The Lily’s Revenge / Ego

A self-uprooted lily goes on a quest to combat its oppressors and destroy nostalgia. In his latest work, The Lily’s Revenge, playwright and gender-bending performer Taylor Mac responds to an ever-growing homogeny in the world around him. Through puppets, elaborate costume designs, live music and vaudevillian theatrics Mac brings back the macabre, and reveals our national pastime of melancholy remembrances. Named one of New York’s best in 2007 by both The Village Voice and The New York Press, Taylor Mac is a theatre artist working in the genre of pastiche.

Questioning the difference between art and kitsch, Ego enters an artist’s mind as he develops his newest masterpiece. Dissatisfied with the state of puppet theater, the artist is confident that he alone can push the art form to the next level. As his zeal for perfection grows, so does his self-assurance, making him a prime candidate for divine creator status. David Michael Friend is a freelance art director and illustrator for television and film, whose love for puppetry keeps him ever-entangled in theater. This work includes pieces ranging from cardboard cut-outs to intricate stage environments, while puppets vary from naive sock puppets to masterfully crafted bunraku.

The Lily’s Revenge and Ego are presented as part of Culturemart 2008.