An old American proverb states: "If you want to enjoy a good steak, don't visit the slaughterhouse."

In the solo piece "The Agony and The Ecstasy of Steve Jobs," author Mike Daisey pulls back the curtain veiling America's most mysterious technological icon. He paints a nostalgic and humorous tale of the development of Apple Computer and the successful rise of its founder, Steve Jobs, while also ending up telling another side of the success you may not want to hear.

This is a wickedly funny tale of pride, beauty, lust, and industrial design. In the piece, Daisey illuminates the war - from China to Silicon Valley - over how we see our world, and the human price we pay for our high-tech toys. He recounts his visit to Foxconn, the Chinese factory where most Apple products are made, and where human rights violations are not only prevalent but run rampant.

On January 6, 2012, an extensive excerpt from "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs" was aired on Chicago Public Radio's This American Life. It quickly became the show's most downloaded episode ever. The following week, Apple announced that they would be making changes to their production policies, which many attributed to pressure generated by this monologue, and to a workers' strike at Foxconn that occurred in the same week as the radio airing. But sadly, the violations of policy continue to occur, as Daisey charts in his daily blog, mikedaisey.blogspot.com.

On February 21, 2012, Mike Daisey released a transcript of "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs" based on his extemporaneous performances of the piece and granted it public use rights. In the first 24 hours, over 27,000 people downloaded the transcript from his website - more copies than the print runs of any new American play in the last five years.


The show is presented as a fundraiser for the Backstage Theatre.

This performance contains strong language and is recommended for adults only. Presented without intermission.