Thehang

The Hang is a jazz opera Passion Play about the final hours of Socrates, with a libretto by Mac and music by Matt Ray.

Drama Desk Award Nominations for:

*Best Musical *Best Lyrics *Best Music *Best Costumes

Song lyric from Stay Than a Little, from the The Hang:

SOCRATES

Have we matured enough

to wear the robes and silk?

And all their similar ilk?

The panic of malaise,

the boredom and the craze of sighs,

the rolling doldrum eyes,

when cheeks lose their rose?

Are we all prone to prattle on

to win the prize?

To ease the weight of the skies?

And fill the space that lacks

the pace of pomp and circumstance

with random beauty dance?

Will we muse or pose?

Before we’re committed

to end all our wit

with plagues of opinions,

please linger some longer,

consider the stronger

who are but the minions

of thinking

on virtue.

Or am I a fool?

I could be a fool.

There remains more of time to sit for a bit

languishing in a fancy.

Though we’ve dwindled our lives,

adrift as we sift,

we’ll waste more if antsy.

So come near me again

before I’m a goner.

Reflect upon honor and love.

And come argue again,

before we are settled,

before we will let ourselves know.

Please make me long and regret,

within a final breath.

Come blush with this fool.

Blush with me.

Show Credits:

BOOK AND LYRICS BY Taylor Mac

MUSIC & MUSIC DIRECTION BY Matt Ray

DIRECTED BY Niegel Smith and Taylor Mac

CHOREOGRAPHED BY Chanon Judson

SCENIC DESIGN AND COSTUME DESIGN BY Machine Dazzle

LIGHTING DESIGN BY Kate McGee

SOUND DESIGN BY Cricket S. Myers

MAKE-UP DESIGN BY Anastasia Durasova

DRAMATURGY BY Morgan Jenness

PRODUCTION MANAGER Drew Francis

PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER Patrick David Egan

SCENIC DESIGN SUPERVISOR Jeremy Lydic

FEATURING PERFORMERS Taylor Mac, Kenneth Ard, El Beh, Ryan Chittaphong, Kat Edmonson, Queen Esther, Wesley Oliver, Synead Cidney Nichols, Trebien Pollard

FEATURING MUSICIANS Matt Ray, Jonathan Beshay, Greg Glassman, J. Walter Hawkes, Jessica Lurie, Joel Mateo, Lisa Parrott, Gary Wang.

The Hang is the recipient of a generous award from The Roy Cockrum Foundation. Additional support for this project was provided by theMAP Fund; the New England Foundation for the Arts; and the Mertz Gilmore Foundation. HERE, in partnership with Resident Playwright Taylor Mac, is a participant in the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s National Playwright Residency Program administered in partnership with HowlRound.