Fans of Public Radio’s Ira Glass and his program “This American Life” can watch him perform live onstage via high definition satellite at a screening at Breckenridge Village Cinema Thursday, April 23, sponsored by KUAR-FM 89. Tickets for the 7 p.m. show are $20 and are available online at Fandango.

This will be the third year that KUAR has hosted a screening of “This American Life” in Little Rock. Just like in the weekly radio broadcast, Glass and several popular show contributors will perform humorous and profound stories, all centered on a theme.

The April 23 lineup will include popular “This American Life” regulars Dan Savage, Starlee Kine, Mike Birbiglia, David Rakoff, and Dave Hill, plus a cartoon by Chris Ware, additional visuals by Arthur Jones, and a special musical performance by Joss Whedon, creator of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”

Together they will perform a two-hour, live stage version of the radio show, centered on the theme “Return to the Scene of the Crime.” The live simulcast will originate from the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts at New York University.

“Our listeners really enjoyed getting together in their own communities to experience our show in a new way,” Glass said. “The live cinema transmission has been surprisingly effective. We were flooded with emails asking for us to do it again. Last year was mostly a sneak preview of stories from our television show. This year we’re excited to do a full-on stage performance of the radio show.”

The first screening in 2007 was also a sneak peek of the show’s premier on the Showtime cable network. When the network first approached Glass about turning “This American Life” into a TV show, he couldn’t imagine it and turned them down.

“We basically said ‘no’ for a year and a half,” Glass recalled. “I didn’t see any positive aspect of being on camera. I’m 49 years old. I don’t like looking at myself. And after a certain point, no one likes looking at themselves on television. There’s just no up side.”

Fortunately for his fans, Glass relented and they can gather for a surreal evening of fun hosted by staff members of UALR Public Radio’s KUAR. For more information about this and other events, visit KUAR online.