HERE Arts Center Presents Two Taylor Mac Productions

The all-new fully renovated HERE Arts Center proudly presents two productions from Taylor Mac, which will run in repertory from July 8 – August 2.  This special limited engagement marks the first fully mounted production of the international success The Be(A)st of Taylor Mac, playing in conjunction with an encore presentation of the critically acclaimed The Young Ladies Of, which enjoyed a hit run at HERE Arts Center in Fall 2007.
 
The Be(A)st of Taylor Mac:
Becoming a flamboyant chameleon of words, music and sociopolitical tirades, Mac explores the human condition and challenges the contemporary culture of fear.  This work has been seen in over 40 theatres worldwide including the Sydney Opera House, The Public Theatre (Under the Radar Festival), London's Soho theatre, Stockholm's Sodra Teatern, Dublin's Project Arts Center, Portland's Time Based Arts Festival, Seattle's Bumbershoot Festival and most recently at The Spoleto Festival, where the show enjoyed a sold-out run and extension.
 
The Young Ladies Of:
While stationed in Vietnam in 1968, Taylor Mac's father, then a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army, placed an advertisement in an Australian newspaper asking women ages 19-26 to write him.  He was soon flooded with letters of response from hundreds of young ladies anxious to meet Lt. Mac while he took his leave in Sydney.  Almost 30 years after his father's death, Mac has unearthed these letters, which along with his own text, songs and projections creates a conversation exploring patriarchy, war, romance and fatherhood.  Mac illustrates his Texan father's military life in 1960s Vietnam as well as his own life as a New York City gender-bending performance artist, striving to reconcile the differences between masculinity and femininity, past and present, and red and blue states.  The Young Ladies Of drew outstanding reviews in its original run at HERE Arts Center (September 26 -October 19, 2007).  The New York Times wrote, "Brash originality…the show dazzles," and Time Out New York remarked "utterly fabulous." It has since toured throughout Sweden, playing to sold-out houses.

Taylor Mac is a theater artist who has been creating both solo and large ensemble plays in New York and around the world for the last fifteen years.  In 2007 The Village Voice, Time Out, and The New York Press named him one of New York's Best. As a guest performer Taylor has worked solo for the BBC as well as for Fischerspooner, Nina Hagen, The Dresden Dolls, the Olivier Award winning C'est Duckie, Weimar NY, (at Joe's Pub, The Spiegletent, and the San Francisco MOMA), and in literally hundreds of other venues and shows.  He has acted in many original plays, dozens of revivals, and in the Sci-Fi Channel feature Crimson Force (playing a Martian named Zu).   Vintage Press, New York Theatre Review, and New York Theatre Experience have published his plays and he is the recipient of a Rockefeller MAP Grant, The Edinburgh Festival's Herald Angel Award, a GLAAD Media Award Nomination, three Brighton Best of Festival awards, PS 122's Ethyl Eichelberger award, a New York State Council of The Arts Grant, an Edward Albee Foundation Residency, The Franklin Furnace Grant, a Peter S. Reed Grant, The Ensemble Studio Theatre's New Voices Fellowship in playwriting, A Mabou Mines Suite (with collaborator Elizabeth Swados), is currently a HERE Arts Center Resident Artist and a member of New Dramatists.  Taylor's upcoming projects include the creation of a two-man show with Mandy Patinkin and himself (co-created with Mr. Patinkin, Rachel Chavkin, and Paul Ford), and his 40-member ensemble epic-extravaganza The Lily's Revenge.
 
Since 1993, the OBIE-winning HERE Arts Center has been a premier arts organization in NYC and a leader in the field of new, hybrid performance work.  Under leadership of Founding Artistic Director Kristin Marting and Producing Director Kim Whitener, HERE has served over 12,100 emerging to mid-career artists developing work that does not fit a conventional programming agenda.  Work presented at HERE has garnered 11 OBIE awards, an OBIE grant for artistic achievement, three Drama Desk nominations, two Berrilla Kerr Awards, two NY Innovative Theatre Awards, an Edwin Booth Award and a Pulitzer Prize nomination.  HERE proudly supports artists at all stages in their careers through full productions, artist residency programs, festivals and subsidized performance and rehearsal space.  Work at HERE is curated based on the strength and uniqueness of the artist's vision. HERE's Artist Residency Program (HARP) provides development, commissions and full production for up to 20 artists over one-to-three years.
 
In 2005, with the support of the FJC, a foundation of donor advised funds, Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the City of New York, HERE Arts Center purchased its longtime home as part of a five-year "Secure HERE's Future" campaign.  Full-scale renovations are now complete, marked by a ribbon-cutting ceremony on June 3, 2008.  In an exciting launch of the brand new space, HERE Arts Center is presenting Arias with a Twist starring Joey Arias and Basil Twist and Aya Ogawa's oph3lia (both opening June 2008) and will celebrate with a gala "HERE and Now" on June 16, 2008.  Thanks to generous support from the City of New York, HERE is poised to continue and expand its role as a downtown haven for the finest emerging art.  Offering a comfortable, eclectic setting for artists and audiences alike, HERE offers a new and improved café/gallery and two state-of-the-art performance spaces.
 
The Be(A)st of Taylor Mac will play in repertory with The Young Ladies Of from July 8–August 2 at HERE Arts Center (145 Sixth Avenue, one block below Spring Street), kicking off with The Be(A)st of Taylor Mac on July 8.  The first performance of The Young Ladies Of is July 9. Performances at 7:30 PM.  
 
Tickets are $20 and $35 ($18 for students with valid ID).  Tickets are available at www.here.org, by phone at (212) 352-3101 or at the HERE Box Office (4 PM until curtain on show days).  For more info, please visit www.here.org.

To post a comment, you must register and login.