A 24-Decade History of Popular Music

2016 Musical/performance art work

A 24-Decade History of Popular Music

A Radical Faerie Realness Ritual
Music| Various
Lyrics| Various
Book| Taylor Mac
Premiere| October 8–9, 2016: St. Ann's Warehouse, Brooklyn, NY
Awards|

* Edward M. Kennedy Prize
* Finalist for Pulitzer Prize for Drama

A 24-Decade History of Popular Music is a musical and performance art work by American actor, playwright, and cabaret performer Taylor Mac.

A 24-Decade History of Popular Music has received acclaim and numerous awards, including the Edward M. Kennedy Prize, as well as becoming a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The production has been performed at festivals and performance venues in the U.S. and internationally, often in abbreviated versions or separate acts, and occasionally in full. In 2023, a concert film directed by Academy Award winners Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman premiered and was released through HBO and Max.

## Summary

[edit]

Premiered in full in 2016, the musical uses mainly pre-existing songs popular throughout the history of the United States to examine and reframe American history through the experiences of marginalized communities. Mac says that "A 24-Decade History of Popular Music is a reenactment of how the individual(s) may lose the long game but communities and movements, if continually brought together, have the potential to thrive while bending towards justice."[1] Presented in eight acts and featuring 246 songs, the production is intended to last twenty-four hours when performed to completion.[2][3][4]

## Personnel

[edit]

* Taylor Mac – Playwright, performer, co-director
* Matt Ray – Musical direction, arrangements, performer
* Niegel Smith – Co-director
* Machine Dazzle – Costume designer
* Jocelyn Clarke – Dramaturg
* Mimi Lien – Scenic design
* John Torres – Lighting design

## Overview

[edit]

The complete production is performed over eight acts, with each act representing three decades of U.S. history.[3]

* ACT I: 1776-1806 – Founding Father Drag, Women's Lib, and Crazy Jane
* ACT II: 1806-1836 – Young Love, Blindfolds, and Murder Ballads
* ACT III: 1836-1866 – Puppets, Whitman, and Civil War
* ACT IV: 1866-1896 – Circus, Mikado, and the Oklahoma Land Rush

* ACT V: 1896-1926 – Tenements, Trenches, and Speakeasies
* ACT VI: 1926-1956 – The Depression, Prison Fantasies, and the Atomic Bomb
* ACT VII: 1956-1986 – A March, a Riot, and a Backroom Sex Party
* ACT VIII: 1986-2016 – Direct Action, Radical Lesbians, and Originals

|

## Development

[edit]

> 15 years old, 14 years old, I went to the first or second AIDS walk that was in San Francisco, and I had never met an out homosexual before. It was a pretty profound experience for a little kid that grew up in suburbia and a pretty normative, slightly oppressive environment. Even ... It was discovering queer history, queer agency, queer community because it was deteriorating from this epidemic. So I wanted to make a show about it. So this is what the show is: its a metaphorical representation of that experience from a 15-year-old kid's perspective.[5]

—Taylor Mac

A 24-Decade History's development began in 2011, with the goal of holding one marathon performance in 2016.

Taylor Mac, music director Matt Ray, costume designer Machine Dazzle, and co-director Niegel Smith developed the show over five years, holding workshops and performing abridged versions at festivals and small venues.[6][7] The show was workshopped as part of the Sundance Institute's 2015 Theatre Lab.[8]

The show's length, strenuous performance, and strong audience participation are intended to make the audience build bonds at having gone through "a dire circumstance with us over a 24-hour period."[5] Mac says, "I believe theater is community and I think of myself as a community activist; someone whose job it is to bring people together, give them a shared experience and remind them of the things they've forgotten, dismissed or buried."[9]

## Productions

[edit]

Many productions of the show are abridged versions, with the songs and subject matter confined to specific decades or themes.[7][10] At different touring sites, local performers and artists participate,[11][12] and the show is modified to incorporate local history and songs from the region.[1]

A 24-Decade History of Popular Music has been performed as a 24-hour marathon performance only once, from October 8–9, 2016, at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, New York.[11] Before the marathon performance, St. Ann's Warehouse also hosted the first complete presentation of the show, albeit in parts from September 15 through October 3, 2016.[3]

Since the premiere performance, the 24-hour production has been staged several times, though broken up into four chapters of six hours each, spread over several days. The first of these stagings took place at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco, between September 15 and 24, 2017.[13]

The Melbourne International Arts Festival hosted the production, playing the four chapters between October 11 and 20, 2017.[12] Also during the festival, Taylor Mac performed The Inauguration on October 5, an abbreviated version of the show that lasted from 90 minutes to two hours, as well as The Wrap on October 22, also featuring songs from the show.[14][15][16]

From March 15 to 24, 2018, the four-chapter production played at the Theater at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles, presented by the UCLA Center for the Performing Arts (CAP UCLA).[9]

A 24-Decade History was hosted by the 2018 Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts, playing at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. For this production, the performance was divided into two twelve-hour parts, with the first part beginning on June 2, and the second part beginning on June 9, 2018.[1][17]

The first act only debuted in London at the Barbican Centre as part of the London International Festival of Theatre, being performed on June 28, 29, and 30, 2019.[18][19] In September 2019, abridged versions were performed at four tour stops in the United States, as well as five performances of Mac's Holiday Sauce show in December.[10]

From October 10 to 20, 2019, the four-chapter show played as part of The Berliner Festspiele's Immersion program series.[10][20]

## Awards

[edit]

* 2017 Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History[21]
* 2017 Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama[22]
* 2017 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award Special Citation[23]
* 2017 Obie Award Special Citation[24]
* 2017 Bessie Awards – Outstanding Production and Outstanding Visual Design[25]
* 18th Helpmann Awards – Best Cabaret Performer (for Mac) and Best Special Event[26]

## Documentary

[edit]

On June 14, 2023, the concert film of the same name premiered at Tribeca Festival.[27] Directed by Academy Award winners Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, the film covers the 2016 St. Ann's Warehouse premiere performance. On June 27, the film aired on HBO and began streaming on Max.[28]

It won the juried Outstanding Costumes for Variety, Nonfiction, or Reality Programming at the 76th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards[29]

## See also

[edit]

* American popular music
* American folk music
* Protest songs in the United States

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c "Taylor Mac's 24-Decade History of Popular Music Makes Philadelphia Premiere at Kimmel Center's PIFA 2018". Broadway World. November 9, 2017. Archived from the original on October 14, 2023. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
2. ^ "A 24-Decade History of Popular Music". taylormac.org. August 7, 2014. Archived from the original on September 3, 2017. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
3. ^ a b c "A 24-Decade History of Popular Music - St. Ann's Warehouse". St. Ann's Warehouse. Archived from the original on November 1, 2016. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
4. ^ "America's Top 240". New York. Vol. 49, no. 19\. September 19, 2016. pp. 92–93\. ISSN 0028-7369. EBSCOhost 121770027.
5. ^ a b Sundance Theatre Lab: Taylor Mac and A 24-Decade History of Popular Music. Sundance Institute. September 16, 2016. Retrieved September 3, 2017 - via YouTube.
6. ^ Neher, Erick (January 21, 2017). "The Brooklyn Marathon: Taylor Mac's A 24-Decade History of Popular Music". The Hudson Review. LXIX (4). Retrieved October 11, 2017.
7. ^ a b "The Decades". taylormac.org. Archived from the original on January 24, 2015. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
8. ^ "Sundance Institute Announces Nine Projects Selected for 2015 Theatre Lab at Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah, July 6-26". Sundance Institute. April 23, 2015. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
9. ^ a b "Taylor Mac: A 24-Decade History of Popular Music". UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture. University of California, Los Angeles. March 15, 2018. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
10. ^ a b c Hetrick, Adam (July 23, 2019). "Taylor Mac Will Tour A 24-Decade History of Popular Music Across U.S. and Europe". Playbill. Archived from the original on July 23, 2019. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
11. ^ a b Evans, Suzy (October 14, 2016). "A Trip Around the Sun With Taylor Mac's '24-Decade History'". American Theatre. Theatre Communications Group. Archived from the original on October 17, 2016. Retrieved October 18, 2017.
12. ^ a b Woodhead, Cameron (October 21, 2017). "'Almost a religious experience': Taylor Mac opus leaves audience weeping for more". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
13. ^ "Taylor Mac's A 24-Decade History of Popular Music". Curran. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
14. ^ Balkin, Sarah (October 5, 2017). "Taylor Mac makes history at Melbourne Festival opening". The Conversation. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
15. ^ Johnstone, Rose (July 25, 2017). "Taylor Mac: A 24-Decade History of Popular Music". Time Out. Retrieved October 11, 2023.
16. ^ Zagoda, Tomas (October 23, 2017). "Melbourne Festival: The Wrap featuring Taylor Mac". The Plus Ones. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
17. ^ Reyes, Breanna (November 14, 2017). "Decoding Taylor Mac's "24-Decade History of Popular Music" - a Philadelphia debut!". Kimmel Cultural Campus. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
18. ^ "Taylor Mac — A 24-Decade History of Popular Music: The First Act (LIFT 2018)". Barbican Centre. Archived from the original on March 17, 2018. Retrieved October 14, 2023.
19. ^ Gardner, Lyn (June 22, 2018). "Taylor Mac on bringing danger to the stage: 'My shows are the opposite of safe spaces'". The Independent. Archived from the original on February 17, 2019. Retrieved October 14, 2023.
20. ^ Borden, Dan (October 7, 2019). ""Oh they love it when things go wrong!": Taylor Mac". Exberliner. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
21. ^ "2017 – A 24-Decade History of Popular Music: A Radical Fairy Realness Ritual by Taylor Mac and Matt Ray". Edward M. Kennedy Prize. Columbia University Libraries. April 7, 2017. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
22. ^ "Finalist: A 24-Decade History of Popular Music, by Taylor Mac". www.pulitzer.org. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
23. ^ "2016-2017 Awards". New York Drama Critics Circle. Archived from the original on June 26, 2017. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
24. ^ "2017 Obie Winners". Obie Awards. The Village Voice and American Theatre Wing. May 22, 2017. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
25. ^ "The 2017 Bessie Awards". The New York Dance and Performance Awards. October 9, 2017. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
26. ^ • "2018 Nominees and Winners: Best Cabaret Performer". Helpmann Awards. Live Performance Australia. July 16, 2018. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
• "2018 Nominees and Winners: Best Special Event". Helpmann Awards. Live Performance Australia. July 16, 2018. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
27. ^ "TAYLOR MAC'S 24-DECADE HISTORY OF POPULAR MUSIC". Tribeca Festival. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
28. ^ Rooney, David (June 16, 2023). "'Taylor Mac's 24-Decade History of Popular Music' Review: Exhilarating Concert Doc Explores America Through a Queer Lens". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
29. ^ "Juried Winners for 76th Emmy Awards Announced". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. August 14, 2024. Retrieved September 1, 2024.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website
* Taylor Mac's 24-Decade History of Popular Music at IMDb
* Official website for the film

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