CHICAGO.- In a tale of paranoia, politics, and paradox, master storyteller and humorist Mike Daisey’s incisive new monologue takes aim at “homeland security.” Armed by a wry sense of self-deprecation and keen intelligence, Daisey builds his work extemporaneously during his performances, creating a unique show each time. The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Chicago, presents Mike Daisey: If You See Something Say Something, at the MCA Stage, Friday-Sunday, October 10-12, 2008.
Daisey is known for weaving together multiple narrative threads, which include personal stories, historical digressions, and philosophical ruminations. For If You See Something Say Something he blends together the history of the Patriot Act and the Department of Homeland Security; the untold story of neutron bomb inventor, Sam Cohen; his own sharp observations of a trip to the site of the first bomb test in White Sands, New Mexico; and childhood memories of his personal fascination with the atomic bomb.
Marked by searing wit and frank authenticity, Daisey performs each of his shows unscripted and unrehearsed. With only his mass of memories and a skeletal outline to aid him, he molds insightful and precise riffs that intersect in the most unexpected ways. Directed by Daisey’s wife, Jean-Michele Gregory, the world premiere performance of If You See Something Say Something recently played at Washington DC’s Capital Fringe Festival and enjoyed an extended, sold-out run at Woolly Mammoth Theatre.
Mike Daisey has been called “one of the finest solo performers of his generation” by The New York Times for his many monologues, which include How Theater Failed America, Invincible Summer, Monopoly!, TRUTH, The Ugly American, I Miss the Cold War, Great Men of Genius, Wasting Your Breath, and 21 Dog Years. Over the past decade he has performed at the Public Theater, American Repertory Theatre, the Spoleto Festival, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the Cherry Lane Theatre, Yale Repertory Theater, the Noorderzon Festival, Portland Center Stage, Intiman, Performance Space 122, and many more. He has been a guest on the Late Show with David Letterman and his work has been heard on the BBC, NPR, and the National Lampoon Radio Hour. He is currently a commentator for PRI’s Studio 360 and NPR’s Day to Day, and a contributor to WIRED, Slate, Salon, Vanity Fair, and Radar magazine. After the success of his first book, 21 Dog Years: A Cubedweller’s Tale, about his time working at Amazon.com, he is writing a second book, Great Men of Genius, about the lives of Bertolt Brecht, P.T. Barnum, Nikola Tesla, and L. Ron Hubbard. He has been the recipient of the Bay Area Critics Circle Award, two Seattle Times Footlight Awards, and a MacDowell Fellowship.
Director Jean-Michele Gregory works with solo performers and writers to create extemporaneous works based on autobiographical material. Over the past decade she has directed Mike Daisey’s monologues at venues across the nation, including the Public Theater, American Repertory Theatre, the Cherry Lane, PS 122, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, ACT Theatre, Portland Stage Company, the Spoleto Festival, and many more. She recently directed Martin Dockery’s Wanderlust at the Barrow Group Theatre, and Suzanne Morrison’s Yoga Bitch at London’s Theatre 503 and Oxford’s Burton Taylor. Gregory is writing a memoir about her family’s exodus from eastern Poland.
