A 24-Decade History of Popular Music
a performance art concert of epic proportions
Since 2013, Pomegranate Arts has collaborated with Taylor to co-produce his most ambitious (and our most unforgettable) work to date—a unique 24-part performance art concert series that creates a subjective history of America since its founding in 1776. Years in development, the project culminated in a one-time 24-hour marathon performance for a sold-out audience at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, NY on October 8, 2016. Co-Directed by Niegel Smith, the work features Taylor and his long- time collaborators, costume designer Machine Dazzle and Music Director/ Arranger Matt Ray. Over 200 performers appeared in the NY run including a 24-piece orchestra, an ensemble of “dandy minions” and countless special guests ranging from a youth marching band, a troupe of feminist acrobatic dancers to members of the audience who were cast as colonial needleworkers, WWI soldiers, and Yum Yum from the Mikado. Among many accolades, the project was placed on The NY Times Top 10 lists of Best Performances, Best of Theater, and Best of Classical Music of 2016. NY Times critic Wesley Morris wrote of the marathon performance, “Mac gave me one of the great experiences of my life.”
A 24-Decade History of Popular Music toured as a concert series consisting of several touring programs. Options included hour-long concerts which feature songs from a single decade from the 1770s to the 2000s, performed by Taylor and a small band; abridged concerts which consist of a selection of songs over multiple decades; and the full 24-Decade canon.
-
Conceived, Written, Performed and Co-Directed by
Taylor MacCostume Design
Machine Dazzle
Music Director / Arranger
Matt RayCo-Director
Niegel SmithDramaturg
Jocelyn ClarkeScenic Design
Mimi LienLighting Design
John TorresSound Design / Engineering
David Schnirman
James L. McElhinneyPuppet Design / Operator
Eric F. AveryMake Up Design
Anastasia DurasovaChoreographic Consultant
Jawole Willa Jo ZollarProduced by
Pomegranate Arts & Nature’s DarlingsAssociate Producer
Alisa E. RegasExecutive Producer
Linda Brumbach -
A 24-Decade History of Popular Music is commissioned in part by ASU Gammage at Arizona State University; Belfast International Arts Festival and 14 - 18 NOW WW1 Centenary Art; Carole Shorenstein Hays, The Curran SF; Carolina Performing Arts, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA; Hancher Auditorium at the University of Iowa; Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts; Melbourne Festival; Museum of Contemporary
Art Chicago; International Festival of Arts & Ideas (New Haven); New York Live Arts; OZ Arts Nashville; Stanford Live at Stanford University; University Musical Society of the University of Michigan.
This work was developed with the support of the Park Avenue Armory residency program, MASS MoCa (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art), New York Stage and Film & Vassar’s Powerhouse Theater, SPACE at Ryder Farm, and the 2015 Sundance Institute Theatre Lab at the Sundance Resort with continuing post- lab dramaturgical support through its initiative with the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
A 24-Decade History of Popular Music was made possible with funding by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Theater Project, with lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Image credits:
“Taylor Mac seduces you, breaks your heart, patches it back up again and sews sequins along the scars.”
— The Irish Times