Designing People

Machine Dazzle brings a new form of Surrealism to the stage

- Hilton Als

A decade or so ago, I spent a fair amount of time with three friends who shared a loft in the East Village. Because all three were performers, I nicknamed the loft and its inhabitants the Footlights Club, in honor of Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman’s 1936 play, “Stage Door,” about aspiring actresses boarding together. And, because my friends sang or acted or wrote or directed for the stage, they had opening-night and closing-night parties at the Footlights Club that were more fun than anything, full of post-performance energy and camaraderie. On those nights, you might see the actor, singer, writer, and director Taylor Mac, his head shaved, with a slash of lipstick above his lip line, like Lucille Ball in “I Love Lucy.”

Or you could run into Murray Hill, the drag king and comedian, resplendent in a maroon crushed-velvet suit, with a bow tie and spit-shined shoes. Across the room, you’d catch a glimpse of Sara, of the twin-sister musicians Tegan and Sara, looking thin and chic in her version of Le Smoking. But, in the midst of all that laughter, dishing, and style, the person I most looked forward to checking out was a six-feet-five young man named Matthew Flower—to my mind, a true theatrical genius, who, under his professional name, Machine Dazzle, has created some of the most inventive costumes and sets I have ever seen. (The artist, now forty-five, is currently designing for the singer Nona Hendryx’s “Refrigerated Dreams,” a “multimedia performance art concert,” which débuts at Joe’s Pub, in October, and for a revival of Thomas Bradshaw’s 2008 play “Southern Promises,” at the Flea, in March.)