Lyrics / Concept / Director / Performer
Taylor Mac is a MacArthur fellow, a Pulitzer Prize Finalist, a Tony nominee for Best Play, and the recipient of the International Ibsen Award. Selected works include: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (a musical inspired by John Berendt’s non-fiction novel); Joy and Pandemic (a realism play about an abstract art school); The Hang (a Passion Play/jazz opera about the final hours of Socrates, with lyrics by Mac and music by Matt Ray); The Fre (a queer children’s play set in a ball pit); Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus (a tragedy determined to become a comedy); A 24-Decade History of Popular Music (a 24-hour performance art concert about community); Hir (an absurd realism play about changing America); The Walk Across America for Mother Earth (an anarchist adaptation of Three Sisters about activism, with music by Ellen Maddow); The Lily’s Revenge (a Noh inspired flowergory manifold about a flower who wants to be the center of the story, with music by Rachel Garniez); The Young Ladies Of (a paternal mystery); The Be(A)st of Taylor Mac (a ukulele confessional about the war on terror); Red Tide Blooming (a freak-show musical about gentrification); The Last Two People on Earth (a two-man cabaret for seagulls about the joy of singing, created with Mandy Patinkin, Susan Stroman, and Paul Ford). Taylor also had the title role in Sarah Ruhl’s Orlando (Signature Theatre, directed by Will Davis). Films include Whitman in the Woods (directed by Noah Greenberg, streaming on All Arts) and Taylor Mac’s 24-Decade History of Popular Music (a concert doc directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, streaming on Max).
Photo: Little Fang