Mike Daisey is a really good monologuist (I saw his show "21 Dog Years: Doing Time @ Amazon.com" a while ago at the Cherry Lane), and I was shocked to see that last week, 87 members of one of his audiences walked out en masse, while one of them poured water on Daisey's handwritten notes for his monologue, ruining them.  (And since Daisey works without a script, constructing each night's performance anew from notes, instinct, and crowd response, destroying his notes was an especially hostile act.)

Apparently it was a group of "Christian" high school students, who left because they didn't like the language.  While no one is forcing you to stay seated in the audience of a show you find offensive, it's beyond rude to disrupt the performance and quite literally wreck the show for everyone else including its author.  And if you are prepared to embrace that rudeness and have the chutzpah to act out like that in protest, you should be able and willing, if not downright eager, to explain those actions.  To take responsibility for what you've done, and be willing to discuss it.

But no; not a single person of the eighty-seven protesters would talk about why they were offended, why they were leaving, and why one of their number cavalierly destroyed someone else's handiwork.

Go read Mike Daisey's description of the incident; it's riveting and compelling and expertly limns the shock, disbelief, and anger that he felt.  And the video of the incident on that same page also displays the incredible poise and honesty that Daisey showed in acknowledging to the remaining members of the audience what had just happened and in rebuilding the show.

Comments

[czeltic girl]

Saw that video yesterday. I was impressed with his handling of the situation. I'd never heard of Mike Daisey before yesterday, but I'm definitely going to check out his stuff now.