The Center for Fiction was thrilled to welcome renowned theatre artist, MacArthur Fellow, and Pulitzer finalist Taylor Mac for an unforgettable evening celebrating the publication of Mac’s play, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus.
Gary, which centers around the cleanup crew called in the day after Shakespeare’s famously sanguineous first tragedy, premiered on Broadway in 2019 starring Nathan Lane and was nominated for seven Tony Awards. Jesse Green of the New York Times named Gary a Critic’s Pick, and called it “the unlikeliest bird to land on Broadway in many a year.” Hilton Als of the New Yorker wrote that his ears “shivered with pleasure” upon hearing the play’s dialogue, which is written largely in verse. Mac was joined in conversation by theatre critic Laura Collins-Hughes.
The Center for Fiction was thrilled to continue its collaboration with Theatre Communications Group for this event, with past events featuring Jackie Sibblies Drury and Claudia Rankine, Annie Baker and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Heidi Schreck and Paula Vogel, Sarah Ruhl and Matthew Aucoin, Aleshea Harris and Nissy Aya, Lynn Nottage and Damon Tabor, and Martyna Majok, Naveen Kumar, and David Zayas.
Featured Book
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Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
By Taylor Mac
Published by Theatre Communicatons Group
In Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus, Taylor Mac’s singular worldview intersects with William Shakespeare’s first tragedy, Titus Andronicus. Set during the fall of the Roman Empire, Mac’s extraordinary play picks up where Shakespeare’s blood-soaked tale left off: the coup has ended, the country has been stolen by madmen, and there are casualties everywhere. Two lowly servants, Gary and Janice, are charged with cleaning up the bodies. It’s the year 400—but it feels like the end of the world.
Cover Art by Ralph Steadman
Featuring
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Taylor Mac
Taylor Mac
Taylor Mac (who uses “judy”—lowercase [sic]—as a gender pronoun) is the author of Joy and Pandemic; The Hang (composed by Matt Ray); Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus; A 24-Decade History of Popular Music; Prosperous Fools; The Fre; Hir; The Walk Across America for Mother Earth; The Lily’s Revenge; The Young Ladies Of; Red Tide Blooming; The Be(A)st of Taylor Mac; and the revues Comparison Is Violence; Holiday Sauce; and The Last Two People on Earth: An Apocalyptic Vaudeville (created with Mandy Patinkin, Susan Stroman, and Paul Ford). Mac is the first American to receive the International Ibsen Award; is a MacArthur Fellow, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, a Tony nominee for Best Play; and is the recipient of the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History (with Matt Ray), the Doris Duke Artist Award, a Guggenheim, the Herb Alpert Award, a Drama League Award, the Helen Merrill Award for Playwriting, the Edwin Booth Award, two Helpmann Awards, a New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award, two Obies, two Bessies, and an Ethyl Eichelberger.
Photo Credit: Xanthe Elbrick
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Laura Collins-Hughes
Laura Collins-Hughes
Laura Collins-Hughes is a freelance arts journalist and, since 2013, a regular contributor to theater coverage at The New York Times. She has been a staff writer and editor at The Boston Globe, The New York Sun, the New Haven Register, and The Cape Codder, where the culture beat first beckoned.
Photo Credit: Tony Cenicola / New York Times
