What drives Mr. Daisey? Monologues that spark discussion
IN his 12 years as a monologuist, Mike Daisey has drawn comparisons to the likes of David Sedaris and the late Spalding Gray for his often humorous, often controversial, always thought-provoking solo performances.
But he’s attracted some more creative associations as well, such as “a cross between Noam Chomsky and Jack Black,” “Jackie Gleason meets Kafka” (his favorite) and . . .
” . . . the love child of Chris Farley and Susan Sontag,” says Daisey with a laugh. “You know they’re trying to say something nice, but oh, God, it sounds horrible!”
Southern California can make its own comparisons starting Friday, when Daisey presents his one-man show “Monopoly!” at the Orange County Performing Artscenter. Touching upon inventor Nikola Tesla, Microsoft, Wal-Mart, the titular board game and his own experiences, Daisey weaves many shades of corporate rule into a vibrant extemporaneous narrative.
Born in New Jersey and raised in northern Maine, Daisey got involved in the experimental theater scene when he moved to Seattle after college. There, Daisey was spurred to perform his own material by himself, without a script -- only an outline to guide his way.
“I feel that written words are dead words, and they’re not the same as words in performance,” he explains. “It feels like there’s something disingenuous about taking thoughts and stripping them down and writing them down, only to then resurrect them on stage and spend your energies pretending that they’re new, through an act of acting. . . . I’m trying to create these monologues that strip down as many layers of artifice between myself and the audience so that we can have as honest a communication possible.”
Daisey’s breakthrough came with his third monologue, “21 Dog Years: Doing Time @ Amazon.com,” an inside look at the dot-com boom that was later expanded into a book.
The national attention brought Daisey to New York in 2001, where the 35-year-old still lives with his wife and director, Jean-Michele Gregory.
Presently, he’s working on a second book, and his latest piece, “If You See Something Say Something” -- about “security and what we’re willing to sacrifice for it” -- will debut later this year.
And while his shows often address divisive issues, Daisey says he resists taking sides: “My job is to tell the story that’s as evocative and as powerful as I can manage to tell. And it’s very important that I don’t let my job become dogma, or pedantry. My job isn’t to tell people how to live,” he maintains.
“There’s a very interesting disconnect between what we say we value and what we actually value. That, to me, is interesting to talk about -- how things actually function versus our ideals of how we think they ought to function. . . . It’s an opportunity to open the doorway to a discussion.”
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‘MONOPOLY!’
WHERE: Samueli Theater, Orange County Performing Artscenter, 615 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa
WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday
PRICE: $25
INFO: (714) 556-2787; www.ocpac.org
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