What Inspired the Show
The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs is a look at the conditions under which the workers at the Foxconn plant in Shenzhen, China, build iPhones, iPads, and other devices; the life of Steve Jobs; and Mike Daisey’s complicated, lifelong love for all things Apple. Daisey explains how he’d wanted to do a piece on Jobs for years, but it wasn’t until he saw some photos taken at Foxconn that he knew he had a show.
Daisey: Why Tech Writers Are Hacks
An important theme of Agony is that the investigation he undertook, visiting the outside of the factory and talking to workers, is something technology journalists should have done long ago. We asked for his thoughts on whether tech writers have been failing to do their work as reporters.
Daisey: Wired’s Cover Story on Foxconn Was ‘Pathetic’
Wired magazine made waves with its March 2011 cover story on the same Foxconn plant Daisey visited. Daisey pulls no punches with his takedown of the piece.
On Using Theater to Confront Political Issues
In the last couple of decades, it’s been rare that an American theatrical work serves also as a call to political action. We asked about his decision in Agony to urge his audience to take Apple to task.
The Anger and Silence After Daisey’s Times Op-Ed on Steve Jobs
There was no shortage of obituaries hailing Steve Jobs’s genius. Mike Daisey talks about his contentious New York Times op-ed and how it provoked death threats from those who hadn’t seen his show, and silence from tech writers, including the Times’s David Pogue.