FAQ
Frequently asked questions
BIO
JEFF MCMAHON’s live work blending text with movement and media has been presented throughout the world. He has performed at Performance Space 122 (now Performance Space/New York), Dance Theater Workshop (now New York Live Arts), The Kitchen, PS 1 (now MOMA PS1), LACE, Cleveland Performance Art Festival, Jacob's Pillow, Highways, Center for Contemporary Arts in Santa Fe, Dance Works (Toronto), and numerous other venues in the U.S. Canada, and Europe. His nonfiction writing has been published in Table Talk: From the Threepenny Review (Counterpoint Press 2015), Innovation in Five Acts: Strategies for Theatre and Performance ed. Caridad Svich (TCG 2015), LOST AND FOUND; Dance New York, HIV/AIDS, Then and Now (Danspace Project 2016), Culture Wars (New Press), Poor Dancer's Almanac (Duke Univ. Press), Hyperallergic, The Guardian, Performance Research, TDR/The Drama Review, Kenyon Review Online, Contact Quarterly, PAJ/Performing Arts Journal, City Limits, Teaching Tolerance, The Threepenny Review, Movement Research, Gay/Lesbian Review Worldwide, Response: The Digital Journal of Popular Cultural Scholarship, Contemporary Theatre Review Backpages and The New England Review.
In the past few years, he wrote and directed a web-based series, In It To Win! a collaboration with choreographer/performer Karen Schupp and videographer Rebekah Cheyne, which debuted on YouTube. He developed a series of short monologues, Some Men and Social Distances (camera-close) for presentations at Dixon Place Lounge (NYC and virtual). Long Playing Album premiered at Ignite Phoenix Music at the Scottsdale Center for Performing Arts. His short monologue, (Ob)scene, was presented internationally as part of the After Orlando International Theatre Action. His short film of the same name came soon after.
What is It Worth?/Market-Based Memories, a collaborative theatre piece examing worth and value (with songs co-written with Aaron Neber), was presented as a work-in-progress at Arizona State University after prior workshop presentations at ASU and the Hemispheric Institute for Performance and Politics Encuentro. He presented his monologue, Two Arguments With My Mother, for The Most of Lit Lounge, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art.
In June 2011, he performed a short monologue for the P.S. 122 Benefit. He continued working on Tributaries, a series of monologues, during a month-long writing residency at Fundación Valparaíso in Mojácar, Spain, in Fall 2011, developing these as live/media presentations in 2012, presenting at Dixon Place Lounge and The Moth Story Slam in NYC, as well as the Face To Face Festival at the Lost Theatre in London July 2012.
In July 2010, he directed the premiere of his Straight Talk, a play for six actors satririzing modern communication, at Dixon Place in New York. Also that year, his collaborative site specific piece, Changing Courses: the real dinner theatre, premiered as a work-in-progress at the Engrained Cafe, Arizona State University/Tempe, supported by a grant from the Institute for Humanities Research.
In 2009, he had a 5-week writing residency at the Edward F. Albee Foundation in Montauk, NY. Assisted by a research grant from Herberger College of the Arts/ASU and a grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts, he and media designer Jacob Pinholster created the performance installation Counter Indications, presented in Phoenix in 2008. Special Operations, a play for three actors was presented as a staged reading at Son of Semele Ensemble (Los Angeles) in December 2008. His solo, Failure To Thrive (we small hours), directed by Antonio Ocampo-Guzman, was seen in excerpt at the 2007 Hemispheric Institute for Performance and Politics Encuentro in Buenos Aires (excerpt of that performance: Hemi Cabaret) The completed version premiered at Dixon Place in NYC in July 2007, presented at Teatro Caliente! in Phoenix, and in early 2008 at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica.
In 2002 he premiered his multi-media work, HEEL, created in response to September 11. A Certain Release, a "digital play" featuring live and virtual actors, for which he received a New York State Council on the Arts Playwrighting Commission, was presented as a work in progress at the ASU Institute for Studies in the Arts in 2003. Honorable Discharge, written in 2004 for performer Lance Gharavi, examines the war in Iraq in relationship to local police actions.
Training includes theater/dance at Reed College and Empire State College/SUNY, and with Joan Skinner, Mangrove Collective, James Tyler, Ruth Zaporah, Jeanette Lovetri, and David Schein. In 1998, he completed an MFA in nonfiction writing from the School of the Arts, Columbia University. He received eight Fellowships and two Project Grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Fellowship from the NY Foundation for the Arts, and funding from the NY State Council on the Arts and the Arizona Commission on the Arts. His work has been reviewed by many publications and is archived at the New York Public Library of Performing Arts Dance Collection, and at the Live Art Study Room in London.
Work chronicled as part of the Alliance for the Arts Estate Project Web site, a survey on the impact of AIDS on the dance communities of New York and Los Angeles compiled by David Gere http://www.artistswithaids.org/artforms/dance/catalogue_index.html
In 1998, he completed a Master of Fine Arts in the Writing Program, School of the Arts, Columbia University, after completing a BA in Interdisciplinary Art at SUNY/Empire State College in 1995. In 2001, he became Resident Artist at Arizona State Univ. in 2005 appointed Assistant Professor in the School of Theatre and Film. In 2011 he became a tenured Associate Professor and in Spring 2020 was promoted to Professor. He has taught at Instituto Superior de Arte (Cuba), Dartington College(U.K.), Glasgow School of Art, the Center for New Dance Development (Netherlands), Kutztown Univ., Otis Art Institute, Art Center College of Design, and California Inst. of the Arts. He chaired and served on panels for the College Art Assoc., Performance Studies Int., Hemispheric Inst. for Performance and Politics, the Assoc. for Theater in Higher Education, the Performance Art, Culture, Pedagogy Symposium at Penn State Univ., Modern Language Assoc., the Rothermere American Institute at Univ. of Oxford, and the Society for Scientific Study of Sexuality.
He has been a writing fellow at the Edward F. Albee Foundation in Montauk, NY, and at the Fundación Valparaíso in Mojácar, Spain. His book, Six Monologues 1990-2007 by Jeff McMahon, (NoPassport Press) and his short narrative film, (Ob)scene, were both released in 2018.
RESUME
LIVE PERFORMANCE WORK
Social Distances (camera-close) collection of six short pieces written/directed by JMc. Featuring current/former ASU students Premiere (virtual) Dixon Place Hot! Festival (NYC) 2020
Six Monologues 1990-2007 Book launch/performance/reading featuring JMc and former students reading/performing from book. Dixon Place Lounge (NYC) 2018; Beyond Baroque Literary/Arts (Venice, CA) 2019; Changing Hands Bookstore Phoenix (AZ) 2019
(Ob)scene monologue presented as part of After Orlando International Theatre Action. Directed/performed by various actors in 10 venues internationally 2016-17. Version directed by JMc at Dixon Place Lounge (NYC 2017) as part of JMc produced event "Some Men" which included premiere performance of The Welcome
Long Playing Album (solo) Ignite Phoenix Music at Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts. October 2016. Revised version Strong Words (Los Angeles 2017)
What Is It Worth/Market Based Memory 2012-14. work-in progress Arizona State University (February 2014), Performance Studies #18 (Univ. of Leeds, UK); Hemispheric Insitute for Performance and Politics Montreal, Quebec 2014 , Sao Paulo, Brazil 2013
Two Arguments With My Mother The Most of Lit Lounge, Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts (Scottsdale, AZ) May 2013; Lit Lounge, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (Scottsdale, AZ) January 2013; Columbia Selects” curated reading by former Columbia School of the Arts MFA Writing students, KGB Bar (NYC) 2014
TRIBUTARIES short monologues. P.S. 122 Benefit June 2011; Dixon Place Lounge May 2012; MOTH Story Slam March/June 2012; Face to Face Theatre Festiva,l Lost Theatre, (London) July 2012.
STRAIGHT TALK 6-character play written/directed by JMc. Dixon Place New York July 2010.
CHANGING COURSES; THE REAL DINNER THEATRE Collaboration with Jacob Pinholster, Lance Gharavi, Jennifer Setlow, Amira De la Garza. work-in-progress showing Engrained Cafe, Arizona State University/Tempe April 2010. Corollary symposium Changing Courses Symposium: Race, Class, Sustainability and Food (organized/curated two guest speakers) Galvin Playhouse, ASU/Tempe 2010.
COUNTER INDICATIONS installation/performance collaboration with designer Jake Pinholster. Supported by research grants from Herberger College of the Arts, Arizona State University and the Arizona Commission on the Arts. Work-in-Progress Space 55 (Phoenix) April 2008; excerpt for “Exploring American Internment Through Performance” at Burton Barr Central Library (Phoenix AZ) part of national Guantanamo Project coordinated by Columbia University 2013
SPECIAL OPERATIONS play for 3 actors (writer/director) Staged Reading Son of Semele Ensemble Los Angeles (December 2008); workshop Arizona State Univ. December 2004
FAILURE TO THRIVE (we small hours) monologue written and performed by JMc. Directed by Antonio Ocampo-Guzman. Hemispheric Institute for Performance and Politics, Buenos Aires, Argentina (June 2007); Dixon Place New York (July 2007; Teatro Caliente! Phoenix,AZ (November 2007); Highways Performance Space Santa Monica, CA (January 2008)
HONORABLE DISCHARGE monologue (writer/director). "Teatro Caliente" at Modified Arts, Phoenix, AZ October 2003 & April 25, 2004; Dixon Place, (NYC) July 2004; Performance Studies International #11 (Brown University) April 2005
A CERTAIN RELEASE work in progress April 2003, Institute for Studies in the Arts, Arizona State University; Reading at Dixon Place (NYC) July 2000
HEEL Institute for Studies in the Arts, Arizona State University, April 2002; excerpts: Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics “Anti-War Cabaret” New York University (July 2003); "Memoria/Memoire" webcast September 2002; "Reflect, React, Remember" Arizona State University December 2001
PROJECT DESIRE Collaboration with Brian Webb. The Citadel-Rice Theater/Jazz City Festival (Edmonton, Alberta) June 1997; Firehall Arts Centre (Vancouver, B.C.), Dancers’ Studio West (Calgary, AB) July 1997; Brian Webb Dance Company/John Haar Theatre (Edmonton, AB) November 1998; Dancemakers (Toronto, ONT), Performance Space 122 (NYC) May 1999
CITY OF GOD Solo. Premiere Dance Theater Workshop (NYC) December 1993; Dance Center/Columbia College (Chicago) March 1994; Brian Webb Dance Company (Edmonton, Alberta) May 1994; Contemporary Dance Theater (Cincinnatti, OH) October 1994; ArtsWatch (Louisville,KY) Huntington Beach Art Center (Huntington Beach, CA) September 1995; Excerpts at Los Angeles Festival September1993; Dixon Place (NYC) 1993; HOME/Public Theater NYC December 1992
TORN LANGUAGE/DIALOGUE OF DOUBT w/Elia Arce, Keith Mason. Premiere Dance Theater Workshop (NYC) March 1992; excerpts at Alternate ROOTS Annual Meeting (NC) August 1992
SCATTER Solo. Premiere "New Stuff" Performance Space 122 (NYC) March 1991 Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival August 1991; Newport Harbor Art Museum (CA) 9/91; Highways (Santa Monica, CA) 11/91; Cleveland Perf. Art Fest. 3/92
DISCONTENTS Solo. Premiere Dance Theater Workshop (NYC) March 1990; Cleveland Performance Art Fest. 5/90; Highways 12/90; Arts Fest. of Atlanta 9/89; Barnsdall Gallery Theater (LosAngeles) 11/89; "P.S. 122 Field Trips" at Oliphant Theater/DanceWorks (Toronto, CAN), Cameo Theater (Miami, FL), Klein Studio (Lake Worth, FL) 10/90; "Best of the Fest" at The Dance Hall (Cincinnati, OH) 10/90; Towson State Univ. (Baltimore, MD) 2/91; Temple Univ./Tyler School of Arts (Philadelphia, PA) 1/92; Center for Contemporary Art/Taos Art Assoc. (Santa Fe/Taos NM) 9/92; Jump-Start Theater (San Antonio, TX) 9/92
LIFE/TIME piece with mental-health clients. Hospital Audiences, Inc. at Ensemble Studio Theater NYC 6/89.
AWAY FROM YOU Group piece. Premiere Performance Space 122 (NYC) November 1988.
PERFECT PLACE Solo. Premiere Barn Theater (Chilmark, MA) July 1988; The Yard at ChoreoSpace (NYC) 9/88; New Years Portland Fest. (Portland, ME) 1/89.
SHORT PERFORMANCES/BENEFITS/CLUBS: Highways 5/89; The Field Pagnano fund (NYC) 4/89; Movement Research (NYC)1988; Dixon Place (NYC) 5/88; Wah-Wah Hut (NYC) 4/88; "Barry Laine Memorial" and "Hothouse Project" at P.S. 122 1/88; P.S. 122 Benefit February 1991,1987, 1984, 1983.
CALLING Solo. Premiere "New Stuff" at Performance Space 122 (NYC) April 1988; The Wallenboyd Theater (LA,CA) 8/88; Cleveland Performance Art Fest. 4/89.
PALISADE: A CLIFFHANGER IN FIVE ACTS Site-specific collaboration with Jacki Apple. Santa Monica Arts Festival (Santa Monica, CA) August 1987. Audio portion: Art to Air-The Listening Room broadcast by Visual Studies Workshop (Rochester, NY) 12/89-2/90.
CIRCLE OF LINES/DIVIDED GROUNDS Solo. P.S. 1 Spring Dance Series, June 1987, NYC; Dia Art Foundation NYC 10/87.
IT IS YOU SPEAKING Solo. Zap Club (Brighton, England) 6/86; Institut Francais (Copenhagen) Negerhalle (Munich) 7/86; The Dance Hall (Cincinnati, OH) 10/86
MORE MOVING PICTURE Site-specific group. Presented by The Neuberger Museum (Purchase,NY) September 1985.
YOUR HELPING HAND Premiere Performance Space 122, 1/85. The Kitchen NYC 11/84. Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE) 4/85.
BELIEVE YOU ME solo. Premiere P.S. 1 NYC 4/83; Hallwalls (Buffalo, NY), Just Above Midtown (NYC) 12/83; Video Free America (San Francisco), LACE (LA) 10/83.
RATE OF EXCHANGE Dance/Media solo. Franklin Furnace NYC 9/82; P.S. 122 12/82, Beyond Baroque (Venice, CA). 1/83
STURDY CHILD solo. Presented by Dancers For Disarmament at P.S. 122 June 1982.
CULT OF PERSONALITY solo monologue. At "Three of Them", Club 57 NYC April 1982.
LONG MARCH solo. P.S. 122 NYC July/August 1981.
MEMOR solo theater P.S. 122 February 1981.
SMILE AT KNIFE solo theater. Premiere "Men Together" Festival, P.S. 122 November 1980, "Avant-Garde-Arama" P.S. 122 12/80
FILM/VIDEO WORK
Alone: Edgar Allan Poe's Final Chapter. A play by Jesse D. Saywell (MFA Dramatic Writing candidate). Directed and co-produced virtual theatre/film adaptation 2021
(Ob)scene short narrative film written/directed by JMc. featuring Brandon Ferderer. Shot by Daniel Rampulla, edited by J. Miguel Munguia, score by Steven Reker. Premiere 2018
In It To Win! Co-director and lead writer for web-based series featuring Karen Schupp. Season One premiere January 2017 YouTube. Second season premiere January 2018.
Cross Body Ride Dance film directed by J.M. Premiered Performance Space 122 Benefit (NYC) February 1988; Encuentro de Cine Super-8 (San Juan, Puerto Rico) 2/88; "New Stuff" P.S. 122 4/88; Exit Art Int. Forum of Super-8 Film Millenium (NYC) 5/88. 2nd NYC Gay/Lesbian Experimental Film Festival 10/88; 8th Chicago Lesbian/Gay Int. Film Fest. 11/88; Hallwalls (Buffalo, NY) 11/88; "NO-TV" Greater Rochester Cablevision Ch. 12 (Rochester, NY) 1/89; Montreal Int. Fest. for Young Cinema 3/89; "NEW TELEVISION" broadcast on public TV stations in NY, LA, Washington, D.C., Boston in June 1989; New Festival/NY Int. Fest. of Lesbian/Gay Film 6/89; San Francisco Int. Lesbian/Gay Film Fest. 6/89. "Eyes Wide Open" Dance Theater Workshop (NYC) 12/88. European Media Art Fest.(Osnabruck, Germany) 9/89; Interfilm Fest. Berlin 9/89; Shaffey Theater Video Dance Fest. Amsterdam 11/89. 4th Biennale de la Danse Lyon, France 9/90; IMZ Dance Screen 90 Frankfurt, Germany 10/90.
Tell Me Moving Dance film directed by J.M. Premiered Performance Space 122 Benefit (NYC) February 1986; "New Stuff" at Performance Space 122 4/86, Chisenhale Dance Space (London) 7/86; Dance On Camera Festival (NYC) 11/86; Collective For Living Cinema (NYC) 11/86. Finalist in 8th Int. Fest. of Super-8 Film, and shown in Fest. of City of Quebec (Quebec) 4/87; 5th Int. Youth Film Fest. (Turin, Italy) 10/87. Award Winner in 13th Int. Fest. of New Super-8 Film and Video (Caracas) 9/88.
PUBLICATIONS:
BOOKS
Six Monologues 1990-2007 by Jeff McMahon (NoPassport Press 2018)
Then and Now (Danspace Project 2016) ed. Ishmael Houston-Jones, Will Rawls
“Pull Focus” Innovation in Five Acts: Strategies for Theatre and Performance ed.
Caridad Svich (TCG 2015)
“On men’s, and his own, watches” in Table Talk: From The Threepenny Review
(Counterpoint Press 2015) ed Wendy Lesser, Jennifer Zahrt, Mimi Chubb
“HEEL” “Failure to Thrive (we small hours)” and “Straight Talk” online Indie Theater Now 2012-2017
"HEEL" and "Honorable Discharge" scripts Performing The Here & Now: An
Introduction To Contemporary Theater & Performance Ed. Chris Danowski
(Kendall-Hunt 2005)
“One Night Stand” Consider The Alternatives ed. Ron Ehmke (Hallwalls 1996)
“Beginnings” Poor Dancers' Almanac (Duke Univ. Press 1993)
“Letter to the Senate Subcommittee on Education February 1, 1990" Culture Wars ed. Richard Bolton (New Press 1992)
MAGAZINES/JOURNALS
"Two Artists' Lives, Lived Well" Hyperallergic (June 26, 2021)
"An Act With a Knife," Contemporary Theatre Review Backpages 30.1 (2020)
"A Roundtable on Spike Lee's BlackKklansman" Response: The Digital Journal of Popular Cultural Scholarship. Author/editor. (2019)
“John O’Reilly’s Radical Photomontages” Hyperallergic (July 29, 2017)
“Obituary for Steven Kent” American Theatre (online July 21, 2017)
“Not Afraid: Upon Hearing of Edward Albee’s Death at 88” Contemporary Theatre
Review: Backpages 27.2 (July 2017)
“In Review: Tom at the Farm and Mistress America” in Response: The Digital Journal of Popular Cultural Scholarship” Issue One, November 2016
Reviews (2): Martin Pousson’s Black Sheep Boy and Fenton Johnson’s The Man Who Loved Birds in Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide September/October 2016
“Weekend Words” Hyperallergic Weekend Contributed to end of year cultural wrap-up http://hyperallergic.com/262543/weekend-words-2015/
“Studio Eye” Hyperallergic (online) March 28, 2015
"A Memory of Ruth Maleczech on November 10, 2013" Contemporary Theatre Review
Backpages Vol. 24.1
“Restoration Comedy: Surgery As Performance Art” Hyperallergic (online) May 10, 2014
“Lights! Camera! Inaction! It’s Performance Art” Letter to Editor, New York Times October 23, 2013 (print edition October 24)
“Taking Pictures” published Kenyon Review Online October 2013
“Petro-Koch: a proposal for the Metropolitan Museum” The Guardian June 16, 2013
“What Is It Worth?” Performance Research 18.3 'On Value' June 2013
“Stranded: Photographs by Martin Cox” Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide May/June
2013
“Pull Focus” published online,TCG Innovation blog curated by Caridad Svich 2013
“Rehearsed and Coerced: Creating Counter Indications” TDR/The Drama Reviewi Summer 2011 Issue #210
"Follow the Money? Location, Community, and Artist Funding" TDR/The Drama Review,
Summer 2006 (issue 50:2 T190)
“Future Conditional: a short time teaching in Cuba” PAJ #81 (October 2005)
“Painted Warriors of Kandahar” book review of Thomas Dworzak’s Taliban, Gay &
Lesbian Review Worldwide (January-February 2004)
“At Rest” Street Signs publication of University of London (2003)
“More Songs about Buildings and Food” Movement Research Journal #22 (Winter/Spring 2000/2001)
“The Script of Sensation” New England Review (Summer 2000)
“Watches” Threepenny Review (#81 Spring 2000)
“Twilight in the Garden” City Limits Magazine (December 1997)
“Severe Piers” New York Blade News (November 28, 1997)
“Ideas in Motion: Using dance to confront stereotypes” Teaching Tolerance (Fall 1996);
“3 Untitled Fragments” XXX Fruit #3 Diaries(June, 1996)
“What Moved Me” Contact Quarterly (Winter/Spring 1996)
“Performance Art in Education” Performing Arts Journal #50/51 (1995)
“A Unity of Personal and Political” American Dance (American Dance Guild 1994-95)
“Rate of Exchange” (w/ Robert Flynt) Wedge Magazine (Fall 1982) ed. Brian Wallis,
Phil Mariani
AWARDS/GRANTS/HONORS
SCHOOL OF FILM, DANCE AND THEATRE (ASU) Travel grants 2020, 2019, 2017
HERBERGER INSTITUTE FOR DESIGN & THE ARTS Research grants 2017, 2015, 2014, 2010
FUNDACIÓN VALPARAÍSO (Mojácar, Spain) monthlong writing residency Fall 2011
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE FOR HUMANITIES RESEARCH: 2009 Seed Grant funding Changing Courses: the real dinner theatre
EDWARD F. ALBEE FOUNDATION: awarded 5-week writing residency Montauk, NY 2009
ARIZONA COMMISSION ON THE ARTS project grant for Counter Indications collaboraiton with Jacob Pinholster 2008
HOSPICE OF THE VALLEY supporting Mayo Clinic (Scottsdale, AZ) nurse training project with ASU theatre students 2007
HERBERGER COLLEGE OF THE ARTS Research Grant 2007 for development of Counter Indications
MAYO CLINIC (AZ) "Improving Caring Efficacy Through Effective and Compassionate End of Life Communication" 2006
CREATIVE CAPITAL FOUNDATION & ARIZONA COMMISSION ON THE ARTS mid-career artist management seminar 2006
NEW YORK STATE COUNCIL ON THE ARTS Playwright commission 2003
MONETTE/HORWITZ TRUST RESEARCH AND SCHOLARSHIP AWARD 2001
NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS INTER-ARTS PROJECT GRANT 1988
NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS FELLOWSHIPS 1984, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1996
NEW YORK FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS FELLOWSHIP 1988.
NEW YORK STATE COUNCIL ON THE ARTS Company funding 1988/89, 1989/90, 1993/94.
NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS DANCE FILM/VIDEO PROJECT 1984.
PANELS, ACADEMIC, AND OTHER
PANEL CHAIR:
“Exploring, Creating, Representing: The Diverse Performing Body” Chair, Assoc. for Theatre in Higher Education (Orlando 2019)
“After Affects: The Dramatics of the Victimizer’s Voice” Chair, Assoc. for Theatre in Higher Education (Boston 2018)
“From Triage to Marriage: Teaching GLBTQ Theatre and Film History” Chair, Assoc. for Theatre in Higher Education (Montreal 2015)
“What is it Worth?/Market-Based Memories” presentation/performance. Hemispheric Inst. for Performance and Politics (Montreal, Quebec) 2014
“What is it Worth?” Investigation/Presentation. Hemispheric Inst. for Performance and Politics Univ. of Sao Paulo (Brazil) 2013“
"What is it Worth?” Investigation/Presentation. Performance Studies International #18 University of Leeds (UK) June 2012
“Moving through masculinity: rethinking maleness through theatre, movement and dance” Assoc. for Theatre in Higher Education, Los Angeles August 2010
“Pulling the World Over Their Eyes” Lead juried workgroup. Hemispheric Institute for Performance and Politics, Bogotá, Colombia 2009
“Paid/Pay Attention” panel/presentation (accepted, did not attend) Performance Studies Int. #14 Copenhagen 2008
"Failure to Thrive (we small hours)" (performance) Hemispheric Institute for Performance and Politics, Buenos Aires 2007
“Collaborative Teaching of Collaboration: Teaching Interdisciplinary Digital Media and Performance” College Art Association 2004
“New Theatre/New Media: integrating technology and live performance” Association for Theatre in Higher Education 2003
"Performance Art and Higher Education" (co-chair Lin Hixson) College Art Association 1995 "Performance Art and Higher Education" Assoc. for Theater in Higher Education 1995
PANEL MEMBER:
Inside Out: Play, Performance, and Practice-as-Research. Hemispheric Inst. for
Performance and Politics (2019 Mexico City)
The Festival of Science & Religion-Think/Write/Publish. Performance coach for Fellows selected for presentations (Washington, D.C. 2018 & Pittsburgh 2017) Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes/ASU.
HIV/AIDS in Higher Education Roundtable Assoc. for Theater in Higher Education (2016) accepted/not attending
Performance Practice as Research. Workgroup. Hemispheric Inst. for Performance and Politics. (2016 Chile) accepted/not attending
“Squeezing into (and out of) my Genes” presentation for Classculinity: Remember What Little Boys Are Made Of? Panel, Assoc. for Theatre in Higher Education (Montreal 2015)
“Running Around (and away from) Realism” workshop. Assoc. of Theatre Movement Educators/Assoc. for Theatre in Higher Education. (Washington, D.C. 2012)
“Community Based Art and Activism” Workshop/panel NoPassport Conference. Arizona State University (April 2012)
Facilitator for Worldwide Views on Diversity Symposium (ASU 2012)
“Counter Indications” No Passport Conference “Dreaming the Americas: Utopia in Performance” Nuyorican Café, (NYC 2010)
“Creating Counter Indications-a misrepresentation as intervention” Performance Studies Int. #15 (2009 Zagreb)
Risking Innovation: Exploring Realistic and Heightened Movement When Approaching Heightened Texts” Assoc. for Theatre in Higher Education (NYC 2009)
“Torture, Extraordinary Rendition, and the Aesthetics of Disappearance” presentation on creation of Counter IndicationsCollege Art Association (Los Angeles, 2009)
"The Event of Autobiography" Performance Studies International #13 (NYC 2007)
"The dance/theatre divide" ATME focus panel ATHE (New Orleans 2007)
"The gay bathhouse as theatrical space" LGBTQ focus panel. ATHE (New Orleans 2007)
"On the Ghoul Patrol: Delving into disasters and tragedies through live performance" Autobiographical Performance panel, Performance Studies Int.#12 (London) 2006
"Safe As Houses: one artist's life, New York City 1980-1995" for "The United States in the 1980s: the Reagan Years" Rothermere American Institute, Univ. of Oxford (U.K.) 2005
"Closure: The Gay Bathhouse and its Discontents" Society for Scientific Study of SexualityWestern Regional Conference (San Diego) 2004
"Dreams and Nightmares: Re-imagining Responsibility after 9-11" Assoc. for Theater in Higher Education (San Diego) 2002
“Art as an Agent of Social Change” & “The Responsibilities of Response: Terrorism, Disaster, and the Creative Community" Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics(ASU/Tempe) 2001
“Performance Art as Autobiography” Modern Language Association(Washington,D.C.) 2000
"Teaching Performance Art" Performance Art, Culture, Pedagogy Symposium (Penn State Univ.) 1996
PRODUCED/ORGANIZED:
NoPassport Conference Steering Committee (2011-2012) Arizona State University
Mayo Clinic Hospital/ASU School of Theatre and Film Palliative Care nurse training with graduate acting students 2006- 2008
"911: Calling the Creative Community," series of public events for ASU examining September 11 attacks (Tempe, AZ) October 2, 2001.
OTHER PERFORMANCE WORK
Directed virtual/film production of ASU MFA candidate Jesse D. Saywell's Alone: Edgar Allan Poe's Final Chapter Spring 2021
Appointment performer in work by Aaron Landsman ASUGammage (Tempe) 2014
FUSE short collaborative work for School of Film, Dance, and Theatre, Arizona State University October 2013
10 Tall Tales About the Men I Love actor in play based by Ronn Smith, adapted/directed by Thom Fogarty. Judson Memorial Church. (NYC) 2012
Build A Wall directed 10-minute play by Cary Pepper for "Performing 1070" Festival. ASU West and Arizona State Capitol 2011
Big Love choreographer for play by Charles Mee, directed by Kim Weild. ASU Mainstage Fall 2010
Disorientalism performer in piece by Marianne M. Kim, Katherine Behar ASU West 2008
The Cherry Orchard acted role of Leonid Gayev in Marshall W. Mason's production Arizona State University February 2004
The Staging of Science four parts, professional reading student plays Herberger Theatre Gitta Honegger's class. April 2003
Lysistrata choreographed staged reading as part of nationwide anti-war performances Arizona State University March 2003
911: Operation My Big Hands Theatre in My Basement (Phoenix,AZ) actor in reading at Modified Arts October 2002
Sound Zero produced Lance Gharavi’s solo installation piece. Institute for Studies in the Arts, Arizona State University Jan/Feb. 2002
As good as it gets, voice-over for Linda Mancini piece at DTW 11/92
970-Debb Consulting Artist for Deb Margolin P.S. 122 9/90
Yield Both Ways Assistant Cameraman for Michael Stiller's 1986 film.
How To Win An Argument voice-over for Warner Publishing educational tape. 1985. Produced by Gregory Miller.
The Campaign Game featured in radio play by E-Radiotheatre. Premiered July 1984 WBAI radio.
Street Performances performed in street performances with Yoshiko Chuma and the School of Hard Knocks 1983
Cost Of Living appeared in Tim Miller's work-in-progress at Danceteria, NYC May 1982.
Men In Dark Times featured in Eric Bogosian's theater piece The Kitchen NYC, The Mudd Club NYC March 1982.
Postwar performed in Tim Miller's piece Dance Theater Workshop NYC January-February 1982.
Word Of Mouth produced and performed in reading/performance event at Club 57 NYC May 1981.
Winter Safari produced benefit for P.S. 122 February 1981.
Live Boys stage-managed performance by John Bernd/Tim Miller at P.S. 122 March 1981.
What We're Made Of! by Ishmael Houston-Jones, Michael Biello, Dan Martin, Charles Cohen. The Glines at Network Theater NYC June 1980; Contemp. Arts Center, (Phila. PA).
EDUCATION
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF THE ARTS Writing Division 1996-1998. Master of Fine Arts October 1998
EMPIRE STATE COLLEGE/STATE UNIVERSITY NEW YORK 1992-95. Bachelor of Arts 1995; Leach Fellowship Performing Arts
THE NEW SCHOOL Non-fiction writing with Candy Schulman Summer 1995
REED COLLEGE two years study 1975-77. Theater with Larry Oliver and Diana Bellamy. Dance with Judy Massee.
REED COLLEGE SUMMER REPERTORY COMPANY 1976 actor in company. VOICE TRAINING with Diana Bellamy and Stan Vincent in Lessac and Linklater techniques.
SINGING LESSONS with John Eppler/Jeanette Lovetri in NYC. 1985-1994.
SKINNER RELEASING two years of study with Joan Skinner and members of company. Seattle 1977-78. CONTACT IMPROVISATION with Mangrove Collective; JAMES TYLER Hawkins-based dance technique; DAVID SHEIN study with member of Blake Street Hawkeyes and Iowa Lab Theatre; RUTH ZAPORAH physical theater. San Francisco 1979.
TEACHING
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY Professor, School of Film, Dance and Theatre, Spring 2020-; Associate Professor (tenured), School of Film, Dance and Theatre at the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, Fall 2011-2020; Assistant Professor, Fall 2005-Spring 2011; Interim Director MFA Performance Program August 2003-May 2005; Senior Lecturer/Resident Artist, Institute for Studies in the Arts, Fall 2001-Spring 2003; (Tempe, AZ)
KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY: Instructor in Performance Art, and Writing for Performance 1996-1998 (Kutztown, PA)
CENTER FOR NEW DANCE DEVELOPMENT (Arnhem, The Netherlands) April 1991
OTIS ART INSTITUTE Instructor in Performance Art Fall 1991 Semester (Los Angeles, CA)
ART CENTER COLLEGE OF DESIGN Instructor in Performance Art Fall 1991 Semester (Pasadena, CA)
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE FOR THE ARTS (CAL ARTS) Instructor in Dance Video Fall 1991 (Valencia, CA)
VISITING ARTIST: University of Portsmouth (UK) 2018; Instituto Superior de Artes, (Havana, Cuba) 2004; Cal Arts’ Critical Studies Program 2000; Dartington College (Totnes, England) 2000; Glasgow School of Art (Glasgow, Scotland) 2000; artsadmin (London) 2000, Arts University (Brno, Czech Republic) 1999; Univ. of Nevada/Las Vegas (1996); Univ. of Southern California (1995); Scripps College (Pomona, CA) 2000, 1995; Univ. of LaVerne 1995,1996 (LaVerne, CA) Columbia College, Chicago 1994; Univ. of California/Irvine 1989; Cleveland State Univ. 1989; State Univ. of NY/Brockport 1989; Martha's Vineyard Public Schools, Fall 1988; Los Angeles Poverty Dept. (Theater Group) 1988; Art Center College of Design (Pasadena, CA) 2000, 1985, 1987; Otis Art Institute (Los Angeles, CA) 1987,1995; Cal Arts 1985; Fieldston Perf. Arts Inst. (NYC) 6/92; Barnsdall Art Park (Los Angeles, CA) 7/87;
BARD PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL (Red Hook, NY) lead writer of arts curriculum. 1999
LITTLE MEADOWS EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER (NYC) Artist in Residence 1991-1999
YOUNG AUDIENCES/NY workshops for NYC Public Schools in Creative Movement, March 1987-2001.
LINCOLN CENTER INSTITUTE Workshops and teacher training in aesthetic education NYC public schools 1993-2001
ARTS HORIZONS Creative movement workshops and teacher training 1994-2001 ORCHESTRA OF ST. LUKES Aesthetic education program NYC schools 1996-1999
ARTSGENESIS Creative Movement workshops and teacher training in NYC public schools 1992-1995 ARTS CONNECTION/ARTS EXPOSURE: creative movement workshops in NYC public schools 1989-1994. NORTH CAROLINA ARTS COUNCIL Monthlong residency at Ocracoke School (Ocracoke, NC) May 1993
HOSPITAL AUDIENCES,INC. Dance and movement teacher for mental health facilities in NYC. 1983-89
LOCAL AND COMMUNITY PRESENTATIONS:
Theatre Symposium presentation. Space 55 (Phoenix, AZ) 2008
"Redefining Displacement” followingLeandro Soto's performance. Part of ASU Art Research Grant organized by April Edwards and Leandro Soto. (ASU West) Spring 2006
"National Coming Out Day" guest panelist for Dr. Spencer's Human Sexuality class (ASU) 2005
"Politics in the arts" panel following performance of Embeddedby Actors' Gang (Tim Robbins' company). Scottsdale Center for the Arts 2004
"Floor sensor array demonstration" with engineer Ozzie Kidane and Engineering grad students.Arts Media Engineering program, Digital Arts Ranch (ASU) 2003
"Activism, Art, Performance" Power In Practice Arts Education Conf. (Philadelphia, PA) 1996
"The personal and the political in live performance"American Dance Guild (NYC) 1991
"The Artist/therapist collaboration in early childhood education" (with Jane Wilson Downes) New York Foundation for the Arts' Common Ground (Saratoga Springs, NY)1992
"Censorship, funding, and new art" New York Foundation for the Arts' Common Ground 1990
RELATED ACTIVITIES
RED WING PERFORMING GROUP, INC. Assoc. Director 1986-2011.
PERFORMANCE SPACE 122 Associate Director 1982-86.
UBIQUITY Board member of Arizona State University LGBTQ faculty/staff organization 2004-2011.
CONTRACT NEGOTIATING TEAM 1999-2001 for Lincoln Center Institute Teaching Artists local (United Federation of Teachers).
Activist: ARTISTS COALITION FOR GAY/LESBIAN MARCH ON WASHINGTON 1993 GET SMART! NYC anti-censorship group 6/90; NYC Arts Coalition 1990; ARTS COALITION OF INDEPENDENT DEMOCRATS (NYC) 1991-1994; DANCERS FOR DISARMAMENT 1982.
CUMMINGTON COMMUNITY OF THE ARTS in residence September 1981.
BOARD MEMBER/OFFICER of 512 East 11th Street HDFC (Low-income Housing Co-op) 1982-2001. Building Manager 1992-98.
MEMBER: Dramatists' Guild of America, Playwrights' Center, National Writers Union, Center for Lesbian/Gay Studies; Association for Theater in Higher Education, Assoc. of Theatre Movement Educators.
ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER: Steven Kent Institute for Conscious Acting, University of LaVerne (2001-2016)
CITATIONS
Review of Six Monologues in online journal Fabrik by Jacki Apple 2018
“Causing More Trouble Out There: Mark Russell on P.S. 122” Beth Kurkjian TDR/The Drama Review 51:3 (T195)Fall 2007; Honorable Discharge BarrioZona magazine Hispanic Inst. of Social Issues (Phoenix, AZ) Nov-Dec 2004; Homecoming: Celebrating 20 Years of Dance at P.S. 122. Film by Charles Dennis (2004);"Performing Identity: The Politics and Pedagogy of Witnessing the Self" Doctoral dissertation by Dahn Hiuni (Pennsylvania State University May, 2005); Caught In The Act Dona Ann McAdams (Aperture 1996); The NEA Tapes (1995); Performing Pedagogy: Toward an Art of Politics by Charles Garoian (SUNY 1999); "When Artists Hesitate" Samar Farah (Christian Science Monitor 3/7/02); Ballet & Modern Dance Susan Au (Thames and Hudson) 1988; “Gay Plays, Gay Theatre, Gay Performance” by Terry Helbing The Drama Review/TDR 1981 Vo. 25. No 1
*Over 50 performance previews and reviews published in: The Village Voice, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Edmonton Journal, The Chicago Reader, The Baltimore Sun, The Toronto Star, Drama-Logue, Miami Beach Antenna, Dialogue, High Performance, Chicago Tribune, Cincinnati Enquirer, Los Angeles Herald Examiner, Los Angeles Daily News, Artweek
Interviews:
KJZZ Phoenix (NPR) Robrt Pela January, 2002
KPFK Los Angeles "Soundings" hosted by Jacki Apple 1993, 1991, 1985
TV Baltimore, Maryland 1991
ARCHIVED:
Jerome Robbins Dance Collection, NY Public Library at Lincoln Center
Kudos https://www.growkudos.com/profiles/3189
Hemispheric Institute for Performance and Politics
Alive and Kicking #58 (documentation of Project Desire at P.S. 122)
Estate Project. For work relating to AIDS (2004)
Franklin Furnace Online archive
http://franklinfurnace.org/research/event_archives.php
Artstore http://library.artstor.org/library
Eye On Dance (broadcast series) #281 “Wedding Dance to Video & Film”
http://www.eyeondance.org
Study Room, Live Art Development Agency (London, UK) 2006
http://www.thisisliveart.co.uk/opportunities/the-study-room/
The Library of Performing Rights http://publicaddresssystems.org/projects/the-library-of-performing-rights/
Cleveland Performance Art Festival archive. Special collections at Cleveland State
University Library http://web.ulib.csuohio.edu/SpecColl/paf.html
Majazé Maggazino Culturale in Catania, Italy (solos 1987-94) 2005
Burt Supree (dance critic 1976-1992) archive http://www.burtsupree.com
Online video archive (non-curated) http://www.vimeo.com/jeffmcmahon
TEACHING
In 1998, Jeff completed a Master of Fine Arts Degree in the Writing Program of the School of the Arts, Columbia University, with an emphasis on nonfiction writing, after having received his BA in Interdisciplinary Art from the State University of New York/Empire State College in 1995.
From 2001-2003, Jeff was Resident Artist/Senior Lecturer in Theatre at the Institute for Studies in the Arts (now Arts, Media+Engineering) at Herberger Institute for Design & the Arts at Arizona State University. From 2003-2005, he was Senior Lecturer/Interim Director of the MFA Performance program in the School of Theatre, becoming Assistant Professor in 2005. In 2011, Jeff was promoted with tenure to the position of Associate Professor in the School of Theatre and Film (becoming the School of Film, Dance and Theatre) at ASU, and in 2020 advanced to Professor in the School of Music, Dance and Theatre at the Herberger Institute for Design & the Arts at ASU.
Jeff teaches Introduction to Movement for Actors, Solo and Collaborative Performance (Theory/History/Practice of Performance Art for undergrads and grads), the MFA Dramatic Writers' workshop, Advanced Acting: Beyond Realism, Queer Plays and Films, Creating Monologues and Performing Stories, and created Living the Arts, exploring the downtown Phoenix arts scene for the ASU downtown campus. He also teaches Solo Performance for the MFA Performance program. In 2020, Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) asked him to co-teach his DBR Lab, which he continues to do. Jeff coordinated a collaborative project with the Mayo Clinic Hospital, employing MFA Theatre students to role-play patients and family members, allowing nurses to practice palliative care for those facing a life threatening illness. In 2010, he mentored MFA candidate Adam Pinti's successful application for a Princess Grace scholarship. Jeff was part of the interdisciplinary team that created the Certificate program in Socially Engaged Practice (SEP) at ASU in 2012 and the Performance and Movement major in 2016.
Jeff has taught and given presentations as a visiting artist at Instituto Superior de Artes (Havana, Cuba), Dartington College (U.K.), Glasgow School of Art, the Center for New Dance Development (Arnhem, the Netherlands), artsadmin (London), Arts University (Brno, Czech Republic), Univ. of Nevada/Las Vegas, Univ. of Southern California, Scripps College, University of LaVerne , Columbia College, (Chicago), Univ. of California, Cleveland State University, State Univ. of NY/Brockport, Martha's Vineyard Public Schools, Los Angeles Poverty Dept. (Theater Group), Otis Art Institute; Fieldston Performing Arts Inst. (NYC), and Barnsdall Art Park (LA). He has held appointments as adjunct professor at Kutztown University, Otis Art Institute, Art Center College of Design, and the California Institute of the Arts. From 1983-2001, he worked as a teaching artist in aesthetic education and creative movement with Hospital Audiences, Inc., Lincoln Center Institute, Young Audiences/NY, Arts Horizons, Orchestra of St. Lukes, Little Meadows Early Childhood Center, ArtsGenesis, and the North Carolina Arts Council. He has published essays regarding his teaching experiences and philosophy in TDR, PAJ , and Teaching Tolerance. For the “Performance Art, Culture, Pedagogy” Symposium at Penn State University, McMahon was a featured performer, and was then cited in the book resulting from that symposium, PERFORMING PEDAGOGY: Toward an Art of Politics by Charles Garoian (SUNY 1999).
He has chaired panels for the College Art Association and the Assoc. for Theater in Higher Education, and presented at the Modern Language Association, the Rothermere American Institute at Univ. of Oxford, Performance Studies International, Hemispheric Institute for Performance and Politics, Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics, Society for Scientific Study of Sexuality, American Dance Guild, and the New York Foundation for the Arts/Common Ground.
ARTISTIC STATEMENT
WHAT PEOPLE SAY
SIX MONOLOGUES 1990-2007:
Read Jacki Apple's review in Fabrik
"Provocative, witty, daring and compassionate, these works are a testament to McMahon's singular vision." Caridad Svich, playwright, translator, editor, publisher of NoPassport Press
"Years ago, at PS122 in New York, I watched a pajama-clad Jeff McMahon circumnavigate the lip of an antique bathtub in which another performer was taking a bath. Nimble and precise and practically glowing with intention, he circled the bather again and again: a mesmerizing tightrope-walk of everyday elements. Now, in this trenchant collection, McMahon performs a similar trick. Here are the identical instincts: the deftness and intelligence, the foundational sense of imagery; the surprising grace and, most of all, that same keen ability to hold an audience." Dave King, Author of The Ha-Ha
"Jeff McMahon's performances sear us in a fever dream of poetics, politics and unflinching personal witness. His fierce collision of social texts and equal opportunity "j'accuse" claims a rigorous performance vision that unsparingly unpacks society and self. From a child's peering over the backseat of his Grandmother's car driving thru L.A, to an unblinking witness to 9/11 McMahon takes us on a wild journey thru our times. Buckle your seat belt and dare to ride shotgun as you turn the pages of this powerful collection." Tim Miller, Performer and author of Body Blows and 1001 Beds
"I have long respected and admired Jeff's work because it is deeply considered, unsentimental and brutally honest. Because Jeff is quintessentially a generous human being, his words (be them on a page or on a stage) have helped me to deepen the understanding of my own identity and of my own experiences as a gay immigrant." Antonio Ocampo-Guzman (director and professor)
"Your beautiful collection of works pop off the page" Mark Russell:, former Exec. Dir of Performance Space 122 (NYC) and Founding Director of Under the Radar Festival
"Jeff McMahon' s incredibly beautiful, sharp and vibrant new book of performance texts about the multiple intersections of self and queerness and cultural history.” Alistair McCartney, author of The Disintegrations
“This collection of McMahon's powerful monologues (over 17 years of ever-evolving work), forces the reader to confront the cruelty of our recent wars--both military and cultural-- as well as 9/11, homophobia, the illogics of creeping and open fascism, police brutality, and much more. The intensity of the imagery is leavened by brilliant wordplay. This is a must read for spoken word artists, monologists-- the only thing better than reading these pieces would be to attend a live McMahon performance.” L.M. Bogad, author of Electoral Guerrilla Theatre: Radical Ridicule and Social Movements, and Tactical Performance: The Theory and Practice of Serious Play
STRAIGHT TALK:
“…shows off McMahon's deft, even daredevil writing and a quicksilver ensemble of actors-portraying a shifting assortment of young folks talking about hook-ups they have or might like to have, what they think about themselves and about others. They negotiate McMahon's torrent of words, often at physical and emotional fever pitch, without tripping on their tongues and hurting themselves. There's a certainly huge, huge amount of unconscious here--some of it black, some of it queer, quite a bit of it straight but suspect. A couple of sections--the opener featuring Brine and Kraigher; a later duet for Jennings and Nelson--work brilliantly, and I'd happily revisit them.”
From the blog InfiniteBody by Eva Yaa Asantewaa 2010
HEEL:
“ It is without doubt the most engaging performance I have seen at ASU and many places beyond, solo or otherwise. The magic of the performance was evidenced in the juxtaposition of your gutsy presence in the multiple roles laced with such intelligent, informed and insightful interpretations and expressions through the writing, the distilled yet riveting imagery through your own body movement, your intimate relationships with props, as well as the extended body effects so beautifully integrated with the various audio and video technologies.”
Richard Loveless, founding director, Institute for Studies in the Arts, Arizona State Univ. 2002
“I thought it was a brilliant work. It was enormously challenging intellectually, and I think there are enough of us here who like intellectual theater to make a dent in the anti-intellectual bias that artificially permeates the air. A good storm will wash it out, and Heel was a storm.”
Audience member/ASU faculty 2002
PROJECT DESIRE:
“Elegant, strong, emotional, restrained; Project Desire is a mature work of art...it captures the uncertain reality of the human experience in a way words can’t..combines Webb’s strength and pin-point articulation, Jeff McMahon’s swift, sardonic, tender American commentaries.”
Pamela Anthony The Edmonton Journal July 1997
OTHER WORK:
“McMahon’s memoirs are elegies for and celebrations of people and places that scar him to contemplate. He conjures the gay baths--”ghettos of unornamented desire”. And “supermasochist” Bob Flanagan, whose joyous suffering McMahon fears is too close to his fantasies and whose complexity he absorbs with awe: “What happens when the unspeakable is deliberately practiced?”
"McMahon's dazzlingly liquid stream-of-consciousness rants and raves are like lifting the lid off the skull of a self-aware man, and taking a peek inside...a thrilling and often moving collage of angst and insight...the effect is difficult to forget. The feeling is deep, and beautifully illustrated."
Pamela Anthony The Edmonton Journal May 7, 1994
"Bitter, funny, occasionally grandiose and hysterical, City of God seems to trace the movement of the mind itself as McMahon sings, talks, and dances"
Laura Molzahn The Chicago Reader February 25, 1994
"a riveting performer and a very smart observer-participant in a perilous world."
Deborah Jowitt The Village Voice December 21, 1993
"...a funny, agile poet of a performance artist...exhilarating"
Jennifer Dunning The New York Times December 6, 1993
"...a magnificent mover-deeply eloquent, deceptively effortless"
Lewis Segal The Los Angeles Times September 6, 1993
"Endowed with a technique of breathtaking energy, McMahon is obsessed with the nomenclature of social ills. He tosses them out into the public domains and dances around them as if his life depended on it...A dancer, monologuist, political commentator, and dream-time skater-reminding me of no one less than Charlie Chaplin spinning on the gears of social machinery."
Ned Bobkoff The Magazine Santa Fe October 1992
"How is it that Jeff McMahon's solo is so fresh and vivid? Mastery of style, tone, and technique are the crucial factors. McMahon weaves snatches of song (martial, devotional, pop) and narrative (mocking, dreamy, confessional) into a grimly witty indictment of attitudes behind the Gulf War"
Cathy Curtis The Los Angeles Times November 11, 1991
"He modulates both voice and movement so quickly that one thinks he has flipped his mental channels. Part poet, part preacher, part rapper and dancer, he presents a patter of stream-of-conscious language that is brilliant and filled with metaphors and snatches of cliches."
J.L. Conklin The Baltimore Sun February 9, 1991
"McMahon slithers through space with an almost surreptitious grace, as if continually avoiding collision...his arms weave a language of gesture...It was a wonderful blend of activist theater and pure movement."
Michael Crabb The Toronto Star October 4, 1990
"I found myself praying for a megaphone for all Miami to hear...Relentless and brilliant...and every single moment was fascinating"
Bill Spring The Miami Beach Antenna November 9, 1990
"an intense and driven monologuist who moves with the elasticity of warm putty and the lightness of a leaf buffeted by changeable winds. Mind and body are blended inextricably...a tour de force of performing...a mesmerizing litany that has the rhythmic repetitions, the dynamics and the aural subtleties of a piece of music."
Jennifer Dunning The New York Times March 9, 1990
"His words build litanies I never can remember exactly afterward and am too mesmerized to write down...savage, mordantly funny"
Deborah Jowitt The Village Voice November 29, 1988
"DISCONTENTS is an activist dance/theater work; McMahon wants us disturbed enough to do something. He probes the multifarious rifts in the social and psychic fabric and forces them a little wider. He revels in sinuous, twitchy, flicking moves, and his tracks through space are narrow corridors...he is fascinating to watch..amazingly fluid, sharp talk"
Burt Supree The Village Voice March 27, 1990
"Dance hardly sums up what McMahon does. His tense, repetitive movements are accompanied by his words built into a phrase, a phrase added onto a phrase, a phrase transformed into a litany...McMahon should be mandatory viewing."
John Stickney DIALOGUE August 1989
"A stunning dancer, McMahon's balance and precision etch his pain with acid" Lucia Dewey Drama-Logue September 7, 1988
"…both austere and obsessive. {Rate of Exchange} is like a long, low shriek against the distortions of modern life…a dance of nerves, of rising tension."
Sally Banes The Village Voice October 26, 1982