This is Essential: Theater

TAYLOR MADE Mac waves his freak flag proudly.

Taylor Mac’s makeup
What’s his face? That is always a relevant question when it comes to the brilliantly bizarre playwright and performer Taylor Mac, whose elaborate cosmetic masks—which take hours to apply—give him a dazzling and bewildering look: part geisha, part clown, part alien, part disco ball.

Soho Rep’s utterly fearless programming
No producer had the guts to put on Sarah Kane’s terrifying Blasted. Yet Soho Rep head Sarah Benson made it happen—brilliantly. When not presenting sharp, difficult plays (The Thugs), Benson welcomes category-defying companies, such as Nature Theater of Oklahoma.

Marian Seldes: last of the Theater People
One of the great New York actors, Seldes is just as remarkable offstage. Her manner is intensely grand; her skin is pale white, and she favors velvet cowls. A creature of marvelous affectations, she seems to have leapt fully formed from the head of Edward Gorey.

The inspired gimmickry of Les Freres Corbusier
Children singing about Scientology. Hedda Gabler with robots. A Christian-fundamentalist haunted house. A rock musical about urban planner Robert Moses. What will Alex Timbers and his usual gang of savants think of next? We can’t wait to see.

Stephen Sondheim: He’s still here
He’s a theater god; he wrote some of the most complex show tunes ever; after him, the deluge. And yet Sondheim continues to make music. See his latest work at the Public Theater: Road Show.

Decayed decor in Brooklyn, courtesy of BAM
Outside of Broadway’s precious jewel boxes, there is no lovelier or more sacred venue than the BAM Harvey. It was purposefully distressed before exposed was cool.

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