THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY OF STEVE JOBS Returns to the Public Theater

The Public Theater welcome back Mike Daisey's critically acclaimed THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY OF STEVE JOBS tonight for an extended run in The Martinson Theater. Created and performed by Mike Daisey and directed by Jean-Michele Gregory, the return engagement of THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY OF STEVE JOBS will run an additional five weeks to March 4. Tickets, priced at $75-$85, are on sale now. Tickets can be purchased at (212) 967-7555 or www.publictheater.org.

In THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY OF STEVE JOBS, Mike Daisey turns his razor-sharp wit to America's most mysterious technology icon in this hilarious and harrowing tale of pride, beauty, lust, and industrial design. He illuminates how the former CEO of Apple and his obsessions shape our lives, while sharing stories of his own travels to China to investigate the factories where millions toil to make iPhones and iPods. Daisey's dangerous journey shines a light on our love affair with our devices and the human cost of creating them.

THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY OF STEVE JOBS sparked an important dialogue about the horrendous working conditions of workers in China who make Apple products. Last week Apple released a list of its major suppliers for the first time. This Supplier Responsibility Report, which details the results of audits conducted by Apple on labor conditions, discrimination and worker health and safety, is a significant step in improving conditions of factories abroad.

"Sometimes theater can help change the world," said Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs has clearly done just that. Mike Daisey and Jean-Michele Gregory should be incredibly proud."

"We are absolutely delighted to be bringing this work back to The Public at this moment, now that due to pressure Apple has finally agreed to divulge its list of suppliers, and to allow outside inspections of its suppliers' factories," said Mike Daisey. "The success of this show is a testament to the power of theater to inform hearts and minds and to effect change in our time. There's a long way to go, but it has been the voices of people who have been moved by this story that have made the difference-we're not stopping now."

Mike Daisey (Creator and Performer) has been called "the master storyteller" and "one of the finest solo performers of his generation" by the New York Times for his groundbreaking monologues which weave together autobiography, gonzo journalism, and unscripted performance to tell stories that cut to the bone, exposing secret histories and unexpected connections. His monologues include the critically acclaimed run of The Last Cargo Cult at The Public Theater, the controversial How Theater Failed America, the six-hour epic Great Men of Genius, the unrepeatable series All Stories Are Fiction, and the international sensation 21 Dog Years. He has performed across five continents, from Off-Broadway to remote islands in the South Pacific, from the Sydney Opera House to abandoned theaters in post-Communist Tajikistan. He's been a guest on the Late Show with David Letterman, as well as a commentator and contributor to WIRED, Vanity Fair, Slate, Salon, NPR and the BBC. His first film, Layover, was shown at the Cannes Film Festival last year, and a feature film of his monologue If You See Something Say Something is currently in post production. His second book, Rough Magic, a collected anthology of his monologues, will be published in 2012. He has been nominated for the Outer Critics Circle Award, two Drama League Awards, and is the recipient of the Bay Area Critics Circle Award, four Seattle Times Footlight Awards, the Sloan Foundation's Galileo Prize, and a MacDowell Fellowship. Most recently he premiered his 24-hour monologue All the Hours in the Day, an epic story that spans the globe, at the TBA Festival in Portland, Oregon.

Jean-Michele Gregory (Director) works as a director, editor, and dramaturg, focusing on extemporaneous theatrical works that live in the moment they are told. Working primarily with solo artists, for the last decade she has collaborated with monologist Mike Daisey, directing at venues across the globe including The Public Theater, the Sydney Opera House, Yale Repertory Theatre, the Cherry Lane Theater, the Under the Radar Festival, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, the Barrow Street Theatre, Chicago's Museum for Contemporary Art, American Repertory Theatre, the Spoleto Festival, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the Noorderzon Festival, Intiman Theatre, Performance Space 122, the T:BA Festival, and many more. She has also directed New York storyteller Martin Dockery (Wanderlust, The Surprise) and the Seattle-based performer and writer SuzAnne Morrison (Yoga Bitch, Optimism). Her productions have received four Seattle Times Footlight Awards (21 Dog Years, The Ugly American, Monopoly!, The Last Cargo Cult), the Bay Area Critics Circle Award (Great Men of Genius), and nominations from the Drama League and Outer Critics Circle (If You See Something Say Something).

THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY OF STEVE JOBS features scenery and lighting design by Seth Reiser.

The Public Theater (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Patrick Willingham, Executive Director) was founded by Joseph Papp in 1954 and is now one of the nation's preeminent cultural institutions, producing new plays, musicals and productions of classics at its downtown home and at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. The Public Theater's mandate to create a theater for all New Yorkers continues to this day on stage and through extensive outreach programs. Each year, more than 250,000 people attend Public Theater-related productions and events at six downtown stages, including Joe's Pub, and Shakespeare in the Park. The Public Theater's productions have won 42 Tony Awards, 158 Obies, 42 Drama Desk Awards and four Pulitzer Prizes. Fifty-four Public Theater Productions have moved to Broadway, including Sticks and Bones; That Championship Season; A Chorus Line; For Colored Girls…; The Pirates of Penzance; The Tempest; Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk; The Ride Down Mt. Morgan; Topdog/Underdog; Take Me Out; Caroline, or Change; Passing Strange; the revival of HAIR; Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and The Merchant of Venice.