Taylor Mac's THE FRE Receives MAP Fund Grant; Accepted to Sundance Theatre Lab

Performance artist Taylor Mac is constantly in creative development, but Children's Theatre Company (CTC) charged him with a first - to create an engaging theatrical piece for a multigenerational audience. His work has been seen and praised at theatres, art institutes, and festivals around the world. He was named best cabaret performer of 2012 by Time Out NY. His new theatrical experience The Fre was one of 41 projects nationwide to be honored with a grant from the MAP Fund, receiving $35,000. The Fre is also one of seven projects selected for The Sundance Institute 2013 Theatre Lab. CTC Artistic Director Peter Brosius claims, "Taylor is fearless and one of the most creative forces in American theatre today; to have this energy, his heart, and his radical vision on our stage is absolutely thrilling."

Taylor Mac's five-act phantasmagoria The Lily's Revenge which he conceived and performed was named one of the best plays of 2009. Brosius describes Lily's Revenge as, "a life-changing theatrical moment." His work defies boundaries with its extraordinary level of audience participation and engagement. CTC approached Mac to lend his interactive approach to the development of a project for teens. What Mac developed was a queer love story of a young man who decided to give up hope for the world to find a more ideal world. With this project, CTC is the only theatre for young audiences to be distinguished with a MAP Fund grant or entry into the Sundance Theatre Lab this year.

The Fre is a postmodern adaptation of Greek comedy writer Aristophane's classic The Frogs. It is the story of an intellectual aesthete, who is trapped inside a mud pit in the middle of a swamp, and his desperate attempt at escaping the swamp's fatuous inhabitants who call themselves, the Fre. The Fre offers both performers and audience members the opportunity to abandon abstract, idealistic pursuits and reclaim their humanity and happiness by literally and figuratively wallowing in the mud. The story celebrates the range of human experience, and questions accepted notions of what it means to behave correctly (sexually, morally, and intellectually).

Taylor Mac explains, "The Fre is my attempt to give my thirteen-year-old self the play he wished for. My favorite part of my collaboration with CTC so far was when I said I wanted to do a play set in an actual mud pit and that they would probably want to perform it outside somewhere (or their theater would get caked in mud)--and understanding that creating a mud pit inside a space that is normally so clean would be way more fun than in a space that is already filthy--they said, "Let's do it in the big house". My thirteen-year-old self, and I think yours too, is going to flip out."

Since 1998, the MAP Fund has supported innovation and cross-cultural exploration in theater, dance and music. The MAP Fund is a program of Creative Capital, primarily supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Additional funds come from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The Sundance Theatre Lab is the centerpiece of The Sundance Institute's Theatre Program's year-round work and is designed to support emerging and established artists. The Fre will continue to be developed for potential production at Children's Theatre Company in an upcoming season. For more information on the visionary work of Taylor Mac visit taylormac.net.

Children's Theatre Company (CTC) is the first theatre for young people to win the coveted Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theater (2003). Founded in 1965, CTC serves more than 250,000 people annually and is one of the 20 largest theater companies in the nation. The company is noted for defining worldwide standards for youth theatre with an innovative mix of classic tales, celebrated international productions and challenging new work.

Photo Credit: Amy Touchette

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