The Lensic is proud to present “the master storyteller”**, Mike Daisey. Daisey is working on a new piece about Homeland Security tackling a story at the heart of our world today: the surprising, secret history of the Department of Homeland Security. This is woven together with the untold story of the father of the neutron bomb, and a pilgrimage to the Trinity blast site, where atomic fire rewrote history a half a century ago and ushered in an age of American supremacy. Combining damning fact and searing personal history, Daisey takes us on a journey through the dark heart of America, in search of answers for what it means to be secure, and the price we are willing to pay for it.

Daisey burst on the scene in 2001 with 21 Dog Years: Doing Time @ Amazon.com. Unlike many in his field, Mike Daisey works without a script, creating unique, intricate stories with numerous interwoven narratives. He has consistently received strong reviews, earning comparisons to some of the best storytellers like Spalding Gray and David Sedaris.

What also distinguishes him from most solo performers is how elegantly he blends personal stories, historical digressions and philosophical ruminations. He has the curiosity of a highly literate dilettante — exploring subjects like the James Frey scandal (“Truth”), Scientology (“Great Men of Genius”) and Nikola Tesla’s battle with Thomas Edison over electricity (“Monopoly”) — and a preoccupation with alternative histories, secrets large and small, and the fuzzy line where truth and fiction blur. –New York Times

When not performing his groundbreaking series of autobiographical monologues (thirteen and counting) in theaters across the country, Mike Daisey writes for WIRED, Slate, Salon, Vanity Fair and Radar Magazine, and has turned his monologue 21 Dog Years: Doing Time @ Amazon.com into a book. Daisey is also a commentator for PRI’s Studio 360 and NPR’s Day To Day, and has joined David Letterman as a guest on the Late Show with David Letterman.

* "If You See Something Say Something" is a federally registered trademark of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority ("MTA"). This performance is not been approved, sponsored or endorsed by the MTA.

**The New York Times