"The master storyteller—one of the finest solo performers of his generation. What distinguishes him from most solo performers is how elegantly he blends personal stories, historical digressions, and philosophical ruminations." —New York Times

Mike Daisey tells the true-life story of his time on a remote South Pacific island whose inhabitants worship America. There he lived with the cult, hunted feral pigs beneath the erupting volcano of Mount Yasur, and learned of the islanders' stories of belief, faith, and sympathetic magic. Part adventure story and part memoir, The Last Cargo Cult weaves these stories with a searing examination of the international financial crisis. From the belief in the infallibility of markets to the ultimate achievement in sympathetic magic—money—Daisey wrestles with what the collapse says about our deepest values. He uses each culture to illuminate the other to find—between the seemingly primitive and the achingly modern—a human answer.

Mike Daisey’s groundbreaking monologues weave together autobiography, gonzo journalism, and unscripted performance to tell hilarious and heartbreaking tales that cut to the bone, exposing secret histories and unexpected connections. A captivating performer, Daisey reenergizes modern performance with the art of great storytelling.

"Mike Daisey has a masterful command of his art. Sitting alone at a simple desk, he is all-powerful for 100 minutes. When he wants you to laugh, you laugh; when he wants you to think, you think—his thoughtful, probing manner sometimes flares into Lewis Black–style outrage. He is at all times exactly himself, yet in subtle ways, he winds up speaking for everyone. He doesn’t draw you into the stories he tells—instead he shows how, perhaps unawares, you have been part of them all along."
—TIME OUT NEW YORK

Performed and Created by Mike Daisey
Directed by Jean-Michele Gregory

Executive Producers: Marty Tuzman, Eileen Heisman, and Jenkintown Building Services

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Mike Daisey’s (performer, creator) monologues, fourteen and counting, include the controversial How Theater Failed America, the six-hour epic Great Men of Genius, and the international sensation 21 Dog Years. He’s appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman, and been a frequent guest on BBC and NPR. A feature film of his monologue If You See Something Say Something will be released this year, and he stars in the Lawrence Krauser film Horrible Child. His first book 21 Dog Years: A Cubedweller’s Tale (Free Press) is being followed by second, Great Men of Genius, adapted from his monologues about Bertolt Brecht, P.T. Barnum, Nikola Tesla, and L. Ron Hubbard. He was nominated for the Outer Critics Circle Award, two Drama League Awards, and received the Bay Area Critics Circle Award, three Seattle Times Footlight Awards, and a MacDowell Fellowship. He lives in New York City with his director and collaborator, Jean-Michele Gregory. www.mikedaisey.com

Jean-Michele Gregory (director) works as a director, editor, and dramaturg, focusing on unscripted, extemporaneous theatrical works that live in the moment they are told. Working primarily with solo artists, for the last decade she has collaborated with monologuist Mike Daisey, directing his many monologues at venues across the globe, including the Public Theater, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, the Under the Radar Festival, Yale Repertory Theatre, the Barrow Street Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the Cherry Lane Theater, the Noorderzon Festival, American Repertory Theatre, Intiman, ACT Theatre, Performance Space 122, Portland Stage Company, the T:BA Festival, Ars Nova, and many more. She also works with New York storyteller Martin Dockery (Wanderlust, The Surprise) and the Seattle-based performer and writer Suzanne Morrison (Yoga Bitch, Your Own Personal Alcatraz).