Tony nominee and MacArthur “genius” grant recipient Taylor Mac joins us with Obie Award-winning composer, pianist, and longtime collaborator Matt Ray for a one-night-only concert.
Taylor Mac is a MacArthur Fellow, a Pulitzer Prize Finalist, a Tony nominee for Best Play, and the recipient of the International Ibsen Award. Selected works include: Bark of Millions (a fifty-five song—and counting—parade trance extravaganza for the living library of the deviant theme); A 24-Decade History of Popular Music (a 24-hour performance-art concert about communities building themselves because they’re torn apart); and An American Dionysia (four plays about the polarization of America: Prosperous Fools; The Fre; Gary; and Hir). The Emmy Award-winning concert-doc, Taylor Mac’s 24-Decade History of Popular Music, is currently streaming on HBO/Max.
Matt Ray is a composer, arranger, theater maker, pianist, singer, songwriter, and music director living in New York. He is a fixture of New York’s downtown cabaret and nightlife scene, having collaborated with luminaries such as Taylor Mac, Justin Vivian Bond, Bridget Everett, and Joey Arias. For his composition and music direction on he and Mac’s jazz-based theater piece The Hang (2022, HERE Arts Center), Matt received a 2023 Obie Award. The show also received 4 Drama Desk and 2 Drama League nominations, including a Drama Desk nomination for Matt Ray for Best Music. Other Ray and Mac collaborations include The Lily’s Revenge (2009, HERE Arts Center), Bark of Millions (2023, Sydney Opera House), and A 24-Decade History of Popular Music (2016, St. Anne’s Warehouse). For his work on 24-Decade, he and Mac shared the 2017 Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired By American History.
