Taylor Mac News

Jobsite Theater is thrilled to offer the pitch-black family comedy HIR (pronounced "here") by Taylor Mac, March 9 - April 1, 2018 in the Shimberg Playhouse at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts where they are resident theater company.

UCLA's Center for the Art of Performance (CAP UCLA) presents the Kronos Quartet, tenor Rinde Eckert and Vietnamese instrumental virtuoso Van-Ánh Võ inMy Lai, composed by Jonathan Berger with libretto by Harriet Scott Chessman, at8 p.m. on Friday, March 9 at Royce Hall. Tickets for $29-$59 are now available online at cap.ucla.edu, via Ticketmaster, by phone 310-825-2101 and at the UCLA Central Ticket Office.

LIFT, London's biennial festival of international theatre, has today announced the full programme for June 2018 and beyond. David Binder, recently announced as Artistic Director of Brooklyn Academy of Music, curates a festival which spans disciplines and fearlessly plays with form. Through exploring London's local, national and international identity, LIFT opens doors to cultures from across the globe, celebrates shared humanity and challenges preconceptions.

SLATE Live has teamed up with Employee of the Month with Catie Lazarus to celebrate the ninth year anniversary of the talk show, which The New York Times calls as a "beloved downtown institution." On Thursday, March 15th, downtown darling Catie Lazarus will interview and honor comedian Hannibal Buress (30 Rock, Broad City), Tony Award-winning Broadway and (now film) music conductor and director Alex Lacamoire (Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, Incredibles II); actor Emily Mortimer (The Party, Marry Poppins, Newsroom), musical guest The Resistance Revival Chorus, fresh from The Grammy's with Kesha and the Women's March.

Talking Band are currently presenting the world premiere of Fusiform Gyrus - A Septet for Two Scientists and Five Horns, written and composed by OBIE Award winner Ellen Maddow, and directed by Ellie Heyman, running through February 25 at HERE, located at 145 6th Avenue (Enter on Dominick, 1 block south of Spring) in New York City.

Leonora Carrington (1917-2011), the Posthumously Celebrated Artist, Writer and Feminist, and Alejandro Jodorowsky, the Surrealist, Chilean Filmmaker, Inspire This Production Developed on Double Edge's Farm in Rural Western Massachusetts

Carole Shorenstein Hays announced today that single tickets are now available for Head Over Heels, the new musical comedy featuring the iconic songs of The Go-Go's-the most successful female rock band of all time. Directed by Tony Award winner Michael Mayer (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Spring Awakening), Head Over Heels will perform at the Curran (445 Geary St., San Francisco) April 10-May 6, 2018 ahead of its Broadway premiere (opening July 26 at Hudson Theatre).

SLAC's production of HIR is highly professional and top-notch, with three splendid satirical performances under Tracy Callahan's superb direction. The black comedy is great fun and deeply appreciated.

Talking Band will present the world premiere of Fusiform Gyrus - A Septet for Two Scientists and Five Horns, written and composed by OBIE Award winner Ellen Maddow, and directed by Ellie Heyman, running from February 7 - 25, 2018 in a limited engagement at HERE, located at 145 6th Avenue (Enter on Dominick, 1 block south of Spring) in New York City. Previews began February 7 for a February 13 opening.

Performance Space New York kicks off its East Village Series, contemplating the past, present, and future of the organization and its neighborhood, with Welcome to Lenapehoking (February 17, 4pm, Free), a partnership with the The Lenape Center, and Avant-Garde-Arama, the extravaganza of experimentation that's also the organization's longest-running program (February 18, 6pm, Free). Performance Space New York's Executive Artistic Director Jenny Schlenzka steps into her new curatorial role with these events honoring the neighborhood's original caretakers and the organization's own trailblazing roots, as springboards into an exhilarating new chapter.

BroadwayWorld has just learned that Oklahoma! is making its way back to New York. St. Ann's Warehouse and Eva Price will present a limited run of the Bard SummerScape production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!, directed by Daniel Fish.

The title, HIR, (again, pronounced "here") refers to a genderqueer pronoun. "It's not simply a reference to the character of Max," says David M. Jenkins, "but a commentary on what it is all four of these characters (and Mac as a playwright) are trying to do with masculinity. Mac sets up a very traditional, very familiar-feeling kitchen-sink play - one that is positively hilarious -- and then spins it on its axis, or maybe better stated tries to burn it all down. The style is described as "absurd realism," but the emphasis here is on the real. Mac requires that any absurdity in the show be driven by the reality of the situation, only moving to an absurd level because of the extreme circumstances." In an interview with the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago, where the show enjoyed a highly successful run after the New York engagement at Playwrights Horizons (and where Annie Baker's The Flick, produced earlier this year, also premiered), Taylor Mac says that he was highly inspired by Sam Shepard's groundbreaking Buried Child. "In addition to the Buried Child comparisons HIR has, in my estimation, taken its place alongside great American family dramas like Long Day's Journey into Night, The Little Foxes, A Raisin in the Sun, Death of a Salesman, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and Fences. It truly represents our day and age in ways audiences will continue to look back to for decades, if not centuries."

Brooklyn Academy of Music President Katy Clark today announced the appointment of David Binder as BAM artistic director. He succeeds long-time Executive Producer Joseph V. Melillo, who will step down in December 2018.

Talking Band will present the world premiere of Fusiform Gyrus - A Septet for Two Scientists and Five Horns, written and composed by OBIE Award winner Ellen Maddow, and directed by Ellie Heyman, running from February 7 - 25, 2018 in a limited engagement at HERE, located at 145 6th Avenue (Enter on Dominick, 1 block south of Spring) in New York City. Previews begin tonight, February 7, for a February 13 opening.

This month, ArtsWest and Intiman join forces to stage Taylor Mac's HIR, a fearless comedy about a household in revolt, from February 28 to March 25, 2018, with Intiman Artistic Director Jennifer Zeyl directing.  

Joe's Pub at The Public announces the new class of Joe's Pub Working Group (JPWG), the venue's artist development program dedicated to enhancing the career sustainability and growth of performing artists. Entering its fourth year, JPWG welcomes five artists - playwright and songwriter Dan Fishback, classically trained bandleader Juliette Jones, violinist and composer Dana Lyn, jazz composer and pianist Samora Abayomi Pinderhughes and cabaret darling Tori Scott - as the core group that represents the diversity and scope of the nightly programming at Joe's Pub.

Tonight, live from the stage of the Bowery Ballroom, it was announced that Head Over Heels, the new musical comedy featuring the iconic songs ofThe Go-Go's - the most successful female rock band of all time - will officially open on Broadway at Hudson Theatre (141 West 44th Street) on Thursday, July 26, 2018 (performances begin Saturday, June 23). The announcement was delivered by The Go-Go's alongside the musical's director Michael Mayer. Prior to its Broadway bow, Head Over Heels will play a limited engagement at San Francisco's Curran theater from April 10, 2018 through May 6, 2018 (opening night is Wednesday, April 18).

The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts' management announced its 2018 Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts (PIFA) lineup Friday afternoon during an event at the Kimmel Center's Hamilton Garden. With over 50 performances ranging from music and dance to 360-degree immersive spectacle experiences, the 2018 festival raises the proverbial PIFA bar, showcasing critically-acclaimed work that has captivated critics and garnered awards nationally and internationally. Known for its engaging performances curated by The Kimmel Center from around the globe, the festival was first developed in 2011 drawing increasing audiences locally and attracting regional visitors seeking out the ultimate Philly experience. The 2018 festival runs Thursday, May 31 through Sunday, June 10.

Columbia University Libraries, on behalf of the board of the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History, has announced the five finalist works for the 2018 award

The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County (@ArshtCenter) is proud to present the South Florida premiere of SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS (@SmallMouthPlay), the Obie Award-winning, critically-acclaimed play by Bess Wohl. Playing February 16 - March 4, 2018 in the intimate Carnival Studio Theater (Ziff Ballet Opera House), SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS continues the Center's 2017-2018 Theater Up Close Series.