A Time For Singing

Ever since the Spring of 2011, when Magic Theatre presented The Lily's Revenge (as part of a rolling world premiere with New York's HERE Arts Center, the Southern Rep Theatre in New Orleans, and the National Theatre of Scotland), I have been in awe of Taylor Mac. Whether as a playwright (HIR) or performance artist, his work stands head and shoulders above the crowd for its searing strength and the phantasmagorical fearlessness of his artistic vision. As he explains on his website:

"In the eyes of those with stable occupations, actors historically are vagabonds, agitators, vain, not the brightest of breeds, and (the old standard) deceitful. We get paid to lie. And if we do it extraordinarily well -- so well that if the lie seems truer than truth -- then we're hailed as great at what we do. Great at what we do, but not great humans to be trusted with political opinions and societal points of view.

One of the great things about the kind of career I've created for myself (with the help of many) is I get to work in a variety of different theatrical environments and with a wonderful assortment of performing artists. I've been in ensemble plays by other playwrights, acted in my own plays with actors I've cast, done the midnight show, and the midday matinee. I've worked in the circus, the strip club, the LORT, the street, museum, opera house, basement bar/sex-club, and ethical society.

I believe whole-heartedly in craft. I believe craft is essentially a commitment to learning the past, living in the present, and dreaming the culture forward. I try to see more theater than anyone else I know in a variety of venues, styles, genres, and forms and it's made me a better director/producer/playwright in the process. I believe that, as a theater artist, I'm not a teacher; I'm a reminder. I'm just trying to remind you of things you've dismissed, forgotten, or buried."

Taylor Mac onstage in San Francisco (Photo by: Jim Norrena)


An ambitious artist who is willing to push the creative envelope as far as possible in order to shake up the status quo, Taylor doesn't hesitate to tell audiences that "Perfection is for assholes." In addition to being an engaging storyteller, a compelling singer, and a defiantly delicious drag artist, his work achieves a great deal of consciousness raising with regard to gay, trans, and other gender-related issues.





While he may see himself as an American jester -- and delight in performing extensive research -- his latest project (entitled A 24-Decade History of Popular Music) is almost as ambitious an undertaking as Richard Wagner's famous tetralogy, Der Ring des Nibelungen. It also allows him to demonstrate what has been sorely missing from today's schools. As the lead-in to her recent interview with Teller (the popular magician and former Latin teacher), Jessica Lahey wrote:

"Education, at its most engaging, is performance art. From the moment a teacher steps into the classroom, students look to him or her to set the tone and course of study for everyone, from the most enthusiastic to the most apathetic students. Even teachers who have moved away from the traditional lecture format, toward more learner autonomy-supportive approaches such as project-based and peer-to-peer learning, still need to engage students in the process, and serve as a vital conduit between learner and subject matter. Teachers are seldom trained in the performance aspect of teaching, however, and given that every American classroom contains at least one bored, reluctant, or frustrated student, engagement through performance may just be the most important skill in a teacher's bag of tricks."

Taylor Mac enchanting the audience at the Curran Theatre
(Photo by: Jim Norrena)


Back when I was an undergraduate student at Brooklyn College, I took a course in music appreciation in which a bored professor played a recording of the Triumphal March from Verdi's Aida and said "Well, that's about all you need to know about opera." Had I taken him at