Sneak Peek Of Daisey's THE LAST CARGO CULT Held At Woolly Mammoth 6/15

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company announces a one-night-only sneak peek performance of The Last Cargo Cult, a new work created and performed by monologuist Mike Daisey (If You See Something Say Something, How Theatre Failed America). Directed by Jean-Michele Gregory, this performance of The Last Cargo Cult will be on Monday, June 15 at 7pm. All tickets are $15 and available at 202-393-3939 or www.woollymammoth.net.

The production will be performed from January 11 to February 7, 2010 as part of Season 30, Woolly Mammoth's 30th Season.

"Woolly Mammoth has become a home for our work, and we couldn't be happier," stated Mike Daisey. "Woolly was the first theater in the nation to commit to The Last Cargo Cult, and it is fantastic to be giving birth to the monologue on their stage this June. Jean-Michele and I are neck-deep in research from my journey to the distant South Pacific, and this first performance at Woolly is really when the show will come alive for the first time-we're absolutely delighted to bring this story of erupting volcanoes, feral pigs, mind-altering drugs and macroeconomics to DC audiences first!"

Fearless autobiographer and gonzo journalist Mike Daisey has traveled to a tiny South Pacific island to take part in the annual festival of the "John Frum Cult." Worshippers of cargo left behind by American G.I.'s, these islanders build meticulous bamboo replicas of Western engineering, re-enact scenes from internet broadcasts, and summon American power through sympathetic magic. What does our economic crisis mean to them, and what can they teach us about wealth and wishful thinking? 

Mike Daisey's many monologues include Monopoly!, TRUTH, Invincible Summer, Tongues Will Wag, The Ugly American, I Miss the Cold War, Great Men of Genius, Wasting Your Breath, 21 Dog Years, as well as two performed at Woolly Mammoth, How Theater Failed America and If You See Something Say Something, which Woolly premiered in 2008. He has performed his unique brand of extemporaneous storytelling across the country, been a guest on the Late Show with David Letterman. He is a commentator for NPR's Day To Day and PRI's Studio 360 and a contributor to WIRED, Slate and Salon as well as the author of 21 Dog Years: A Cubedweller's Tale and the upcoming Great Men of Genius.

Now in its 29th Season, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company continues to hold its place at theatre's leading edge. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Howard Shalwitz and Managing Director Jeffrey Herrmann, Woolly Mammoth is acknowledged as "Washington's most daring theatre company" (The New York Times), as a regional and national leader in the development of new plays, and as one of the best known and most influentiAl Small theatres in America. Woolly Mammoth has gained this reputation by holding fast to its unique mission:

...to ignite an explosive engagement between theatre artists and the community by developing, producing and promoting new plays that explore The Edges of theatrical style and human experience, and by implementing new ways to use the artistry of theatre to serve the people of Greater Washington, DC.
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company is a member of the National New Play Network, Theatre Communications Group, The League of Washington Theatres, and The Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington, and a participant in the A-ha! Program: Think it, Do it, funded by MetLife and administered by Theatre Communications Group, the national organization for the American theatre. The Theatre's programs are supported in part by The National Endowment for the Arts, the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities and the National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs Program/United States Commission of Fine Arts.