Mike Daisey

Hugo House:In about 2-1/2 months you'll be debuting a brand-new piece at Hugo House-have you started working on it yet?

Mike Daisey:  In a sense I've been working on it a great deal, as I'm lining up the events that will precipitate the piece--I'll be going to Los Alamos, to travel out into the desert and visit the Trinity site, ground zero for the detonation of the world's first nuclear weapon.  This pilgrimage will be the heart of the piece I'll be performing at Hugo House.

HH:  What were your first thoughts on receiving an invitation to write to an assigned theme?  Any regrets on saying yes?

MD:  None--I love the idea of themes and motifs that come from outside of myself.  It might be the theater artist in me, but I find the setting of boundary conditions enormously exhilarating. 

HH:  Can you give us a hint of how you're approaching the theme of "Lost in Translation?"  Literally?  Figuratively?  Did the dictionary definitions we gave you trigger any responses?

MD:  Literally and figuratively--I'm not entirely certain yet, but I believe it will tackle the issue from both directions.  I'm very interested in the loss of true communication once bureaucracy takes hold, and the collision between real security needs and the military/industrial complex's motives--I think this disjunction will be at the root of the piece.

HH:  Could you tell us a little bit about your process-how you approach writing something new? 

MD:  The central key is that I don't write--I perform extemporaneously, so I do a great deal of reading, and then a lot of walking, thinking and drinking of coffee.  Beneath the surface a great deal of work is happening, guided by the subconscious--I feel like my job as an artist is to be an open interpreter and sculptor of my subconscious.

HH:  Tell us 3 non-literary things we don't know about you.

MD:  1. I have an abiding weakness for dance music.

2. I have never been inside a GAP store. 

3. I trained as a poet before becoming a monologuist.