Taylor Mac's A 24 DECADE HISTORY OF POPULAR MUSIC: 1900-1950s Runs Now thru 1/25 as Part of Under the Radar

Theater artist Taylor Mac makes his New York Live Arts debut with A 24-Decade History of Popular Music: 1900-1950s, presented by New York Live Arts as part of The Public Theater's Under the Radar Festival, today, January 13-25, 2015.

Featuring the world premiere of the 1950s decade (commissioned specially for the Live Arts stage), the run features six decades over three programs, culminating in a six-hour, six-decade marathon performance on January 25. A 24-Decade History of Popular Music: 1900-1950s is the longest portion presented to date from Mac's remarkably ambitious project: a unique mash-up of music, history, performance and art that will reach its zenith in a 24-hour concert spectacle covering the last 240 years of popular music in America.

In A 24-Decade History of Popular Music: 1900-1950s, Mac will be accompanied by a live band, dancing beauties and special guests. The work is a performative ritual that uses popular music from the first half of the 20th Century-devoting one hour to each individual decade-to build a community of artists and audiences. In conjunction with the Live Arts performances, Mac's collaborator and designer Machine Dazzle will transform the Live Arts lobby, giving further context to the work with commissioned décor. Other collaborators include Musical Director Matt Ray, Co-Director Niegel Smith and Lighting Designer John Torres.

The 1900-1920s will commence the Live Arts run tonight, January 13, 14, 16 and 17 at 7:30pm. Presenting the first three decades of the 20th century in one performance, Mac uses the 1900s to explore the popular music of New York City's Jewish Tenements; the 1910s to expatiate on the birth of modern cynicism and The Great War; and the 1920s to probe cultural phenomena including the zeitgeist disconnection and James Joyce's Ulysses.

The 1930-1950s continues Mac's run on January 19, 20, 22 and 23 at 7:30pm. In this performance, the 1930s delves into the music and ironic joy of The Great Depression; the 1940s offers lessons in war and melodrama, Hollywood-style; and the 1950s (the newest of all the decades presented at Live Arts) grapples with America's perpetual state of either preparing for or recovering from war.

The 1900-1950s marathon on January 25 marks the first time Mac will perform these decades together in sequence. The New York Live Arts engagement offers the unique opportunity to view and participate in each decade back-to-back. The audience is encouraged to stay and enjoy each hour in full, but will have the opportunity to enjoy refreshments from the Live Gallery Café or take breaks as needed throughout the six-decade marathon.

A 24-Decade History of Popular Music: 1950s is commissioned by New York Live Arts and made possible, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts and contributors to the Dance Theater Workshop Commissioning Fund at New York Live Arts. This presentation of A 24-Decade History of Popular Music: 1900s-1950s is made possible, in part, by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Taylor Mac's The 1910s was commissioned by Carolina Performing Arts, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Taylor Mac's 24 Decade History of Popular Music is produced by Pomegranate Arts.

Performances will take place in New York Live Arts' Theater. Tickets start at $40 with select $15 seats available; tickets for the Jan 25 six-decade marathon are $75. Tickets may be purchased online at newyorklivearts/season, by phone at 212-924-0077 and in person at the box office. Box office hours are Monday to Friday from 1 to 9pm, and Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 9pm.

Taylor Mac is a theater artist (who uses the gender pronoun, judy) which means judy's a playwright, actor, singer-songwriter, cabaret performer, performance artist, director and producer. TimeOut New York has called Mac "One of the most exciting theater artists of our time" (naming judy the best cabaret performer in New York in 2012, and a future theater legend). American Theater Magazine says, "Mac is one of this country's most heroic and disarmingly funny playwrights. The New Yorker says (of Mac's acting in the title role of Brecht's Good Person of Szechwan), "One of contemporary theater's more unforgettable performances." The Village Voice named judy the best theater actor in New York (2013), and The New York Times says of Mac in general, "Fabulousness can come in many forms, and Taylor Mac seems intent on assuming every one of them." 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, London's Soho Theatre and literally hundreds of 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. Mac is also currently creating and performing sections from a durational concert called A 24-Decade History of Popular Music, sections of which have been performed for Lincoln Center, The Under The Radar Festival at the Public Theater and Joe's Pub and Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art (among many others). Playscripts, Vintage Press, New York Theatre Review, and New York Theatre Experience have published judy's plays and 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 (Designer) (né Matthew Flower) 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. Machine'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. Dazzle 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.

Niegel Smith (Co-Director) is a performance artist and theater director. His theater work has been produced by The Public Theater, Classical Theatre of Harlem, Magic Theatre, HERE Arts Center, Hip Hop Theatre Festival, Summer Play Festival, New York Fringe Festival and the Phoenix Theatre Ensemble, and his walks have been produced by Elastic City, American Realness, the Prelude Festival, Abrons Arts Center, Visual AIDS, the Van Alen Institute and PS 122. He often collaborates with artist Todd Shalom. Together, they conceive and stage interactive performances in public and private environments. Smith was the associate director of the Tony Award-winning musical FELA! - restaging that production in London, Lagos and its world tour, assistant directed the off-Broadway production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and both the Broadway and off-Broadway productions of Tony Kushner's Caroline, or Change. He has worked on the artistic staffs of The Public Theater, Trinity Repertory Company and Providence Black Rep and is a 35th Anniversary Artist-in-Residence at Second Stage Theatre.

Matt Ray (Musical Director/Pianist) can be seen in some of New York's best venues where he performs nightly either fronting his own band, or accompanying some of the city's most dynamic performers. Recent work includes performing at Carnegie Hall with Kat Edmonson, music directing The Billie Holiday Project at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, string and piano arrangements for the fifth season finale of Showtime's Nurse Jackie, performances at Joe's Pub with Joey Arias, performing in Paris with Mx. Justin Vivian Bond and monthly gigs at Joe's Pub with Bridget Everett and the Tender Moments. Other recent work includes performing at the Edinburgh Fringe with Lady Rizo and touring the world with Taylor Mac's show A 20th Century History of Popular Music. In addition, Ray music directed and played piano in Taylor Mac's Obie award winning play The Lily's Revenge at the HERE Arts Center in New York. Ray has released two jazz albums as a leader: We Got It! (2001) and Lost In New York (2006); and one album of original pop/folk material called Songs For the Anonymous (2013).

John Torres (Lighting Designer)'s recent designs have included, I'm going to toss my arms, if you catch them they're yours (Chor: Trisha Brown, Theatre National de Chaillot, Paris) Watermill Quintet (In collaboration with Robert Wilson, Guggenheim New York), CorbinDances and Ballet Idaho. As an assistant, his recent projects have included work with Jennifer Tipton on: La Clemenza di Tito (Festival D'Aix, 2011) Pygmalion (Festival D'Aix 2010), L'Histoire du Soldat (New York, 2011), Second Visit to the Empress (Lincoln Center Festival, 2005) and Winterreise (Lincoln Center Festival, 2002). Torres was the production manager and lighting director for the Trisha Brown Dance Company from 2002-2010.

About The Public Theater's Under the Radar Festival - Celebrating its 11th year, The Public Theater's Under the Radar (UTR) Festival is an explosively diverse festival of new theater from the U.S. and around the world that spotlights artists ranging from emerging talents to masters in the field. The popular downtown festival offers a crash course in theater that is exciting, independent and experimental, created by some of the most dynamic artists working today. Taylor Mac's A 24-Decade History of Popular Music has been supported in part by Joe's Pub at The Public since 2012 and this is the third time Mac has been part of the UTR Festival. Under the Radar is made possible with the generous support of The Howard Gilman Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation.

ABOUT NEW YORK LIVE ARTS - New York Live Arts is an internationally recognized destination for innovative movement-based artistry offering audiences access to art and artists notable for their conceptual rigor, formal experimentation and active engagement with the social, political and cultural currents of our times. At the center of this identity is Bill T. Jones, Executive Artistic Director, a world-renowned choreographer, dancer, theater director and writer.

We commission, produce and present performances in our 20,000 square foot home, which includes a 184-seat theater and two 1,200 square foot studios that can be combined into one large studio. New York Live Arts serves as home base for the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, provides an extensive range of participatory programs for adults and young people and supports the continuing professional development of artists.?

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