Daisey Returns to Woolly with THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY OF STEVE JOBS, Opens 4/21

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company continues its 31st Season by welcoming back critically acclaimed storyteller Mike Daisey with his new show, The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, directed by New York powerhouse Jean-Michele Gregory. The show runs from March 21 - April 10; Wednesdays - Saturdays at 8pm, Saturdays and Sundays at 3pm, with Pay-What-You-Can performances March 21st and March 22nd at 8pm.

In The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, Mike Daisey pulls back the curtain veiling America's most mysterious technology icon. With a wickedly funny tale of pride, beauty, lust, and industrial design, Daisey illuminates the war-from China to Silicon Valley-over how we see our world, and the human price we pay for our high-tech toys.

Mike Daisey has been called "the master storyteller" and "one of the finest solo performers of his generation" by The New York Times. His fearless forays into undesirable places (such as Foxconn factories in China, or the Trinity atomic bomb site in New Mexico) have resulted in countless performances on five continents, the Bay Area Critics Circle Award, four Seattle Times Footlight Awards, the Sloan Foundation's Galileo Prize, and a MacDowell Fellowship. He and his wife and director Jean-Michele Gregory have collaborated on his groundbreaking monologues (including Woolly's If You See Something Say Something, The Last Cargo Cult, and How Theater Failed America) for ten years.

Woolly Artistic Director Howard Shalwitz says, "Mike Daisey builds his new monologue around a huge contradiction. On the one hand, he absolutely loves the beauty and perfection of Apple products and depends on them in his life. On the other, he has learned firsthand how they are made, and it is anything but beautiful. The story of how Mike came by this hard-won knowledge, and of his lifelong obsession with all-things-Steve, is by turns harrowing and hilarious. I'm honored to continue building Woolly's relationship with Mike Daisey and Jean-Michele Gregory - with this provocative work that speaks directly to our lives and issues in Washington, DC."

In the summer of 2010, Mike Daisey performed The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs at Woolly Mammoth for the first time. Since that "birthing" of the monologue, The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs has been developed both nationally and internationally. Moving from the East to West Coast, the show was workshopped last August at Seattle Repertory Theatre, followed by performances for students in Hyderabad, India which included a workshop for young actors and was sponsored by the Consulate General of the United States. After much anticipation The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs opened to rave reviews at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in January of this year.

The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs will feature Mike Daisey (If You See Something Say Something, How Theater Failed America, The Last Cargo Cult) and scenic and lighting design by Seth Reiser.

The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs
Created and performed by Mike Daisey
Directed by Jean-Michele Gregory

CAST

Mike Daisey...................................................................................................Himself

CREATIVE TEAM
Writer and Creator.......................................................................................Mike Daisey
Director........................................................................................Jean-Michele Gregory
Scenic Design.............................................................................................Seth Reiser
Lighting Design............................................................................................Seth Reiser
Properties.............................................................................................Jennifer Sheetz
Dramaturg............................................................................................Miriam Weisfeld

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mike Daisey's monologues include last season's The Last Cargo Cult, critically acclaimed If You See Something Say Something, the controversial How Theater Failed America, the six-hour epic Great Men of Genius, the unrepeatable series All Stories Are Fiction, and the international sensation 21 Dog Years. Over the last decade he has brought his work to venues including The Public Theater, the Cherry Lane Theater, the Barrow Street Theatre, Yale Repertory Theater, the Spoleto Festival, American Repertory Theatre, Center Theater Group, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the Noorderzon Festival, the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, Perseverance Theatre, Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art, Intiman Theatre, the Under the Radar Festival, Melbourne's Victorian College of the Arts, Performance Space 122, and many more. He's been a guest on the Late Show with David Letterman, as well as a commentator and contributor to Studio 360, WIRED, Vanity Fair, Slate, Salon, WNYC and the BBC. His first film, Layover, was shown at the Cannes Film Festival, and a feature film of his monologue If You See Something Say Something is currently in post production. His first book, 21 Dog Years: A Cubedweller's Tale, was published by the Free Press and his second book, Rough Magic, a collected anthology of his monologues, will be published in 2011.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Jean-Michele Gregory works as a director, editor, and dramaturg, focusing on unscripted, extemporaneous theatrical works that live in the moment they are told. Working primarily with solo artists, for the last decade she has collaborated with husband Mike Daisey, directing at venues across the globe including The Public Theater, the Barrow Street Theatre, the Cherry Lane Theater, Center Theater Group, the Under the Radar Festival, Yale Repertory Theatre, Chicago's Museum for Contemporary Art, American Repertory Theatre, the Spoleto Festival, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the Noorderzon Festival, Intiman Theatre, ACT Theatre, Performance Space 122, the TBA Festival, and many more. She also works with New York storyteller Martin Dockery (Wanderlust, The Surprise) and the Seattle-based performer and writer SuzAnne Morrison (Yoga Bitch, Your Own Personal Alcatraz). Her productions have received three Seattle Times Footlight Awards, the Bay Area Critics Circle Award, and nominations from the Drama League and Outer Critics Circle.

For detailed biographical information about the cast and creative team of
The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, please visit www.woollymammoth.net.

BLOGS AND PODCASTS
Throughout the run of The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, Woolly will produce a hilarious and engaging series of blogs and podcasts that will highlight the impact of technology on our daily lives. Woolly blog posts will appear intermittently with podcasts each week, detailing the life of theatre and the show within and beyond the Woolly community. The Woolly Blog can be found at woollymammothblog.com, and all Radio Woolly podcasts are available for download on iTunes.

POST-SHOW DISCUSSIONS
Join community members, artists, and scholars following the select performances of The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs.
Wednesday, March 30th
Sunday, April 3rd
Thursday, April 7th

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs runs March 21, 2011 - April 10, 2011; Wednesdays - Saturdays at 8pm, Saturdays and Sundays at 3pm. Monday, March 21st & Tuesday, March 22nd will be Pay-What-You-Can performances and will begin at 8pm.

TICKETS
Tickets for The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs start at $40, and can be purchased through the Woolly Mammoth Box Office at 202-393-3939, online at www.woollymammoth.net, or in person at 641 D Street, NW (7th & D). For directions and parking information, please visit www.woollymammoth.net.

ABOUT WOOLLY
Now in its 31st Season, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company continues to hold its place at the leading edge of American theatre. Acknowledged as "the hottest theatre company in town" (The Washington Post), "known for its productions of innovative new plays" (The New York Times), Woolly Mammoth is a national leader in the development of new plays, and one of the best known and most influential mid-sized theatres in America.

Woolly Mammoth is a selected participant in EmcArts' Innovation Lab for the Performing Arts,
a program generously funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

 

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