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CNK), Regal Entertainment Group (NYSE: RGC) and other leading regional theater circuits. NCM's theater advertising network covers 177 Designated Market Areas® (49 of the top 50) and includes over 18,600 screens (approximately 17,700 digital). During 2011, nearly 671 million patrons (on an annualized basis) attended movies shown in theaters in which NCM currently has exclusive, cinema advertising agreements in place. The NCM Fathom Events live digital broadcast network ("DBN") is comprised of over 700 locations in 167 Designated Market Areas® (including all of the top 50). The NCM Interactive Network offers 360-degree integrated marketing opportunities in combination with cinema, encompassing 42 entertainment- related websites, online widgets and mobile applications. National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: NCMI) owns a 48.7% interest in and is the managing member of National CineMedia LLC. For more information, visit www.ncm.com or www.FathomEvents.com. About WBEZ-Chicago
WBEZ 91.5FM is operated by Chicago Public Media, an institution that creates award-winning content for people seeking to learn more about the issues and ideas that affect our community, our nation, and our world. Chicago Public Media produces programs such as This American Life, Sound Opinions, Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me!, Eight Forty-Eight, The Afternoon Shift, Worldview, and Radio M. In addition to WBEZ 91.5 FM, Chicago Public Media operates Vocalo 89.5 FM, a next generation service that seeks to expand the reach of public media. For more information, visit www.chicagopublicmedia.org.
About BY Experience
BY Experience kicked off the digital revolution of live events to movie theaters and other locations globally with David Bowie's 2003 Reality album launch and since then, over 15 million tickets have been sold worldwide for cinema events BY Experience has distributed and/or produced including the Met: Live in HD series, the U.K.'s National Theatre Live series, Leonardo Live (February 2012), the New York Times speaker's series TimesTalks LIVE, the Roundabout Theatre Company's production of The Importance of Being Earnest (June 2011), Red Hot Chili Peppers Live: I'm With You (August 2011); The Big Four: Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax (June 2010), BBC Electric Proms: Robbie Williams (October 2009), the classic music celebrations BBC Last Night of the Proms (September 2009, 2010, 2011), St. Olaf Christmas Festival (December 2007 and December 2011), David Gilmour: Remember That Night — Live from the Royal Albert Hall (September 2007), and the public radio shows A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor (February and October 2010) and This American Life — Live! with Ira Glass (April 2008 and May 2009). BY Experience distributes to over 50 countries, to 2,000 movie screens. For more information, visit: www.byexperience.net.
About Public Radio International®
Celebrated as a driver of innovation in public media, PRI was founded in 1983 to diversify and expand the content available on public platforms, enabling U.S. listeners to "hear a different voice™" and to connect with one another and the larger world. PRI leads by identifying critical but unmet content needs and partnering with producers, stations, digital networks and funders to develop multi-platform resources to meet those needs. By creating an environment in which innovation can thrive, PRI supports the creation and distribution of content that would otherwise be unavailable and that brings new voices, global journalism and cultural perspectives to the American public. PRI content is available on pri.org and mobile apps, via podcasts and streaming, and is broadcast on 837 public radio stations as well as Sirius XM Satellite Radio. Over 16 million people access PRI content each week through these sources. For more information, visit PRI.org.
NCM Fathom Events Samuel Threadgill, 303-957-1749 [email protected] or Berger Brands for This American Life and BY Experience Chris Berger, 612-481-3313 [email protected] or Scoop Marketing for NCM Fathom Events Erik Stein, 818-761-6100 [email protected]
Source: National CineMedia
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