Mike Daisey

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Mike Daisey (b. 1973 ) is an American monologist, author, and actor best known for his full-length extemporaneous monologues. The New York Times said about his work: "What distinguishes him from most solo performers is how elegantly he blends personal stories, historical digressions and philosophical ruminations. He has the curiosity of a highly literate dilettante and a preoccupation with alternative histories, secrets large and small, and the fuzzy line where truth and fiction blur. Mr. Daisey’s greatest subject is himself."^[1]

His most famous work "21 Dog Years" is an account of life as an Amazon.com employee during the Dot-com boom. Since that time he has created monologues about Nikola Tesla, L. Ron Hubbard, the history of the New York transit system, Wal-Mart and a variety of other topics, weaving together personal events from his own life alongside historical fact. He lives with his director and collaborator, Jean-Michele Gregory, in Brooklyn.

Mike attended Colby College in Waterville, Maine.

[edit] Monologues

TRUTH {the heart is a million little pieces above all things} (2006)

A monologue about James Frey, Oprah, lying and telling the truth. Ran Off-Broadway in New York City at Ars Nova.

Great Men of Genius (2006)

Four interlocking monologues about Bertolt Brecht, P.T. Barnum, Nikola Tesla, and L. Ron Hubbard which has been produced at Galapagos Art Space in New York City and the Capitol Hill Arts Center in Seattle. It will appear this year at Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

Invincible Summer (2005)

Invincible Summer is about the history of the New York City transit system, loss and democracy in our time. It has been produced at the Public Theater, the 2006 Spoleto Festival and will appear this year at Yale Repertory Theatre and American Repertory Theatre. Originally developed at ACT Theatre in Seattle.

Monopoly! (2005)

Monopoly! was developed at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and has been produced at the Ohio Theatre by Les Freres Corbusier, American Repertory Theatre, at the 2006 Spoleto and Bumbershoot Festivals, the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, FirstWorksProv and many more. Among other things, the piece deals with the board game, Nikola Tesla, Bill Gates, Wal-Mart, and the author's home town in Maine.

All Stories Are Fiction (2004)

All Stories Are Fiction premiered at Performance Space 122 where Daisey performed new shows every Monday night for two seasons in 2004 and 2005. For this series Daisey makes no notes of any kind until one hour before the performance, and then creates a show extemporaneously onstage. Theaters that have produced Stories include ACT Theatre, Portland Center Stage, the Maui Cultural Arts Center and the Capitol Hill Arts Center among many more. One of the most ambitious of Daisey's undertakings, there have been 31 different monologues produced in the series so far, each performed only one time for a live audience, and no two containing any of the same material or stories.

The Ugly American (2003)

The Ugly American, a story of theater and its discontents that covers Daisey's life as a student in London torn between two very different worlds, has been produced by ACT Theatre, the 2005 Spoleto Festival, and Berkeley Repertory Theatre after receiving workshops at Manhattan Theatre Club, Intiman Theatre, and the Cape Cod Theatre Project. In 2005 the BBC aired a radio adaptation of this monologue on Radio Four.

21 Dog Years (2001)

21 Dog Years began in Seattle’s Speakeasy Backroom in February of 2001, where it received the attention of media outlets big and small, from Entertainment Weekly to South African Public Radio to David Letterman. Daisey then took the show Off-Broadway where it played for six months at the Cherry Lane Theatre before going to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Intiman Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Portland Center Stage, and numerous engagements around the world. In 2002, the Free Press (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) published Daisey’s book version of the tale under the same name, and in 2004 the BBC aired Daisey’s radio adaptation of his monologue on Radio Four.

I Miss The Cold War (1998)

A monologue about Daisey visiting post-Soviet Warsaw and his father's counseling practice treating post traumatic stress disorder in war veterans, interwoven with the history of his father's time in Vietnam. Originally produced by 24/7 Productions in Seattle in June 1998.

Wasting Your Breath (1997)

A hilarious and dark vision of the Great American Roadtrip, Daisey is crossing the country from Maine to Seattle or bust in a story that jumps back and forth between two autobiographical storylines: a crumbling relationship with a pregnant girlfriend and a cross-country exodus from New England.Originally produced by Open Circle Theater in Seattle in 1997, Wasting Your Breath was remounted and produced at Berkeley Repertory Theater in 2004.

[edit] Further reading

Mike Daisey (2002). 21 Dog Years. Free Press. ISBN 0-7432-2580-5.
Brendan Koerner (2006). The Best of Technology Writing 2006. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-03195-3.

Homepage: http://www.mikedaisey.com/