Ira Glass

The Smith Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Las Vegas is celebrating its first birthday and is looking ahead with a schedule of diverse productions. The center , which opened March 10, 2012, hosted more than 450 performances during its first year, many of them in its acclaimed Reynolds Hall. The coming weeks illustrate the variety of acts being booked by Las Vegas ' new showcase for the arts. Highlights include: An evening with Burt Bacharach (March 28)

Ira Glass created and hosts "This American Life," a public radio show that has a devoted following of listeners who tune in weekly to hear its real-life stories, which are alternately hilarious, poignant, disturbing, haunting or a combination of several of the above.

Is the ecstasy and agony of Mike Daisey finally over? It's been nearly a year since the monologuist was first feted, then pilloried, for his solo play "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs. " This mix of tech-geek autobiography and labor exposé was running at New York's Public Theater in January 2012 when the popular public-radio show "This American Life" aired a scalding excerpt in which Daisey described brutal working conditions he said he witnessed at Foxconn, a Chinese plant that manufactures Apple products.

Struggling to compete with big-budget movies at the box office, indie films are increasingly finding a lucrative niche in one of Hollywood's fastest-growing markets: video on demand. The number of films released in theaters and video on demand at the same time nearly doubled from 2009 to 2011 and is projected to jump about 30% this year, to 68. The dark comedy "Bachelorette" exemplifies the trend: It has grossed about $5.5 million from video-on-demand (or VOD) rentals since premiering in August, compared with a paltry $418,000 earned in theaters.

MOVIES "This American Life" is a staple of your weekend NPR menu, and now you can move your "driveway moment" to an actual theater. Host Ira Glass joins David Sedaris, David Rakoff, Tig Notaro, the band OK Go and many others for this simulcast of live storytelling performances, music, animation and other exquisitely tasteful programming. 8 p.m. Thu. at various local theaters. See thisamericanlife.org for full schedule.

"Afghan Star," "Anvil! The Story of Anvil," "Diary of a Times Square Thief," "Food, Inc." and "Mugabe and the White African" are the nominees for the International Documentary Assn.'s 2009 IDA Awards. The award will be handed out at a ceremony at the Directors Guild of America on Dec. 4 hosted by Ira Glass of "This American Life." Nominations also were announced Thursday in short film and limited series categories. The documentary awards honor filmmakers and film journalists who "displayed conspicuous bravery in the pursuit of truth."

Portland, Ore. April 21-23: Wordstock brings Gore Vidal, Dave Eggers, Joyce Carol Oates, R.L. Stine and more than 200 other writers to 10 reading stages in the Oregon Convention Center. The Night of Literary Feasts on April 21 has writers participating in private dinner fundraisers. April 22, adults and kids can hear and meet their favorite authors and browse for their next favorite title at the book fair, while aspiring writers can learn from published authors during workshops.

Ira Glass Host of "This American Life," on Public Radio International "I'm a big fan of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer.' I was introduced to it through my girlfriend, and now, because of that, I'm watching 'Firefly' [both are from writer-producer Joss Whedon]. Most of the people in my office watch 'Buffy' on a level that's geeky. I'm at the level where I can sing you the words to the musical they performed last season. I just started watching 'Alias.'