Origins of the Leviathan

If you’re searching for illumination in these dusky times, go to the Kravis Center tonight. There, comedian Mike Daisey will take you on an underground tour of the System. His monologue Monopoly! begins with the saga of Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison — bitter rivals over electricity and both clients...

By Penn Bullock

April 16, 2009

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If you’re searching for illumination in these dusky times, go to the Kravis Center tonight. There, comedian Mike Daisey will take you on an underground tour of the System. His monologue Monopoly! begins with the saga of Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison — bitter rivals over electricity and both clients of J.P Morgan. Tesla was the inventor of radio and a quixotic prophet of robots and renewable energy. Edison was more of a traditional entrepreneur; he retired regally to America’s first gated community. Each purveyed a different method of conducting electricity. Today’s grid — that infinite, geometric forest of wires and wood poles — uses Tesla’s alternating-current design. Edison got burned, but “The War of Currents” ended in a merger: General Electric.

Daisey picks up with the secret history of the Monopoly board game and rhapsodizes about Microsoft and Wal-Mart. He’ll teach you a thing or two about capitalism — this creaking yet super-efficient cosmic wonder - and you’ll laugh your brains out.

Monopoly! goes down Thursday and Friday nights at 7:30 at the Kravis Center, located at 701 Okeechobee Blvd. in West Palm Beach. Tickets cost $32. For more info, call 561-832-7469, or visit kravis.org.
Thu., April 16, 7:30 p.m.; Fri., April 17, 7:30 p.m., 2009

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