UMS Digital Presentations

Streaming June 26 – July 6, 2021

Taylor Mac’s Whitman in the Woods.

Taylor Mac turns to 19th Century American poet, queer icon, and source of inspiration, Walt Whitman, in a series of short films.

“Whitman in the Woods.” marks the debut of Mac’s project as the first ALL ARTS artist-in-residence. To encourage full creative freedom of expression, ALL ARTS tasked the veteran theater artist with creating video content without parameters. In the resulting film, Mac performs favorite poems by Whitman in glamorous drag costumes and makeup outside in nature. The performance brings a lighter, more comedic and directly queer lens to the 19th-century poet’s work than is often seen.

Taylor Mac, ALL ARTS artist in residence, on the draw of Walt Whitman’s poems, and why the artist chose to engage with the works so deeply, in nature, in drag, while performing them.

Credits

This Digital Presentation is courtesy of ALL ARTS

Whitman in the Woods. is conceived and performed by Taylor Mac. Pomegranate Arts is Creative Producer: Linda Brumbach is Executive Producer and Alisa E. Regas is Producer. Noah Greenberg is Director, Cinematographer and Producer. Luis Moreno is Editor. Machine Dazzle is Costume Designer. Anastasia Durasova is Makeup Artist. For ALL ARTS, Kristy Geslain is Senior Producer. Joe Harrell is Senior Director. Jörn Weisbrodt is Artistic Director (2018-2020). James King is Artistic Director (present). Diane Masciale and Neal Shapiro are Executives in Charge.

Leadership support for ALL ARTS is generously provided by Jody and John Arnhold and the Arnhold Foundation, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, the Kate W. Cassidy Foundation, The Jerome L. Greene Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Anderson Family Fund and Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

ALL ARTS is breaking new ground as the premier destination for inspiration, creativity and art of all forms. This New York Emmy-winning arts and culture hub is created by The WNET Group, the parent company of New York’s PBS stations. With the aim of being accessible to viewers everywhere, ALL ARTS’ Webby-nominated programming – from digital shorts to feature films – is available online nationwide through allarts.org, the free ALL ARTS app on all major streaming platforms, and @AllArtsTV on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. New York area TV viewers can also watch the 24/7 broadcast channel. For all the ways to watch, visit allarts.org/everywhere