Stalking a Great Story: Five More This American Life Tales We Want to See on Stage

Good theater boils down to one thing: a great story, told well. Since 1995, nerd heartthrob Ira Glass and his team have been unearthing compelling stories from around the country for the uber-popular radio show This American Life. It's where many people first heard The Santaland Diaries, David Sedaris' hilarious tale of working as a Macy's elf that was later adapted into a hit off-Broadway show. Now, another TAL tale is making the leap to the stage, though this one is as grim as it is gripping. Stalking the Bogeyman, opening September 29 at New World Stages, is based on the true story of David Holthouse, a successful journalist secretly planning a brutal revenge on the man who had violently raped him 25 years earlier. With hundreds of sensational stories all in one place, it's amazing that more TAL tales haven't gotten the dramatic treatment. So listen up, playwrights and composers! Below, we have a few suggestions for stories that we'd love to see on stage.

"21 Chump Street"
From Episode 528: The Radio Drama Episode
When Lin-Manuel Miranda writes a musical, you make it a musical, dangit! For TAL's live radio drama episode at BAM, Miranda took his Tony-winning talent and turned out 21 Chump Street: The Musical, about a cop who went undercover in a Florida high school to try and track down drug dealers. When a classmate gets a crush on her (like teenage boys do), he ends up doing things he shouldn't to impress this new girl at school, and it gets him in serious trouble. Puppy love! Prom dates! Police sting operations! A recipe for musical success.

"Runaway"
From Episode 75: Kindness of Strangers
Get this: In 1940, a 14-year-old Jewish boy named Jack Geiger knocked on the door of a Harlem apartment, and asked the pioneering black actor Canada Lee if he could move in. (They'd previously met backstage at a Broadway production of Native Son.) Lee said yes (?!) and Geiger spent a year hanging out with many of the major figures of the Harlem renaissance, like poet Langston Hughes, author Richard Wright and politician Adam Clayton Powell. Like Moss Hart in Act One, Geiger struck out to discover what he wanted of the world, and it changed the trajectory of his life forever. Plus, with all that vibrant history to plumb it's a colorful bio-play waiting to happen.

"Tom Girls"
From Episode 374: Somewhere Out There
The stars of one of TAL's most moving stories are Lilly and Thomasina, who are eight years old and best friends, even though they live across the country from one another. They were both born as boys but knew early on they were meant to live as girls, and meet at a conference in Seattle on transgender parenting. They immediately hit it off, delighted to finally have someone to really talk to. Even though the parents are a major part of the story, this play wouldn't be a God of Carnage-esque dramatic bloodbath, but a timely, tender story of unconditional love and personal acceptance.

"Inside the Romance Industry"
From Episode 247: What is this Thing?
A TAL reporter went to the annual convention of the Romance Writers of America, and it was everything and nothing like you'd expect it to be—and perfect for a musical. Hotel ballrooms full of women pitching stories about swarthy pirates and sexy vampires sounds like hilarious song material to us, and of course it's a genius setting for romance. Maybe the newbie writer trying to sell her book falls for the junior editor at a romance novel publishing company? There's something of a How to Succeed vibe to this one—but instead of wickets, the business here is loooooove.

"Team Spirit in the Sky"
From Episode 378: This I Used to Believe
At a Christian high school in Texas, a football coach started urging his team's fans to cheer for the opposing team, who were bussed in from a local youth correctional facility. And they did. There were some crises of faith, but they did. If that's not uplifting, we don't know what is. We're seeing football practice dance numbers, we're seeing an action-packed big game, we're seeing heartfelt numbers about achieving your dreams and a player who wants to win at any cost—basically we're seeing Bring It On meets Friday Night Lights. You know you want it.