Sat. May 5

 Mike Daisey does something on stage that everyone else does offstage: He tells stories. But these are not guy-on-a-barstool stories. Daisey, 34, is a pro, a prolific writer and teller of these stories and he’s adept at mixing comedy and tragedy. He’s doing this at the ART’s Zero Arrow Theatre through May 5 in a 90-minute show called “Monopoly!” These are vignettes taken from historical fact, current events and his own life.
    How true are they? “All stories are fiction,” says Daisey, “because you can’t ever put everything into a story, but within that metaphysical framework, yes, I endeavor to make everything truthful.”  How difficult is this to do? “It’s always difficult to do anything on your own,” Daisey says. “There’s no system, no room in American theater as it’s constructed for independent artists. Making your own path, it sounds romantic but it involves a lot of machete work and you can’t see where you’re going. You celebrate when the path works out, but so often it doesn’t. The path leads to a mud hole. (However) it gets easier in that time and momentum are on my side to some degree. During April Daisey had the show "Invicible Summer." Like “Invincible Summer,” says Daisey, “Monopoly!” has "multiple story lines woven together. This one contrasts well with ‘Invincible Sumer,’ which is very heart-driven. ‘Monopoly!’ is slightly more heady, but from the same family of performance, with autobiographical and biographical parts weaving in and out of each other. A lot of it is has to do with monopoly, about corporations that we’ve made as powerful as they are. Corporations aren’t evil, which is what makes them horrifying. They’re totally amoral.”

    Daisey has created and performed nine monologues – one of them, “Great Men of Genius,” stretches over six hours and four nights – and written one book. Later this year, he’ll adapt “Genius” to book form. But right now, he’s an artist in residence at the A.R.T. He was recommended by Eric Bogosian, who saw Daisey’s “TRUTH,” in New York.
     Daisey has been creating monologues for ten years. “The process is not very visable,” he says, “but basically (the show) grows slowly over time. Different threads and storylines assemble themselves in my mind. Eventually, we pick a date to do the show, and that’s its birth. We create the first outline 36 hours before.” Daisey works with his wife, director and dramaturg Jean-Michele Gregory. He works extemporaneously from an outline, noting that there are small changes from night to night. “But it’s the same story, the same tension.  My motivation as an actor would be ‘I have to tell you this story.’ And all the parts in it, that tension gives it dramatic lift. It rarely ever spirals off on a tangent. We have places to go eight times a week.”
    Daisey says he doesn’t take much downtime. He thinks he should always be writing, working. When he does break, he says he and his wife veg on reality TV. Or, perhaps, he’ll take a walk. It’s a place where he’s not wired to the Internet. And as much as he feeds off it, it’s good to get away every now and again.
    Daisey's “Monopoly!” closes tonight, Saturday, at 8.  Tickets: $50. $38 and $15. Check the website below for details.