I’ve been following the career of Mike Daisey via email and YouTube. I watched a video of Invincible City in which a large group of the audience walked out in protest. You can watch it here.
He was, of course, outraged, and asked if any of those who walked out would like to share their problem with him. The whole episode is an amazing work of improvised reality theater!
Aside from that, he’s been gathering raves all over the country and has been called, “the master storyteller” by the New York Times for his powerful, funny, and explosive monologues.
In this new work, If You See Something Say Something, Daisey explores the secret history of the Department of Homeland Security. With this, he weaves together with the untold story of the father of the neutron bomb–called “the perfect capitalist weapon” for the way it kills civilians while leaving cities and industries intact–and a pilgrimage to the Trinity blast site, where atomic fire rewrote history a half a century ago and ushered in an age of American supremacy.
Sound interesting?
Says the PR blurb: This very prolific theater artist “takes us on journey through the dark heart of America, in search of answers for what it means to be secure, and the price we are willing to pay for it.” Here’s a letter from Mike:
Hello All,
I’m delighted to announce our first national tour–we’ll be performing IF YOU SEE SOMETHING SAY SOMETHING, a monologue about the secret history of the Department of Homeland Security, what it means to be secure, and the price we are willing to pay for it.
SANTA FE
Lensic Performing Arts Center
June 26th to 28th
WASHINGTON DC
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
July 11th to 20th
PORTLAND, OR
Time-Based Art Festival
September 11th to 14th
MAINE
Colby College
October 3rd
CHICAGO
Museum of Contemporary Art
October 10th to 12th
NEW YORK
The Public Theater
October 15th to November 30th
We’re ecstatic to birth the monologue next week in Santa Fe, where it will be seen by many who know intimately the work of the Los Alamos weapons labs, and then travel to DC so that those who run the Department of Homeland Security can have it in their backyard. After stops in the Northwest, my alma mater, and Chicago, we’ll end the tour with a full production at the Public Theater