Thursday, May 10 – This American Life Live! 8 p.m. various theaters fathomevents.com $20
Considering the recent debacle over the immensely popular NPR program “This American Life,” hosted and edited by Ira Glass, and their retracted story about working conditions at Apple factories in China – a wrenching, nearly disillusioning disaster that came down to a question of journalistic vs. theatrical intent – now may not be the best time for Glass and Co. to trot out a category-busting movie event that happily blurs the lines of the medium. But the live broadcast from the Skirball Center at New York University includes stories by David Rakoff, Tig Notaro and Glynn Washington, a short film by Mike Birbiglia (with whom Glass co-wrote and produced an upcoming feature film about a mediocre comedian – say, what’s blurrier than blurry?), dance, animation and the band OK Go, so really, who needs clear-cut radio-journalism rules, anyway? (Mike Daisey does, of course, but you can almost see where he had trouble defining his parameters, right? Maybe hold the frivolity for a while, Mr. Glass.) – Justin Strout
