Raising Voices Presents
24-Decade History of Popular Music: Documentary & Discussion with Taylor Mac
Rich with stunning musical performances, the documentary Taylor Mac’s 24-Decade History of Popular Music captures the 24-hour immersive theatrical experience that Taylor Mac performed in 2016. The one-time-only concert offered an alternative take on United States history, narrated through popular music performed by Mac, and accompanied by a 24-piece orchestra, in elaborate, decade-specific costumes by longtime-collaborator Machine Dazzle. On Saturday, September 23, watch the captivating documentary of this performance at Old South Meeting House and meet Taylor Mac in person!
Taylor Mac's 24-Decade History of Popular Music showcases Mac’s marathon performance of 24 songs at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, alongside footage from other shows on the 2016 tour throughout the world. The documentary of the performance reframes American history through popular songs from 1776 through 2016—from “Yankee Doodle” to “Gimme Shelter,” “Born to Run,” and Flashdance’s “Gloria.” Featuring surprising and revelatory historical interpretation, comedic banter, and audience interaction, the musical performance is intercut with intimate off-stage interviews with Mac and his closest collaborators.
Join Revolutionary Spaces at Old South Meeting House for this special screening of Taylor Mac's 24-Decade History of Popular Music followed by an engaging discussion and audience Q&A with Mac. Doors will open at 7:00 PM and the documentary will begin at 7:30 PM (Runtime: 1 hour and 46 minute).
About Taylor Mac
Taylor Mac (who uses the gender pronoun "judy") is a theater artist whose work has been performed at New York City's Town Hall, Lincoln Center, and Playwrights Horizons; London's Hackney Empire and Barbican; D.C.'s Kennedy Center; Los Angeles's Royce Hall and Ace Theater (through the Center for the Art of Performance); Chicago's Steppenwolf; Australia's Sydney Opera House and Melbourne Festival; Stockholm's Sodra Teatern; San Francisco's Curran; and hundreds of other theaters, museums, music halls, opera houses, cabarets, and festivals around the globe. Mac is the author of 17 full-length works of theater including A 24-Decade History of Popular Music, Hir, The Walk Across America for Mother Earth, The Lily's Revenge, The Young Ladies Of, Red Tide Blooming, and The Be(A)st of Taylor Mac.
Mac has acted in other people's plays or co-creations, notably: Good Person of Szechwan (La Mama and The Public Theater), A Midsummer's Night Dream (Classic Stage Company), and The Last Two People on Earth (American Repertory Theater), a two-person vaudeville opposite Mandy Patinkin and directed by Susan Stroman.
The first American to receive the International Ibsen Award, Mac is a MacArthur Fellow, a Pulitzer Prize Finalist, a Tony nominee for Best Play, and the recipient of the Kennedy Prize, the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, a Guggenheim, the Herb Alpert Award, a Drama League Award, the Helen Merrill Playwriting Award, the Booth, two Helpmann Awards, a NY Drama Critics Circle Award, two Obie’s, two Bessies, and an Ethyl Eichelberger. An alumnus of New Dramatists, judy is currently the resident playwright at the Here Arts Center.
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Old South Meeting House
Boston Tea Party 250th Anniversary
Revolutionary Spaces thanks our Boston Tea Party 250th Anniversary Commemoration Transformational Partner Meet Boston Foundation for supporting transformational experiences in this critical anniversary year.