Woolly Mammoth Presents AMERICAN UTOPIAS, 3/25-4/21
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company will welcome back the critically acclaimed team of Mike Daisey (creator and performer) and Jean-Michele Gregory (director) and their hilariously riveting American Utopias, March 25-April 21, 2013.
Mike Daisey takes us all over the map to pursue the story: from Disney World and its nostalgic theme park perfection, to the drug-fueled anarchic excesses of Burning Man, to Zuccotti Park, where in the unlikeliest place the Occupy Wall Street movement was born. Gun-play, giant glittery dildos, raving animatronic presidents, and brutal police actions come together to paint the landscape of our new American dream.
American Utopias began at Woolly last October and, since its inception, has been presented in sold-out runs in New York, Boston, Chicago, and beyond. The Chicago Sun-Times calls American Utopias, "enthralling and supremely theatrical". The Boston Globe raves, "Hilarious, raunchy, and at times profound." And, The New York Times has called Mike Daisey, "the master storyteller-one of the finest solo performers of his generation."
"Mike Daisey has developed a special relationship with Washington audiences by always challenging us to make unexpected connections and to see our world in new ways," says Woolly Artistic Director Howard Shalwitz. "American Utopias asks how our nation, which began with Utopian zeal, continues to nourish or to squash the Utopian impulse today. I'm honored to welcome Mike and Jean-Michele back for their fifth show at Woolly-one of their most captivating."
"It is such a pleasure to return to Woolly with one of our most provocative pieces," said Mike Daisey. "We're delighted to bring a story to our nation's capital that asks dangerous questions about what it means to publicly assemble, how we negotiate with power, and how we tell ourselves the story of the society we want to live in."
Woolly Mammoth's Season 33, themed My Roots, My Revolution, includes a group of unforgettable characters who choose whether to embrace their legacies, run from them, or invent a whole new future. Works include Kristoffer Diaz's The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (Sept 3-Oct 7), Mia Chung's You for Me for You (Nov 5-Dec 2), Danai Gurira's The Convert (Feb 13-Mar 10), Mike Daisey's American Utopias (Mar 25-Apr 21), Aaron Posner's Stupid f-ing Bird (May 27-June 23), and The Second City's America All Better!! (July 9-Aug 4). This holiday season featured Shenoah Allen and Mark Chavez's The Pajama Men: In The Middle of No One (Dec 11-Jan 6).
