ANNEX THEATRE OPENS 22nd SEASON WITH THE MOON IS A DEAD WORLD

ANNEX THEATRE OPENS 22nd SEASON WITH "THE MOON IS A DEAD WORLD" by Mike Daisey

DIRECTED BY: Christopher Comte
RUN DATES: Opening Night, Friday, October 17, 2008, through November 15, 2008.
CURTAIN: 8:00 p.m. all performances
VENUE: Annex Theatre, 1100 E Pike Street, Seattle, WA 98122
PRICING: $12, $7 for seniors & military, $5 for students (with ID)
PWYC PERFORMANCE: Friday, October 24 and Saturday, October 25.
WEBSITE & TICKET INFORMATION: http://www.annextheatre.org
HIGH-RES PRESS PHOTOS: http://www.annextheatre.org/shows/moon_world/press_photos/
PRESS CONTACT: Alex Harris (206) 919-3484, alex.harris@annextheatre.org

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(Seattle, WA) Annex Theatre Company begins its 22nd season of production with the world premiere of The Moon is a Dead World written by Mike Daisey and directed by Christopher Comte. The Moon is a Dead World opens on Friday, October 17, 2008, 8:00 p.m. curtain, and runs through November 15, 2008 at Annex Theatre located at 1100 East Pike Street, on Seattle’s Capitol Hill.

This first play by acclaimed monologuist Mike Daisey weaves a vision of the brutal history of the Soviet space program with an unbelievable premise: a dead cosmonaut is called back down to Earth on a radio wave when Americans in a remote Arctic base hear the beating of his dying heart. A dark and hilarious fairy tale set against the Cold War, it asks what we risk in the struggle between will and humanity, and what it means to love beyond death itself. Playwright Mike Daisey has been called “the master storyteller” and “one of the finest solo performers of his generation” by the New York Times for his groundbreaking monologues which weave together autobiography, gonzo journalism, and unscripted performance to tell hilarious and heartbreaking stories that cut to the bone, exposing secret histories and unexpected connections.

His monologues, fourteen and counting, include the controversial How Theater Failed America, the six-hour epic Great Men of Genius, the unrepeatable series All Stories Are Fiction, and the international sensation 21 Dog Years. Over the past decade he has performed his unique extemporaneous monologues at venues such as the Public Theater, American Repertory Theatre, the Spoleto Festival, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the Cherry Lane Theatre, Yale Repertory Theater, the Noorderzon Festival, the T:BA Festival, Performance Space 122, and many more. He’s been a guest on the Late Show with David Letterman, a commentator for PRI’s Studio 360 and NPR’s Day To Day, a contributor to WIRED, Slate and Salon, a web contributor to Vanity Fair and Radar Magazine, and his work has been heard on the BBC, NPR, and the National Lampoon Comedy Hour. His first film, Layover, is being distributed by Lars von Trier’s company Zentropa, and he stars in the Lawrence Krauser feature Horrible Child. His first book, 21 Dog Years: A Cubedweller’s Tale, was published by the Free Press and he is working on a second book, Great Men of Genius, adapted from his monologues about genius and megalomania in the lives of Bertolt Brecht, P.T. Barnum, Nikola Tesla, and L. Ron Hubbard. He has been the recipient of the Bay Area Critics Circle Award, two Seattle Times Footlight Awards, and a MacDowell Fellowship. He lives in New York City with his director and collaborator, Jean-Michele Gregory.

The Moon Is A Dead World is his first play. Director Christopher Comte is a 23-year veteran of the Pacific Northwest theatre community and has held a wide range of positions within the industry including acting, directing, producing, stage managing, sound and properties design, marketing and publicity, and administrative. As a performer he has worked with The 5th Avenue, Village, and Bathhouse Theatres, Spokane Interplayers, Boomer Classics, ArtsWest, Theater Schmeater, and Annex Theatre, among many others. Directing assignments include productions for Bricolage, Theater Schmeater, Theatre Babylon, The Mystery Café, and Snoqualmie Falls Theatre. He currently serves as Membership Director for the Seattle local of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), as Site Coordinator for the Kevin Hadley Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program for Performing Artists, and as Facilities Manager for Annex Theatre. The Moon is a Dead World features the talent of Jack Hamblin, Pamala Mijatov, Zachariah Robinson, and Clayton Weller. Meaghan Darling is the Stage Manager. Annex Theatre wishes to acknowledge the generous contributions of 4 Culture, Flintridge Foundation, Microsoft Corporation, The Seattle Foundation, The Boeing Company, ActiveMac, and the Mayor's Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs for their support of this production.

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ABOUT ANNEX THEATRE: The company members of Annex Theatre, a democratic collective, continue their 22nd season by dedicating themselves to "creating bold new work in an environment of improbability, resourcefulness and risk." Since Annex opened in its former home on 4th Avenue, the theater has produced hundreds of world and Northwest premieres,including new plays by Stranger Genius Award winners Chris Jeffries and Paul Mullin; dozens of local playwrights, including Jeff Resta, Kelleen Conway Blanchard, Keri Healey, Scot Augustson, John Kaufmann, Elizabeth Heffron, Heidi Heimarck, and Suzanne Maynard; and nationally recognized playwrights such as Erik Ehn, Naomi Iizuka, Glen Berger, Anne Washburn, Jeffrey Jones, and Nicky Silver. Former Annex company members ("alumni") can be found throughout the Seattle arts scene (including former Artistic Director of the Empty Space Allison Narver, Executive Director of Town Hall Weir Harman, Development Director for Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra Josef Krebs, and Education Director of Seattle Repertory Theatre Andrea Allen) and in local and national film (directors SJ Chiro, Garrett Bennett, and Mike Shapiro; actors Jillian Armenante and Paul Giamatti). In addition to new plays, Annex produces radical reinterpretations of classic scripts, ensemble-generated performances, and non-linear wild-ass spectacles, as well as our monthly late-night variety show Spin the Bottle, now entering its 12th year. Annex has just finished its first year at its new home at 11th & Pike in Capitol Hill. Annex Theatre's Artistic Director is Bret Fetzer