The Taylor Mac Book: Ritual, Realness and Radical Performance

In one of the first titles to focus exclusively on the career and aesthetic of performance artist/musician/playwright/activist Taylor Mac (b. 1973), Román (English and American studies, Univ. of Southern California) and Edgecomb (theatre and performance, CUNY) have curated a collection gathering scholars and interested observers for a baker’s dozen of essays, reflections, and interviews. Each contributor brings a unique vantage point, whether a dispassionate look at Mac’s early works, a riff on the absurdly outlandish costumes (nearly all designed by Machine Dazzle), or an emotional journey contrasting Walt Whitman’s and Stephen Foster’s influences on 19th-century American culture and beyond. The book compares showcases of Mac’s works, which were influenced by shared vulnerabilities during the AIDS crisis, with contemporary echoes of the COVID pandemic and how physical distancing and masking have inhibited Mac’s audience participation efforts. Vivid color photographs showing Mac in full regalia add substantial interest, and extensive color photos, chapter notes, and bibliography buttress the arguments.