Photos: Sierra Boggess, Taylor Mac and More in PROSPEROUS FOOLS at TFANA

Theatre for a New Audience is presenting Taylor Mac’s Prosperous Fools, directed by Darko Tresnjak. Prosperous Fools, very loosely inspired by Moliere’s 17TH Century classic Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, is a comedy of manners for an age with no manners. This dizzying satire unfolds during the leadup to a gala for an American not-for-profit dance company rehearsing excerpts from a ballet. Mac and a powerhouse ensemble cast perform a carnivalesque play within a play lampooning cultural philanthropy. See photos here!
 
Prosperous Fools’ company features seven actors, four dancers, and three musicians: Sierra Boggess as ####-###, Kaliswa Brewster as Intern, Aerina DeBoer as Pot-Bellied Child, Megumi Iwama as Muse #2, Taylor Mac as Artist, Jason O'Connell as $#@%$, Ian Paget as Prometheus Dancer, Jennifer Regan as Philanthropoid, Cara Seymour as Muse #3, Jennifer Smith as Stage Manager, and Em Stockwell as Muse #1.
 
With a different toolbox—an ensemble cast embodying the show’s spectrum of comedy genres (satire, farce, slapstick, clown show, and even mime act)—and a keen focus on the arts’ place in a system where the act of giving insulates avarice, Mac’s Prosperous Fools creates a pageant of sycophancy, desperation, and survival. But just as 24 Decade considered “who we Americans want to be,” Mac’s Prosperous Fools is likewise rooted in a gesture of hope about our future—harnessing queasy comedy to embolden transformative conversation. In Prosperous Fools, the artist takes on the role of the Artist, engaging in a giddy tug-of-war between ambition and principle while preparing the premiere of a dance performance honoring a billionaire (played by Jason O'Connell) and a humanitarian celebrity (played by Sierra Boggess).

Photo credit: Hollis King and Travis Emery Hackett