Ira Glass from “This American Life” live at the Alys Stephens Center

UAB’s Alys Stephens Center will present Ira Glass, host and producer of “This American Life,” at 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 29, 2011, in the center, 1200 10th Ave. South. Tickets are $57, $47, $37; $20 for student tickets. Fans also can enjoy a special $125 VIP package with a meet-and-greet with Glass.

    January 4, 2011

Ira Glass. Download image.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - UAB's Alys Stephens Center will present Ira Glass, host and producer of "This American Life," at 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 29, 2011, in the center, 1200 10th Ave. South. Tickets are $57, $47, $37; $20 for student tickets. Fans also can enjoy a special $125 VIP package with a meet-and-greet with Glass. Call 205-975-2787 or go to www.AlysStephens.org.

Look under the hood of Public Radio International's "This American Life" as Glass shares great stories from the show. Glass will recreate his radio show onstage with music, quotes and sound, and he will dissect the process of creating a compelling narrative - a must-see for fans or for those who would just like more insight on how to tell better stories.

"This American Life," produced by Chicago Public Radio, is heard locally on 90.3 WBHM. The show had its premiere on Chicago's public radio station WBEZ in late 1995 and now is heard each week by more than 1.8 million listeners on more than 500 public radio stations. The podcast of the program is often the most popular podcast in the country, according to the show's web site, www.thisamericanlife.org.

Under Glass's editorial direction, "This American Life" has won the highest honors for broadcasting and journalistic excellence, including several Peabody and DuPont-Columbia awards, according to his press biography. American Journalism Review declared the show is "at the vanguard of a journalistic revolution." It has won critical acclaim and attracted continuous national media attention during the years. In 2001, Time magazine named Glass "Best Radio Host in America." In 2009, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting awarded Glass the Edward R. Murrow Award for outstanding contributions to public radio. Glass started working in public radio in 1978, when he was 19, as an intern at National Public Radio's headquarters in Washington, D.C. During the next 17 years, he worked on nearly every NPR news show and did nearly every production job they had: tape-cutter, desk assistant, newscast writer, editor, producer, reporter and substitute host.

Sponsors for this show are WBHM, The Birmingham News, the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Viva Health

About UAB's Alys Stephens Center

The Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center, part of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, is one of the Southeast's premier performing arts centers, presenting the world's best artists in music, dance, theatre, comedy, film, and family entertainment. The ASC's mission is to be a place where the entire community experiences and engages in the arts. The ASC is home to ArtPlay, a new arts education center, as well as UAB departments of Theatre and Music and the Alabama Symphony Orchestra.