Actors Theatre Opens 2012-13 Season With THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY OF STEVE JOBS, 9/21

Apple junkie Mike Daisey's controversial first-person retelling of stories from the Foxconn factory in China where most of the world's electronic gadgets are produced, The Agony and The Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, will open Actors Theatre's 2012-13 season, Sept. 21 to Oct. 7, on Stage West of the Herberger Theater Center, 222 E. Monroe.

The New York Times reported that "anyone with a cellphone and a moral center should see" The Agony and The Ecstasy of Steve Jobs.  Even Steve Wozniak, Apple co-founder, told the newspaper that "I will never be the same after seeing that show."

Directed by Matthew Wiener, acclaimed Valley actor and director Ron May, who also is artistic director for Stray Cat Theatre, takes on Daisey's one-man story-teller role.

            Daisey and his play were the focus of recent controversy when National Public Radio's Ira Glass, the executive producer and host of This American Life, issued a retraction of a 39-minute piece about The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs indicating that it contained "significant fabrications."  The story aired in January and became its most popular podcast with 888,000 downloads. 

            "We're horrified to have let something like this onto public radio," Glass said.  Actors Theatre will be staging Daisey's revised script which addresses the issues raised during the controversy.

            Nevertheless, even with the hits on Daisey's credibility and integrity, audiences were enthralled by his stories.

Single tickets go on sale August 15.

The season follows with four insightful and compelling plays.

            Michael Hollinger's Opus (Nov. 2-18) is the story of a world-class string quartet whose musical genius goes off his medication and becomes completely erratic.  When he's fired, the group takes a chance on a gifted but relatively inexperienced young woman who must guide the quartet in preparing for a performance of a grueling Beethoven masterpiece to be televised in a White House ceremony. Their rehearsal room becomes a pressure-cooker as passions rise, personalities clash and The Players are forced to confront the ephemeral nature of their life's work.

            The Fox on the Fairway (Jan. 25-Feb. 10) is the newest play from the acclaimed author of Lend Me a Tenor and Moon Over Buffalo that takes audiences on a hilarious romp filled with mistaken identities, slamming doors and over-the-top romantic shenanigans in a madcap adventure about love, life and one man's eternal love affair with golf.

            Mad Men alumnus Keith Huff earned the 2008 Jeff Award for Best New Work for the original Chicago production of A Steady Rain (March 22-April 7) that featured Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig on Broadway.  The play follows Chicago police officers, longtime partners and best friends Joey and Denny who have always had each other's backs until an unfortunate decision tests their loyalty and pits them against one another in a harrowing tale of guilt, fear and corruption.

            The season will close with Good People (May 3-19), a critical and audience hit when it debuted on Broadway earlier this year. The story focuses on Margie Walsh, a single mother with a special-needs daughter laid off from her job in a dollar store in a tough economy.  Margie leaves the familiar surroundings of South Boston to find opportunity in the suburbs, but finds herself wildly out of her element and facing the question:  is opportunity granted or earned?  Nominated for a 2011 Tony Award for Best Play, a review in Varietyincluded the comment:  "If Good People isn't a hit…there is no justice in the land."

            Season tickets can be purchased online (www.actorstheatrephx.org) at prices ranging from $175 - $195 for the full five-play lineup to $140 - $156 for a four-show package, $105 - $117 for three shows and $156 for FlexPasses. 

Actors Theatre performs in the intimate Stage West (300 seats) at the Herberger Theater Center in downtown Phoenix.

            For more information, visit www.actorstheatrephx.org.