Tag Archives: Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

I’ve already written at length about my reaction to the news that Mike Daisey — a stage storyteller whose work I’ve admired for years — fabricated the most emotionally resonant elements of his tech-manufacturing expose monologue The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs. He’s bringing the show back to the place of its birth, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, for a three-week engagement starting next week.

I spent a vacation week from my day job writing about him again. It was not at all restful. It did not help that my usual and customary stress valves — running and boxing — were both severely impaired by a record-pummeling 11-day heatwave here in Our Nation’s Capital that included the hottest day ever recorded in Washington, DC: 105 degrees Fahrenheit on July 7, if you care. On the plus side, my electricity stayed on.

But I digress! My cover story in this week’s Washington City Paper does some chin-scratching about Woolly’s decision to stage Daisey’s controversial show again, and attempts to explain why I think Daisey remains an important artist despite the poor decisions he made during his perilous crossing of the artist-activist Rubicon. I’ll take what he says on stage from now on with a grain of salt, but then I always did. The main thing is I’ll keep showing up to hear what he says. Continue reading →