“What’s gonna happen…”

Audience members sat patiently, holding their breath, eyes fixed, as with three words Taylor Mac called the room to action in the Clark-Fox Forum at Hillman Hall.  

The biennial Helen Clanton Morrin Lecture Series invites renowned artists and colloquium speakers to discuss the power of theater beyond entertainment. The event was sponsored by many departments across the College of Arts and Sciences, including Film and Media Studies, History, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and American Culture Studies (AMCS). 

“Taylor Mac brought me here today. I’m excited for the unexpected. I find that the work always centers community and questions of belonging and the histories of those questions. I’m just curious to learn more,” said Professor Will Bonfiglio, who teaches “Queer Performance, Activism, and Resistance” in the AMCS department.

Mac is best known for “A 24-Decade History of Popular Music,” a 24-hour marathon performance featuring eight acts and 246 pre-existing songs that guide the audience through American history from 1776 to 2016 — an hour of music per decade. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the show reframes history through the eyes of marginalized communities, illustrating how movements can emerge victorious over deep-rooted systemic issues through the power of collective resilience. 

Yet the weight of a 24-hour-long performance did not rest solely on its players. Mac discussed that it was a communal experience, with its audience members actively participating. Over the course of the performance, they were invited to join in different aspects of the show such as playing beer pong with another audience member, pretending to row a boat across an imaginary Atlantic Ocean, or slow dancing with someone of the same gender — all integral moments designed to dissolve barriers and foster connection. 

Reflecting on the nature of live performance, Mac described the show as one that “was changing perpetually” throughout rehearsals and its many stagings. The understanding between Mac, the performers, and the audience was that throughout the 24-hours, the performance  would devolve, evolve, and transform. Just as that audience held their breath, the crowd in Hillman Hall held theirs. 

“I think of myself as a community organizer,” Mac said. Mac did not intend for the performance to be static or homogenous. “The show was never frozen, ready to be repeated exactly night after night, which would have dehumanized the communal experience,” Mac said. Instead, it thrived in the unpredictable, the fleeting, and the calamitous. 

Mac spoke about a specific moment in the performance, where calamity did strike. During the hour for the 1780s, Mac adorned “two giant smokestacks” filled with dry ice to represent the development of the steam engine during this time period. Upon removal, the water spilled all over the stage, leading Mac to improvise in order to work around the mess. 

“It was a funny improv and more so because of the dramaturgical appropriateness. But more importantly, it was a moment we’d all been waiting for — calamity, and our ability to incorporate calamity to overcome oppression.” 

During the lecture, Mac drew parallels between the present political climate and the unpredictable experience of live theater, noting that activism, like theater, must also be prepared for inevitable calamity to strike. Mac underscored the significance of not giving up when facing a setback, but incorporating it into the fight against oppression. 

“Would they get [the performance]? … Or because of its uniqueness would it get equated to anything else odd?” Mac asked. “Like our political climate, would it all get normalized through our need to dismiss anything extraordinary — like progressive action — and replace it with that which is accessible, like nostalgia?”

In a final call to action, Mac reinforced the necessity of adaptability in both theater and activism. “What if we make a resistance that understands it too is perpetually changing?” 

Mac continued, “The goal is not the finish line. The goal may be a more equitable world with less pain and injustice but there will always be calamity.” 

Mac does not want future generations to feel paralyzed by this pain and injustice, advising, “Don’t wait around. Do it now … you’ll make things happen by your actions, by doing it.”