Mike Daisey has been in town performing his notorious Monopoly, a controversial monologue exploring the excesses of American capitalism (particularly of the Wal-Mart variety). But this weekend, Daisey turns his withering gaze on the theatre itself, with How Theater Failed America at the Capitol Hill Arts Center. Daisey takes aim at the theater for its manifold failures: its pretentions, its disconnect from the world around it, its self-satisfaction. (Check out a five-minute sample over at the Slog.)

Certainly, Daisey's criticisms sound run-of-the-mill. Who hasn't mocked the theatre for its hoity-toity-ness? But Daisey is not a sitcom writer, and as a theatre artist whose work demonstrates one way in which the theatre has a unique power to criticize the culture at large, he's uniquely positioned to offer a devastating criticism.

Over at the Seattlest Arts Desk, Seattlest Charles and this contributor have had long discussions over bourbons on the rocks chased with gut-rot black coffee as to whether or not the theatre is a spent force, and the Seattle theatre scene, which has largely been a bust this winter, hasn't exactly been helping this contributor defend the theatre's importance. Seattlest Charles and I are taking our tit-for-tat to CHAC this Friday to see if Daisey can resolve our debate for us. Readers are welcome to check out our discussion on Seattlest come Monday, Feb. 11. And for those who'd like to offer their two-cents on the value of the theatre, feel free to drop us a line, and be sure to snag yourself some Mike Daisey tickets before they sell out.

Mike Daisey's "How Theater Failed America" @ CHAC // Feb. 8 - 10, 7:30 pm // $20 adv