THE AGONY & THE ECTASY OF STEVE JOBS Transcript Available For Download, 2/21

Monologist Mike Daisey will make his critically acclaimed one man show THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY OF STEVE JOBS available free of charge, without royalty, under an open license to anyone who wishes to perform or adapt the work in any way around the world. Beginning Tuesday, February 21st a transcript of the monologue will be available for download on Daisey's website, http://mikedaisey.com.

THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY OF STEVE JOBS explores the exploitation of Chinese workers through the lens of the rise and fall and rise of Steve Jobs, Apple, industrial design, and the human price we are all willing to pay for our technology. It has been performed in 18 cities, been seen live by over 75,000 people, and an adaptation of the show for NPR's This American Life quickly became the most downloaded episode in that radio show's history.

AGONY/ECSTASY has become a real tool for social change by transforming the national conversation about overseas labor. It has sparked protest, including a petition with nearly 250,000 signatures calling for Apple to protect the Chinese workers who make their products, and has led Apple-for the first time in its history-to release a list of its suppliers and agree to outside auditing of its supply chain. The release of the transcript, originally scheduled for Monday, February 13, was postponed due to Daisey's involvement in activities surrounding the uproar.

Mike Daisey says, "The response to the announcement that the transcript is going to be available under an open license has been overwhelming-we've already heard from hundreds of theater artists and organizations around the world, in eleven different countries. I'm delighted to be giving this work away for free to so many who want to be part of this, and to find their voices to tell this story in their own ways around the world. On Tuesday this story will be where it belongs-it will belong to everyone."

Daisey is currently performing THE AGONY AND ECSTASY OF STEVE JOBS in a return engagement at The Public Theater through Sunday, March 18. Performances are Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 7pm, with matinees Saturday and Sunday at 2pm at The Public Theater (425 Lafayette Street). Tickets and information are at http://publictheater.org.

Mike Daisey has groundbreaking monologues which weave together autobiography, gonzo journalism, and unscripted performance to tell hilarious and heartbreaking stories that cut to the bone, exposing secret histories and unexpected connections. His latest work, The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, was called "the best new play of the year" by the Washington Post, and was recognized as one of the year's best theater pieces by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Seattle Times, Seattle Weekly, San Jose Mercury News, and the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

Since his first monologue in 1997, Daisey has created over fifteen monologues, including the critically-acclaimed The Last Cargo Cult, the controversial How Theater Failed America, the twenty-four-hour feat All the Hours in the Day, the unrepeatable series All Stories Are Fiction, the four-part epic Great Men of Genius, and the international sensation 21 Dog Years. Other titles include If You See Something Say Something, Barring the Unforeseen, Invincible Summer, Monopoly!, Tongues Will Wag, I Miss the Cold War, and Teching in India.

He has performed in venues on five continents, ranging from Off-Broadway at The Public Theater to remote islands in the South Pacific, from the Sydney Opera House to an abandoned theater in post-Communist Tajikistan. He's been a guest on Real Time with Bill Maher, the Late Show with David Letterman, as well as a commentator and contributor to the New York Times, This American Life, Harper's Magazine, WIRED, Vanity Fair, Slate, Salon, NPR and the BBC. His first film, Layover, was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 2010, and a feature film of his monologue If You See Something Say Something is currently in post-production. His second book, Rough Magic, a collection of his monologues, will be published in 2012. He has been nominated for the Outer Critics Circle Award, two Drama League Awards, and is the recipient of the Bay Area Critics Circle Award, five Seattle Times Footlight Awards, the Sloan Foundation's Galileo Prize, and a MacDowell Fellowship.

Jean-Michele Gregory works as a director, editor, and dramaturg, focusing on extemporaneous theatrical works that live in the moment they are told. Working primarily with solo artists, for over a decade she has been Mike Daisey's chief collaborator, directing his monologues at venues across the globe including The Public Theater, the Sydney Opera House, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, the Spoleto Festival, T:BA Festival, Under the Radar Festival, and many more. She has also directed New York storyteller Martin Dockery (Wanderlust, The Surprise), author and performer SuzAnne Morrison (Yoga Bitch, Optimism), and is at work on a new piece with Seattle-based actress Morgan Rowe (Part of the Fiasco). Her productions have received the Bay Area Critics Circle Award (Great Men of Genius), nominations from the Drama League and Outer Critics Circle (If You See Something Say Something), and five Seattle Times Footlight Awards (21 Dog Years, The Ugly American, Monopoly!, The Last Cargo Cult, The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs).

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