Public Theater Sets Dates for Daisey's The Last Cargo Cult

By Adam Hetrick
28 Oct 2009

The Public Theater has announced dates of production for monologist Mike Daisey's The Last Cargo Cult, which will make its New York premiere Dec. 3.

Daisey's frequent collaborator Jean-Michele Gregory directs the Public engagement that officially opens Dec. 7 and plays a limited run through Dec. 13 in the Newman Theater.

"Mike Daisey is funny, fearless and brilliant," Public Theater artistic director Oskar Eustis said in a statement. "He's one of those rare performers who is as fascinated by the world around him as he is by the world inside him, and he creates evenings that are delightful and genuinely thought-provoking. He's rapidly becoming one of the seminal theatre artists of his generation, and we are delighted he has a home at The Public Theater."

The Last Cargo Cult, according to the Public, features Daisey recounting "the story of his journey to a remote South Pacific island whose people worship America and its cargo. This narrative is woven against a searing examination of the international financial crisis that gripped the globe at the same moment. Confronting the financial system that dominates our world, Daisey wrestles with the largest questions of what the collapse means, and what it can tell us about our deepest values. Part adventure story and part memoir, he explores each culture to unearth a human truth between the seemingly primitive and achingly modern."

The Public production has set design by Peter Ksander and lighting design by Russell H. Champa.

The Last Cargo Cult began a national tour Aug. 1 in Portland, OR at the Wieden+Kennedy Atrium. Dates following the Public engagement include the Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington, DC (Jan. 11-Feb. 7, 2010); The WaterTower Theatre in Dallas, TX (March 4-8, 2010); The Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, GA (March 19-April 11, 2010); and the Victory Gardens Theatre in Chicago, IL (April 26-May 9, 2010).

Mike Daisey's monologues include If You See Something, Say Something, How Theater Failed America, Invincible Summer, Monopoly!, Great Men of Genius, The Ugly American, I Miss the Cold War, Wasting Your Breath and Stories From the Atlantic Night Cafe. His first film, "Layover," is being distributed by Lars von Trier's Zentropa, and a film of If You See Something… will be released next year.

For tickets phone (212) 967-7555 or visit PublicTheater.

The Public Theater is located at 425 Lafayette Street in Manhattan.