CR 048: Editor Wax Taber: ‘I find reality much more interesting than anything that can be written’

The Emmy Award-winning editor discusses her latest project, PBS’s “The Class,” and her love for long-form documentaries.

Photo courtesy of Wax Taber

Growing up, Wax Taber didn’t have her sights set on a career in post-production. In fact, she wasn’t entirely sure what she would do. “Everyone, when they’re in their teens, thinks there’s this grand plan,” she says. “You do this, then you do that, and it takes you here and then you end up there. And that’s not how it goes.” As a child, she took daily classes in acting, dancing, singing, and scene study, all under the watchful eye of her stage mother. When she finally got the courage at 16 to tell her mother that she didn’t want to pursue acting and modeling, she was kicked out of the house. And yet, as horrible as that experience was, it was those years of classes and activities that led her to where she is today.

“From age 6 to 16, while other kids were playing, I was going to classes,” Taber says. “I had all of this knowledge, [I figured] I might as well put it to use. It’d be a shame to not do something with it.” After seeing Michael Moore’s 1989 director…