A 24-Decade History of Popular Music
Taylor Mac presents new material and musical arrangements from his on-going durational concert called A 24-Decade History of Popular Music, which includes performances of songs from the last 24 decades of popular music. Each decade has a different costume designed by Machine Dazzle; those created during the residency will also be on display during the Under Construction showing. Ultimately all 24 decades will be stitched together, culminating in a 24-hour long extravaganza (in 2016), which will feature Taylor Mac, a 24-piece orchestra, dancing beauties, special guests, and the audience.
Taylor Mac is a theater artist (who uses the gender pronoun “judy”)—a playwright, actor, singer-songwriter, cabaret performer, performance artist, director and producer. judy’s work has been performed at New York City’s Lincoln Center and The Public Theater, the Sydney Opera House, American Repertory Theater, Stockholm’s Sodra Theatern, the Spoleto Festival, Dublin’s Project Arts Centre, and London’s Soho Theatre, among other theatres, museums, music halls, cabarets and festivals around the globe. judy is the author of sixteen full-length plays and performance pieces including Hir (recently premiered at San Francisco’s Magic Theater), The Lily’s Revenge (Obie Award), The Walk Across America for Mother Earth (named One of the Best Plays of 2011 by The New York Times), The Young Ladies Of (Chicago’s Jeff Award nomination for Best Solo), Red Tide Blooming (Ethyl Eichelberger Award), The Be(a)st of Taylor Mac (Edinburgh Festival’s Herald Angel Award). In collaboration with Mandy Patinkin, Susan Stroman and Paul Ford, Mac created The Last Two People On Earth: An Apocalyptic Vaudeville, in which judy is currently performing/touring with Mr. Patinkin. judy is the recipient of a Helen Merrill Playwriting Award, two Sundance Theater Lab residencies, three Map Grants, The Creative Capital Grant, The James Hammerstein Award for playwriting, three GLAAD Media Award Nomination, two New York State Council on the Arts Grants, a Massachusetts Council of the Arts Grant, an Edward Albee Foundation Residency, The Franklin Furnace Grant, a Peter S. Reed Grant and The Ensemble Studio Theatre’s New Voices Fellowship in playwriting. Mac is a proud alum of the HERE Arts Center Resident Artists program and is currently a New Dramatists fellow and a New York Theater Workshop Usual Suspect.
Machine Dazzle (né Matthew Flower) is a performance artist, who moved to New York City in 1994 after attending The University of Colorado Boulder. Mixing odd jobs by day with art and dance clubs by night erupted in a unique lifestyle grounded in costume and performance art. Dazzle’s DIY and transgressive nature comes face to face with his conceptualist-as-artist identity; the results can be seen on stages all over the world. Machine has worked with Taylor Mac, Justin Vivian Bond, Joey Arias, Julie Atlas Muz, Big Art Group, The Crystal Ark, The Dazzle Dancers, Stanley Love Performance Group and The Pixie Harlots, to name a few.
The Under Construction Series is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
Photo: Xanthe Elbrick
Thursday, August 6 at 8:00pm: 1776-1786
Saturday, August 8 at 8:00pm: 1786-1796
Sunday, August 9 at 5:00pm: 1796-1806
Board of Officers Room
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