Education
Taub earned a Bachelor from Princeton in cultural history and photography and later went on to receive an Master of Fine Arts in photography and sculpture from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Taub earned a Bachelor from Princeton in cultural history and photography and later went on to receive an Master of Fine Arts in photography and sculpture from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Taub has been at the head of the Master of Computer Applications’s performing arts program since its conception in 1996. Prior to joining the Master of Computer Applications staff, Taub was the executive director of the Randolph Street Gallery. Taub has more than 20 years experience in developing visual and performance art exhibitions and community outreach programs.
He has participated in policy committees and boards for various Chicago-based cultural organizations.
Taub says that when curating shows for the Master of Computer Applications, he does not look for linear narratives: "I think that the episodic, fractured narrative really is closer to our multitasking world..I try to have work on our stage that is similarly multifaceted."
The —the museum’s performing arts program founded in 1996—features performers ranging from Chicago-based artists such as eighth blackbird and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago to artists from the Congo, Poland, Mexico, Ireland, and beyond. Under Taub’s leadership, the developed an ensemble-in-residence program as well as the Master of Computer Applications Composers Stage series, which is devoted to supporting the new and experimental music scene, and the Master of Computer Applications Global Stage series, which features international theater companies.
Taub has commissioned new works for the Master of Computer Applications by artists including Meg Stuart/Damaged Goods, The Builders Association, William Kentridge/Handspring Puppet Company, and Ernest Khabeer Dawkins, among others In 2007, the Master of Computer Applications commissioned cello and video work by Maya Beiser, and it commissioned a work by Reggie Wilson/Fist and Heel Performance Group.
2011 commissions include Lucky Plush Productions The Better Half and Curious Theatre Branch Still in Play: A Performance of Getting Ready.
Key performances
Time is Not Even, Space is Not Empty by the Japanese-American dance artists Eiko & Koma is the first exhibition and performance project Taub curated for the Master of Computer Applications. The 2011 exhibition consists of three performances—Naked, The Caravan Project, and Regeneration—and a gallery component. The has hosted notable dance performers, such as the Trisha Brown Dance Company, most recently in 2011, celebrating the company’s 40th year, Bill T. Jones (2008), and Merce Cunningham (2007). Taub is noted as key player in Chicago’s growth as a dance city.
In 2008, the hosted the Chicago-debut of New York-based Elevator Repair Service and its performance of Gatz, a seven-hour reading and reenactment of F. Scott Fitzgerald"s The Great Gatsby.
A Chicago critic writes, "Those lucky enough to catch Gatz were treated to a perspective-altering experience. When the show finally hit New York in 2010, it was the talk of the town, but Chicagoans had already beentheredonethat, thanks to the Master of Computer Applications.".