Master Storyteller Mike Daisey presents TRUMP CARD Follow-up On Presidential Election Anniversary

Master storyteller Mike Daisey returns to Philadelphia Theatre Company with two new monologues that explore the normalization of Trump's administration and the rise and fall of the press. In the follow-up to critical smash The Trump Card, This Is Not Normal (November 9-11th) addresses the "fever gripping all of us and how quickly that fever can become fascism." In The End of Journalism (November 10-11th), Daisey explores how journalism as we know it in America has ended, peeling back layers of "real" and "fake" news to find the darkly hilarious truth. Daisey's performances are part of PTC's 2017-2018 festival-style theatre season that includes plays, music, comedy and political commentary. Daisey is the third national voice at PTC this fall, following NPR's Bob Garfield and Golden Globe Winner Kathleen Turner. Normal and Journalism will take place at Philadelphia Theatre Company at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre (480 S. Broad Street). Tickets are on sale for $25-$69 at philadelphiatheatrecompany.org, at the box-office, or by calling 215-985-0420.

Mike Daisey, hailed by The New York Times as "one of the finest solo performers of his generation," returns to Philadelphia on the anniversary of the 2016 Presidential election with two monologues that skewer the political state of affairs in the United States.

"Mike was the first artist I called when we decided to change things up this year," said Price. "His singular, bracing take on what is happening in our world becomes thoughtful, challenging extemporaneous theatre, and Philadelphians are ready for it. Mike extrapolates from his many personal stories and investigations to offer a perspective that resonates nationally. I saw him at The Town Hall in New York last fall, and knew that whoever won the election, I wanted to see his follow up. At a time when so many of my new friends in Philadelphia are grappling with the current head-swiveling state of the country, I feel that he'll bring a sense of order to our chaos. Or at least give vent to our collective angst."

This is Not Normal is the direct follow-up to his critically acclaimed hit The Trump Card. Daisey addresses the precariousness of our current moment by examining the rise of autocracy and right-wing nationalism across the globe.

From Putin's Russia to Berlusconi's Italy, from Le Pen in France to Trumpism here at home, Daisey crafts a portrait of the global and cultural forces that have helped lead America into the hands of a demagogue-and explains the push toward normalization from the left and right that always accompanies the rise of strongmen. Part instruction guide, part historical warning, and part dark comedy, Daisey addresses the fever gripping all of us, and how quickly that fever can become fascism.

Performances of This is Not Normal will run Thursday, November 9, 2017 at 8:00pm and Saturday, November 11, 2017 at 3:00pm.

In The End of Journalism, Daisey explores how journalism in America ended. In a brutally honest and gutsy performance, Daisey covers the rise of FOX News, to the disruption of traditional media, to how social media has replaced television as the arbiter of truth. Daisey invites the audience to peal back the layers to find the darkly hilarious truth about the world we have created for ourselves. Built out of years of interviews with journalists, this monologue is no horror story. Instead, Daisey digs deeper at what could be a pivotal moment for society - a moment to take stock of what has failed and why, and begin building new ways to make journalism matter in people's lives again.

The End of Journalism will run for two shows, Friday, November 10, 2017 at 8:00pm and Saturday, November 11, 2017 at 8:00pm. Prior to the Saturday performance, PTC will also host a special media panel discussion at 6:00pm to discuss the state of journalism today and it's impact on the arts. The panel will be moderated by celebrated local playwright Jacqueline Goldfinger and feature Michael Riedel, New York Post columnist and author of Razzle Dazzle: The Battle for Broadway; John Timpane, Media and Fine Arts Editor for the Philadelphia Inquirer; John Moore, Senior Arts Journalist for Denver Center for the Performing Arts; Chris Jones, Chief Theatre Critic for the Chicago Tribune; and Wendy Rosenfield, Editor-in-Chief for the Broad Street Review. Admission to the panel event is free.

Price added, "I love how this show mashes theatre with reality and offers our audiences a chance to step away from the privacy of their own living rooms to share a communal experience. In the end, a theatre's actual JOB is to bring people together. So let's start here."

Tickets for both shows are on sale now staring at $25, or starting at $19 with a new PTC theatre membership. Membership and ticket info is available by visiting http://philadelphiatheatrecompany.org/on-stage/current-season/

FULL PERFORMANCE AND EVENT SCHEDULE

Thursday, November 9 at 8:00pm, This Is Not Normal
Friday, November 10 at 8:00pm, The End of Journalism
Saturday, November 11 at 3:00pm, This Is Not Normal
Saturday, November 11 at 6:00pm, Journalists Weigh In - a Discussion
Saturday, November 11 at 8:00pm, The End of Journalism

ABOUT MIKE DAISEY

Mike Daisey has been hailed as "the master storyteller" and "one of the finest solo performers of his generation" by The New York Times. He is known as the preeminent monologist in the American theater today. He has been called a modern-day Mark Twain and a latter-day Orson Welles for his provocative monologues that combine the political and the personal, weaving together secret histories with hilarity and heart. He's known for art that reinvents the form, like his critically acclaimed 29-night live theatrical novel, All the Faces of the Moon, a forty hour performance staged at the Public Theater in New York City.

He has toured across five continents, ranging from remote islands in the South Pacific to the Sydney Opera House to abandoned theaters in post-Communist Tajikistan. He's been a guest on Real Time with Bill Maher, the Late Show with David Letterman, a longtime host and storyteller with The Moth, as well as a commentator and contributor to The New York Times, The Guardian, Harper's Magazine, Newsweek, WIRED, Vanity Fair, Slate, Salon, NPR and the BBC. In a brief, meteoric career with This American Life, his appearances are among the most listened to and downloaded episodes of that program's history. 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, six Seattle Times Footlight Awards, the Sloan Foundation's Galileo Prize, and a MacDowell Fellowship.

As a playwright, his transcript of The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs was downloaded over 100,000 times in the first week it was made available. Under a revolutionary open license it has seen more than 150 productions around the world and been translated into six languages. Years later there are productions being staged all over the world every night from in Germany to Sao Paolo to mainland China.

He is currently at work on his second book, Here at the End of Empire, which will be published by Simon and Schuster, and a full-length thirty hour theatrical monologue adaptation of Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States.

2017-2018 SEASON

Philadelphia Theatre Company continues its commitment to sharing the unique American experience and presents an exciting festival-style theatre season under the leadership of new Producing Artistic Director Price. The ambitious 2017-2018 line-up includes plays, music, comedy, and political commentary and features top local and national voices. With Price at the helm of the company, PTC begins a bold new chapter for the ground-breaking organization.

The season began with the World Premiere of Bob Garfield's Ruggedly Jewish, and Kathleen Turner's cabaret debut. Aaron Davidman's Wrestling Jerusalem runs October 18 through November 5. The season continues with the Upright Citizens Brigade Touring Company in a fully improvised comedy show (December 1 - 2); a sing-along A Dream Is A Wish: Princess Concert (December 17); Musical Thrones: A Parody, a giddy and raucous parody of the Emmy Award-winning HBO show (February 9 - 10); and the Off-Broadway hit play, Small Mouth Sounds (March 13 - April 1).

ABOUT PHILADELPHIA THEATRE COMPANY

Philadelphia Theatre Company (PTC) is a leading regional theater company that produces, develops, and presents entertaining and imaginative contemporary theater focused on the American experience. PTC balances its Philadelphia roots with a national point of view that combines a taste for adventure with a dedication to new American plays and musicals.

Founded in 1974, PTC has presented 140 world and Philadelphia premieres. More than 50 percent of PTC's world premieres have moved on to New York and other major cities, helping to earn Philadelphia a national reputation as a hub for new play development. PTC has received more than 180 nominations and 53 awards from the Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre. In 2007, PTC was instrumental in expanding Philadelphia's thriving cultural corridor by opening the Suzanne Roberts Theatre on the Avenue of the Arts.

PTC believes in the importance of education programs that support its artistic mission and its award-winning education programs have introduced hundreds of students to contemporary American theater through in-school and at-the-theater workshops, residencies, student matinees and summer camp experiences.

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