Daisey, speaking at Georgetown University on March 19.
After it was learned earlier this month that the performance artist Mike Daisey had fabricated several segments of his critically lauded one-man show The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company found itself in a bit of a kerfuffle over the veracity of the monologue, which it incubated in 2010.
And now, for the second time in as many weeks, Daisey will address a Washington audience about how he blurred the lines between journalism and theater in trying to raise awareness of some truly galling labor conditions at the Chinese factories that manufacture iPads, iPhones and Apple’s other devices.
Not only has Daisey long been scheduled to remount the show at Woolly Mammoth later this year, but the theater’s original statement after it was revealed that Daisey had duped fact-checkers at This American Life when presenting his show on the radio, staunchly stood by the performer.
But after listening to This American Life’s episode in which the show issued its first-ever retraction and perhaps considering Daisey’s obnoxiously defensive appearance at Georgetown University last Monday, Woolly Mammoth clarified its position. The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs is still on for a return engagement starting July 17, but it will no longer be presented to audiences as a “work of non-fiction,” as it was per Daisey’s insistence in prior incarnations at Woolly Mammoth, on the radio and during runs in New York and elsewhere.
Shortly after the Daisey controversy broke, Woolly Mammoth announced that Artistic Director Howard Shalwitz and Managing Director Jeffrey Hermann would hold a public forum on what Daisey’s smudging of the facts means for a theater that seeks to spark weighty, worldly conversations as much as it tries to entertain. Now comes word that Daisey himself will join the panel tomorrow night and take questions from the public, Woolly Mammoth announced in a press release today.
For his part, Daisey struck a more apologetic note on his blog yesterday, reflecting on a discussion of The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs by critics and theatermakers in New York last Thursday. Washington Post theater critic Peter Marks was among the panel members. Upon listening to the podcast of the discussion, Daisey wrote:
It made me reflect upon how lucky I have been to call the theater my home all these years, the only place I can imagine this kind of discourse happening. It made me grateful for the great privilege it has been to be able to call myself a storyteller and to have audiences come and listen to what I have to say, to extend their trust to me. I am sorry I was careless with that trust. For this, I would like to apologize to my audiences.
And I would like to apologize to my colleagues in the theater, especially those who work in non-fiction and documentary fields. What you do is essential to our civic discourse. If I have made your path more difficult, or the truth of your work harder for audiences to discern, I am sorry.
I would also like to apologize to the journalists I gave interviews to in which I exaggerated my own experiences. In my drive to tell this story and have it be heard, I lost my grounding. Things came out of my mouth that just weren’t true, and over time, I couldn’t even hear the difference myself.
It’s a visible change from the Daisey who appeared at Georgetown last week and brashly defended his storytelling approach, which he defined as “[trying] to talk about the truth. Not the facts necessarily, but the truth.”
The forum is Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, 641 D Street NW. Tickets are free and can be obtained either at the box office or by phone at (202) 393-3939.
Woolly Mammoth’s press release below:
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company announces that Mike Daisey will appear at the public forum on The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company on Tuesday, March 27 at 7 p.m.
In light of the recent controversy over The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs and the retraction episode on This American Life, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company previously announced that it would host a public forum to engage our patrons in a detailed discussion about Woolly’s decision to go ahead with the scheduled remount of the production. Mike Daisey will now join Artistic Director Howard Shalwitz and Managing Director Jeffrey Herrmann to directly address D.C. audiences and answer their questions. The event is free and open to the public. Please reserve your tickets with the Box Office in person or on the phone (202-393-3939).
To read Woolly Mammoth’s previously released statements on the controversy, visit http://woollymammothblog.com.
To read Mike Daisey’s statements visit http://mikedaisey.blogspot.com/.
The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs is currently scheduled to run July 17-August 5, 2012.
