Mike Daisey, how can I help???

I am planning a trip back to New York in May to see Mike Daisey at the Public Theatre. I've never seen this man perform, but he is a monologuist seemingly of the highest current genius and has received accolade upon accolade telling me so. I am a follower of his blog and am inspired by what he has to say in it, without actually writing any of his own words.

He is about to begin performing his show "How Theater Failed America." Seattle's The Stranger published an article by Daisey that is the essay version of the show.

Here is my favorite part, the pre-conclusion:

Corporations make shitty theater. This is because theater, the ineffable part of the experience that comes in rare and random bursts, is not a commodity, and corporations suck at understanding the noncommodifiable. Corporations don't understand theater. Only people, real people, understand theater. Audiences, technicians, actors, playwrights, costumers, designers—all of them give their time and energy to this thing for a reason, and that dream is not quantifiable on any spreadsheet.

Right now, I feel a tornado of emotions welling up inside me. I have been an independent artist for the past 6 years and truly focused on what I want for the past two. Daisey hits the nail on the head - why are theater artists still, hundreds and thousands of years later, the dredge of the theater world? What is it going to take to convince whoever we have to convince that being an artist is a legitimate trade and those of us that have the dreams and the cahones to follow through with those dreams should not only be rewarded with a sense of accomplishment and a full soul, but also with the amenities and luxuries that a life of hard work affords? When I arrived in New York with dreams of being on Broadway, those dreams were quickly smashed by the FACT that Broadway is nothing but the same old bullshit drivel year in and year out - stories about flappers, and weddings, helicopters, chandeliers, and fucking CATS for crissakes. Revivals of the same tired shows - I don't even care if it's Sondheim! Where's the next Sondheim??? He or she is OUT there and they're not getting their due!

Or is it me? Is it me, the depressed and sometimes suicidal feminist writer/performer who feels she doesn't have an original thought in her head? Who is scared that her next project will be taken the wrong way? What IS the right way? And why the hell am I scared to get out there and SAVE THEATER???? I have been lamenting the demise of theater lately. With the culture we live in, YouTube and reality TV and such, is theater dying? Can it? It's been alive for thousands of years!! And I heartily believe there is no replacement for watching a real live human being experience emotions right in front of you without tricky editing. I pray theater is not dying. I know it is my job to help keep it alive.

I had to pause while writing this post to actually write an email to Mike Daisey. I had to thank him. But he can't - and shouldn't - do this alone. Mike Daisey, how can I help????

Or am I doing enough?