Taylor Mac

Mac was born Taylor Mac Bowyer in Laguna Beach, California{{cite web|url=http://www.californiabirthindex.org/birth/taylor_m_bowyer_born_1973_11864167|work=California Birth Index| title=Taylor M Bowyer, Born 08/24/1973 in California|accessdate=August 6, 2016}} and raised in Stockton, the child of Joy Aldrich and Vietnam War veteran Lt. Robert Mac Bowyer.{{cite web|url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-taylor-mac-lgbt-20160311-story.html|work=The Los Angeles Times|title=For Taylor Mac, the stage show is just part of the fight for the LGBT community|date=March 11, 2016|accessdate=August 7, 2016|author=Anderson, Trevell}} Mac's mother opened a private art school that influenced Mac's early aesthetic by embracing collage and teaching students to build from mistakes rather than attempt to erase them.Svich, Caridad. "Glamming it Up with Taylor Mac." American Theatre. November 2008. Mac moved to New York in 1994 to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. After graduation, Mac began working as an actor and wrote the plays The Hot Month (1999), The Levee (2000), and The Face of Liberalism (2003).Edgecomb, Sean F. (2012) "The Ridiculous Performance of Taylor Mac." Theatre Journal. Volume 64, Number 4. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012. pp. 549–563.

Mac's work has been described as a fight against conformity and categorization.Fitzgerald, James. (2010) "The Lily's Revenge." Theatre Journal. Volume 62, Number 3. pp. 457–458 It draws on forms such as commedia dell'arte, contemporary musical theater, and drag performance, and Mac has noted Charles Ludlam, the Theater of the Ridiculous, and theatrical history reaching back to Greek theater as professional influences.Taylor Mac. "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6jafZ93k2Y Taylor Mac]. Interview for Theaterjones.com. Video by Mark Lowry. 2010. Mac's work has been performed at New York City's Lincoln Center, the Public Theater, the Sydney Opera House, American Repertory Theatre, Stockholm's Södra Theatern, the Spoleto Festival, and many other venues both in the United States and internationally.

Mac is a self-described "fool" and "collagist" who puts together forms and costumes to create a complex and sometimes contradictory look and sound.Svich, Caridad. "Glamming it Up with Taylor Mac." American Theatre. November 2008. Mac has resisted categorization by the press: after being described as Ziggy Stardust meets Tiny Tim, Mac created the show Comparison Is Violence, or the Ziggy Stardust Meets Tiny Tim Songbook.Armstrong-Morris, Greg. "The incomparable Taylor Mac" XTRA! Pink Triangle Press. January 26, 2012.

Mac toured Europe with the plays The Be(A)st of Taylor Mac and The Young Ladies Of. Mac then developed The Lily's Revenge, combination of "camp extravaganza" and "comic self-deprecation" centered on the hero's journey of a lily that uproots itself to fight against nostalgia.Svich, Caridad. "Glamming it Up with Taylor Mac." American Theatre. November 2008. The Lily's Revenge played at HERE Arts Center with Taylor Mac as the Lily.

File:Taylor Mac Celebrate Brooklyn August 1st 2015.JPG in 2015]]

In 2014, for Mac's performance in the Foundry Theater's production of Bertolt Brecht's Good Person of Szechwan, Mac was nominated for the Lucille Lortel Outstanding Lead Actor Award and the Drama League Distinguished Performance Award. Mac also starred in Classic Stage Company's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Taylor Mac also created and hosted the political vaudeville Live Patriot Acts: Patriots Gone Wiiiiildd!, performed at the same time as the Republican National Convention in 2004.{{Cite web|url=http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/live-patriot-acts-patriots-gone-wiiiiild/|title=Live Patriot Acts: Patriots Gone Wiiiiild!|website=TAYLOR MAC|language=en-US|access-date=April 10, 2016|date=July 2, 2014|archive-date=April 27, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160427004338/http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/live-patriot-acts-patriots-gone-wiiiiild/|url-status=dead}}

Since at least 2012, Mac and musical director/arranger Matt Ray developed A 24-Decade History of Popular Music, a performance that covers music popular in the United States from 1776 to the 2016, with one hour dedicated to each decade with a corresponding costume designed by long-time collaborator Machine Dazzle. This work culminated in a 24-hour performance on October 8–9, 2016 with one hour dedicated to each decade.{{cite news |last=Weiss |first=Sasha |date=April 2, 2019 |title=Taylor Mac Wants Theater to Make You Uncomfortable |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/02/magazine/taylor-mac-gary-broadway.html |work=The New York Times Magazine |location=NY, NY |access-date=February 11, 2020 }}"[http://www.studio360.org/story/taylor-mac-history-american-pop-music-24-hours/ Taylor Mac's History of American Pop Music in 24 Hours]." Kurt Andersen, Interviewer. Aired August 22, 2014. Accessed July 9, 2015. Wesley Morris of the New York Times said of the 24-hour concert, "Mr. Mac gave me one of the great experiences of my life. I've slept on it, and I'm sure. It wasn't simply the physical feat. Although, come on: 246 songs spanning 240 years for 24 straight hours, including small breaks for him to eat, hydrate and use the loo, and starting in 1776 with a great-big band and ending with Mac, alone in 2016, doing original songs on piano and ukulele."Morris, Wesley [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/11/theater/review-taylor-macs-24-hour-concert-was-one-of-the-great-experiences-of-my-life.html Review: Taylor Mac's 24-Hour Concert Was One of the Great Experiences of My Life] New York Times. October 11, 2016 In 2017, the performance was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.{{cite web|title=Finalist: A 24-Decade History of Popular Music, by Taylor Mac|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/taylor-mac|website=www.pulitzer.org|accessdate=September 2, 2017|language=en}} It appeared fifth on a list by The Guardian writers of the best theatrical works since 2000.{{Cite news|last1=Billington|first1=Michael|last2=Soloski|first2=Alexis|last3=Love|first3=Catherine|last4=Fisher|first4=Mark|last5=Wiegand|first5=Chris|date=September 1, 2019|title=The 50 best theatre shows of the 21st century|language=en-GB|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/sep/17/the-50-best-theatre-shows-of-the-21st-century|access-date=June 11, 2020|issn=0261-3077}} On October 29, 2018, in the run-up to the 2018 midterm elections, Taylor Mac performed a cover of Patti Smith's 'People Have the Power' after appearing as guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.{{Citation|last=The Late Show with Stephen Colbert|title=Taylor Mac Performs 'People Have The Power'|date=October 3, 2018|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joTwxlOEQVA|access-date=November 1, 2018}}

In 2019, Mac's first Broadway play, Gary, A Sequel to Titus Andronicus, premiered April 11 starring Nathan Lane in the title role.{{Cite news|last=Paulson|first=Michael|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/theater/taylor-macs-gary-will-close-early-on-broadway.html|title=Taylor Mac's 'Gary' Will Close Early on Broadway|date=June 1, 2019|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 14, 2020|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} The conceit is a look at who has to clean up all the dead bodies after the carnage of Shakespeare's play Titus Andronicus—in which almost everyone is murdered. The black comedy closed in June 2019 after both praising and panning reviews.

In 2020 during the COVID-19, Mac conceived of a socially distanced virtual show entitled Holiday Sauce … Pandemic!. Clad in Giuseppe Arcimboldo costume and inspired make up, Mac hosted a series of live and pre-recorded vignettes. The broadcast was filmed at the Park Avenue Armory and commissioned by the Norwegian Ministry of Culture and the National Theater of Oslo as part of the Ibsen Festival.{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/theater/taylor-mac-meet-me-in-st-louis.html | title=Holiday Cheer, Spiked or Straight | newspaper=The New York Times | date=December 15, 2020 | last1=Collins-Hughes | first1=Laura }}

In 2022, Mac was featured in the book 50 Key Figures in Queer US Theatre, with a profile written by theatre scholar Sean F. Edgecomb.{{Cite book |last=Edgecomb |first=Sean F. |title=50 Key Figures in Queer US Theatre |publisher=Routledge |year=2022 |isbn=978-1032067964 |editor-last=Noriega and Schildcrout |pages=146–150 |chapter=Taylor Mac}}

Mac uses "judy" (lowercase) as a gender pronoun.{{Cite web|url=http://www.taylormac.org/about/|title=about|website=TAYLOR MAC|language=en-US|access-date=April 10, 2016|date=July 1, 2014|archive-date=April 13, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413082231/http://www.taylormac.org/about/|url-status=dead}}{{cite news |last1=Needham |first1=Alex |title=Taylor Mac on queering history: 'Someone like me doesn't normally get to represent America' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/sep/13/taylor-mac-on-queering-history-someone-like-me-doesnt-normally-get-to-represent-america |accessdate=April 4, 2019 |work=The Guardian |date=September 12, 2017}} According to a 2018 Washington Post profile, "Mac is fine with he."{{cite news |last=Heller |first=Karen |title=Taylor Mac defies all comparisons and adjectives.|date=2018-02-22 |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/taylor-macs-theatrical-vision-is-big-audacious-and-glittery/2018/02/22/40affa18-10da-11e8-9065-e55346f6de81_story.html |access-date=2022-05-18}} Mac has been influenced by the Radical Faeries and invokes "Radical Faerie realness ritual" during performances.{{cite web | last=Pandolfi | first=Elizabeth | title=Radical fairy realness rituals: That's what happens at a Taylor Mac show | website=Charleston City Paper | date=June 4, 2015 | url=https://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/Spoletobuzz/archives/2015/06/04/spoleto-overview-radical-fairy-realness-rituals | access-date=December 16, 2019}}{{cite web | last=Barmann | first=Jay | title=Taylor Mac discusses SF inspiration for A 24-Decade History of Popular Music | website=SFist | date=September 1, 2017 | url=https://sfist.com/2017/09/15/video_taylor_mac_discusses_his_sf_i/ | access-date=December 16, 2019 | archive-date=September 20, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200920115535/https://sfist.com/2017/09/15/video_taylor_mac_discusses_his_sf_i/ | url-status=dead }}

• Tony Award Nominee for Best Play – Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus (2019) {{cite web|url=https://www.tonyawards.com/shows/gary-sequel-titus-andronicus/|title=Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus|year=2019|publisher=Tony Awards}}
• Drama League Award (2019) for Unique Contribution to the Theatre{{cite web | title=85th Annual Drama League Awards (May 17, 2019) | website=Drama League | url=http://dramaleague.org/events/awards/nominees19 | access-date=January 27, 2020 | archive-date=April 23, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190423230033/http://dramaleague.org/events/awards/nominees19 | url-status=dead }}
• MacArthur Genius Grant (2017)
• Finalist for Pulitzer Prize for Drama (2017)
• Special Citation Obie Award (2017){{Cite news|url=http://www.obieawards.com/events/year-2017/|title=2017 {{!}} Obie Awards|work=Obie Awards|access-date=October 11, 2017|language=en-US|archive-date=March 15, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170315121855/http://www.obieawards.com/events/year-2017/|url-status=dead}}
• Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History (2016)
• Guggenheim Award (2016)
• Doris Duke Award (2016)
• Mellon Foundation Playwright in Resident at Here Arts Center (2016–2019)
• Herb Alpert Award in the Arts (2015)
• Ethyl Eichelberger Award
• Peter Zeisler Memorial Award
• Helen Merrill Playwriting Award{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/20/arts/helen-merrill-theatrical-agent-dies-at-79.html | title=Helen Merrill, Theatrical Agent, Dies at 79 | newspaper=The New York Times | date=August 20, 1997 | last1=Gussow | first1=Mel }}
• Sundance Theater Lab Residency (2-time winner)
• Rockefeller MAP Grant (3-time winner)
• Creative Capital Award
• New York State Council of The Arts Grant
• Massachusetts Council of the Arts Grant
• Edward Albee Foundation Residency
• The Franklin Furnace Grant
• Peter S. Reed Grant
• HERE Arts Center Resident Artist
• New Dramatists Resident Playwright
• New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect
• International Ibsen Award 2020{{Cite web |date=October 8, 2020 |title=Taylor Mac Wins International Ibsen Award |url=https://www.americantheatre.org/2020/10/08/taylor-mac-wins-international-ibsen-award/ |access-date=December 13, 2020 |website=americantheatre.org}}

• Dilating – A set of four one acts including Okay (a black comedy), Maurizio Pollini (the genre of "interlocked happening"), The Levee (a kitchen-sink drama), and A Crevice (an absurdist farce). All four of these one acts have the common theme of pregnancy.{{Cite web|url=http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/dilating-2/|title=Dilating|website=TAYLOR MAC|language=en-US|access-date=April 10, 2016|archive-date=April 26, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426154714/http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/dilating-2/|url-status=dead}}
• The Holy Virgin Mary of Our Time – with music by Edward Ficklin. Based on the true events surrounding the "sensation art exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum and "The Holy Virgin Mary" elephant dung controversy.{{Cite web|url=http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/the-holy-virgin-mary-of-our-time/|title=The Holy Virgin Mary Of Our Time|website=TAYLOR MAC|language=en-US|access-date=April 10, 2016|archive-date=April 26, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426211157/http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/the-holy-virgin-mary-of-our-time/|url-status=dead}}
• Peace – co-written with Rachel Chavkin. A one act adaptation of the Aristophanes play of the same name.{{Cite web|url=http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/peace/|title=Peace|website=TAYLOR MAC|language=en-US|access-date=April 10, 2016|archive-date=April 26, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426194235/http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/peace/|url-status=dead}}
• Mornings – a play about a man's attempt to perform his morning masturbation ritual. Originally written for the performance art play "Cardiac Arrest or venus on a Half-Clam" Now included in The Be(A)st of Taylor Mac.{{Cite web|url=http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/mornings/|title=Mornings|website=TAYLOR MAC|language=en-US|access-date=April 10, 2016|archive-date=April 26, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426230634/http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/mornings/|url-status=dead}}
• An Oblation
• The Dying Sentimentalist – commissioned by Arena Stage and premiered there in 2014 as a part of the "Our War" monologue collection about the Civil War.{{Cite web|url=http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/the-dying-sentimentalist/|title=The Dying Sentimentalist|website=TAYLOR MAC|language=en-US|access-date=April 10, 2016|archive-date=April 27, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160427005842/http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/the-dying-sentimentalist/|url-status=dead}}
• The Hot Month – produced by Boomerang Theatre Company in 2003 on Center Stage. Addresses issues of time and love in a story about a woman, her brother, and his lover.{{Cite web|url=http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/the-hot-month/|title=The Hot Month|website=TAYLOR MAC|language=en-US|access-date=April 10, 2016|date=July 2, 2014|archive-date=April 26, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426211153/http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/the-hot-month/|url-status=dead}}
• The Lily's Revenge – Created as part of HARP and premiered in the fall of 2009. Inspired by the arguments of tradition and nostalgia as an argument for discrimination and anti-gay marriage agendas. The music was composed by collaborator Rachelle Garniez.{{Cite web|url=http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/the-lilys-revenge/|title=The Lily's Revenge|website=TAYLOR MAC|language=en-US|access-date=April 10, 2016|date=July 2, 2014|archive-date=March 21, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160321230559/http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/the-lilys-revenge/|url-status=dead}}
• The Walk Across America for Mother Earth – a modern-day commedia dell'arte play about a group of anarchists protests against nuclear proliferation. Music by Ellen Maddow. Presented by La MaMa E.T.C. in association with the Talking Band in 2011.{{Cite web|url=http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/the-walk-across-america-for-mother-earth/|title=The Walk Across America for Mother Earth|website=TAYLOR MAC|language=en-US|access-date=April 10, 2016|date=July 2, 2014|archive-date=February 8, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160208144829/http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/the-walk-across-america-for-mother-earth/|url-status=dead}}
• The Young Ladies Of – Based on letters written to Taylor's father after he placed an ad asking young ladies to write to him while he was stationed in Vietnam in 1968. Thousands replied to this ad. Combined with Taylor's own text, these letters create a conversation about patriarchy, war, romance, and fatherhood. Premiered at the HERE Arts Center.{{Cite web|url=http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/the-young-ladies-of/|title=The Young Ladies Of|website=TAYLOR MAC|language=en-US|access-date=April 10, 2016|date=July 2, 2014|archive-date=April 8, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408195533/http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/the-young-ladies-of/|url-status=dead}}
• Red Tide Blooming – a musical celebration of freak-hood. Premiered at PS 122.{{Cite web|url=http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/red-tide-blooming/|title=Red Tide Blooming|website=TAYLOR MAC|language=en-US|access-date=April 10, 2016|date=July 2, 2014|archive-date=April 26, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426215344/http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/red-tide-blooming/|url-status=dead}}
• Cardiac Arrest or Venus on a Half-Clam – written, performed, directed, and designed by Taylor Mac. Premiered at FEZ and subsequently headlined the Queer at HERE festival in 2004. Used Taylor's failing love life as a metaphor for the war on terror.{{Cite web|url=http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/cardiac-arrest-or-venus-on-a-half-clam/|title=Cardiac Arrest or Venus on a Half-Clam|website=TAYLOR MAC|language=en-US|access-date=April 10, 2016|date=July 2, 2014|archive-date=April 26, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426185656/http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/cardiac-arrest-or-venus-on-a-half-clam/|url-status=dead}}
• The Be(A)st of Taylor Mac – premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2006 (produced by Paul Lucas) where it won a Herald Angel Award{{Cite news|url=https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-herald/20070403/282213711374361 |newspaper=The Herald |title=Changing lives with a ukulele |date=April 3, 2007}} and performed in various venues in New York City. This piece of work explores the human condition and challenges the contemporary culture of fear through gender-bending surrealism.{{Cite web|url=http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/the-beast-of-taylor-mac/|title=The Be(a)st of Taylor Mac|website=TAYLOR MAC|language=en-US|access-date=April 10, 2016|date=July 2, 2014|archive-date=April 24, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424004535/http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/the-beast-of-taylor-mac/|url-status=dead}}
• A 24-Decade History of Popular Music – Premiered at St. Ann's Warehouse in 2016, and subsequently toured around the world. Finalist for Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
• Mac's Dionysia Festival: four plays that are being premiered separately but will someday be premiered in an all day festival mirrored after the Greek Dionysia. All of these plays deal with our cultural polarization.
• Part I: The Fre – about an intellectual aesthete who gets trapped in a mud pit. This is Taylor's first All-Ages play. The Fre is written in the form of old comedy. Commissioned by the Children's Theatre Company where it was also developed and will soon premiere.{{Cite web|url=http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/the-fre/|title=The Fre|website=TAYLOR MAC|language=en-US|access-date=April 10, 2016|date=August 1, 2014|archive-date=April 13, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413115520/http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/the-fre/|url-status=dead}}
• Part II: Hir – a play about a dysfunctional family including a mad housewife, a transgender child, a son that spent three years in combat in Afghanistan, and a husband who had a stroke that left him nearly speechless. Produced by Playwrights Horizons in November 2015. Recognized among The New York Times top ten list for Best Theater of 2015.{{cite web|url=http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/hir/|title=Hir|website=TAYLOR MAC|language=English|accessdate=June 18, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190308195431/http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/hir/|archive-date=March 8, 2019|url-status=dead}}
• Part III: The Bourgeois Oligarch – The story of a gauche philanthropist as he prepares his acceptance speech. Commissioned by The A.R.T. and will premiere soon as a collaboration with the Boston Ballet.{{Cite web|url=http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/the-bourgeois-oligarch/|title=The Bourgeois Oligarch|website=TAYLOR MAC|language=en-US|access-date=April 10, 2016|date=September 2, 2014|archive-date=April 25, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425054653/http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/the-bourgeois-oligarch/|url-status=dead}}
• Part IV: Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus – Set during the fall of the Roman Empire (400 CE), the years of bloody battles are over, the country has been stolen by madmen, and there are casualties everywhere. And two very lowly servants are charged with cleaning up the bodies.{{Cite web| url=http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/gary-a-sequel-to-titus-andronicus/| title=Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus| date=December 1, 2017| access-date=October 17, 2018| archive-date=October 18, 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181018002956/http://www.taylormac.org/portfolio_page/gary-a-sequel-to-titus-andronicus/| url-status=dead}}

{{Reflist|3}}

• [http://www.taylormac.org/ Taylor Mac's website]
• [http://newdramatists.org/taylor-mac Biography] on the New Dramatists website
• [http://www.studio360.org/story/taylor-mac-history-american-pop-music-24-hours/ Interview] on WNYC's and Public Radio International's Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen
• {{IOBDB name|41311}}
• {{IBDB name}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mac, Taylor}}

Category:MacArthur Fellows

Category:21st-century American dramatists and playwrights

Category:21st-century American male actors

Category:1973 births

Category:American drag queens

Category:Songwriters from California

Category:Writers from Orange County, California

Category:Living people

Category:People from Laguna Beach, California

Category:American queer actors

Category:Radical Faeries members

Category:American LGBTQ singers

Category:American LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights

Category:Transgender dramatists and playwrights

Category:LGBTQ people from California

Category:Helpmann Award winners

Category:Non-binary singers

Category:American non-binary actors

Category:American non-binary musicians

Category:American non-binary writers

Category:Non-binary drag performers

Category:Non-binary dramatists and playwrights

Category:American Academy of Dramatic Arts alumni