Partner Digital Presentation
Taylor Mac’s
Whitman in the Woods.
Play
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.
Artists’ Statements
“Like many others, my introduction to Whitman happened indoors and through an academic, humorless and heterosexual lens. Whitman was so clearly in love with the outside world and with men, and he had a unique sense of humor. This is our way of finding the fairy in Whitman, by which I mean, the queer and the wood spirit. I sing America indeed.” —Taylor Mac
“It was important to find a way to let both Whitman and Taylor breathe. I wanted to develop a visual language that complemented and unified Whitman’s words and Taylor’s unique and brilliant performance. I had a careful plan for how to film each poem and a loose idea of how they would all fit together in a larger film, but mostly, I wanted to give Taylor room to improvise and play — to make room for both of us to discover something new together.” — Noah Greenberg, director and cinematographer
This Digital Presentation is courtesy of ALL ARTS / WNET.
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.
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