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The Taylor Mac Book

Ritual, Realness and Radical Performance

David Roman author Sean Edgecomb author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:The University of Michigan Press

Published:31st Jul '24

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

The Taylor Mac Book cover

This is the first book to dedicate critical attention to the work of influential theater-maker Taylor Mac. Mac is particularly celebrated for the historic performance event A 24-Decade History of Popular Music, in which Mac, in fantastical costumes designed by collaborator Machine Dazzle, sang the history of the United States for 24 straight hours in October 2016. The MacArthur Foundation soon thereafter awarded their “genius” award to a “writer, director, actor, singer, and performance artist whose fearlessly experimental works dramatize the power of theater as a space for building community . . . [and who] interacts with the audience to inspire a reconsideration of assumptions about gender, identity, ethnicity, and performance itself.”

Featuring essays, interviews, and commentaries by noted critics and artists, the volume examines the vastness of Mac’s theatrical imagination, the singularity of their voice, the inclusiveness of their cultural insights and critiques, and the creativity they display through stylistic and formal qualities and the unorthodoxies of their personal and professional trajectories. Contributors consider the range of Mac’s career as a playwright, performer, actor, and singer, expanding and enriching the conversation on this much-celebrated and deeply resonant body of work.

The Taylor Mac Book is an overdue encomium to the work of an artist who defines the cutting edge in theater, performance, and the interpretation of American song. With maximalist exuberance and impish daring, Taylor Mac has revived the fortunes of queer aesthetics for our parlous times. How great that now we all get to hang out with judy and the crew in this deliriously welcome collection of essays." —Tavia Nyong’o, Yale University

"This book is a joy to read, conveying the spirit, mischief, and intellect of Taylor Mac’s work and reflecting its genius and complexity. The mix of topics and styles is well suited to the multifaceted nature of Mac’s work and also makes for engaged reading." —Jennifer Parker-Starbuck, Royal Holloway, University of London

ISBN: 9780472075270

Dimensions: 230mm x 151mm x 23mm

Weight: 930g

320 pages