Oskar Eustis: Why theater is essential to democracy
Oskar Eustis: Por qué el teatro es esencial para la democracia
As the artistic director of New York's legendary Public Theater, Oskar Eustis nurtures new, groundbreaking works that shift the cultural conversation. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
porque la democracia importa.
art form of democracy,
de la democracia,
they were born in the same city.
nacieron en la misma ciudad.
from the consent of the governed,
del consentimiento de los gobernados,
from below to above,
desde abajo hacia arriba,
legend has it, somebody named Thespis --
según la leyenda, llamado Tespis,
the Festival of Dionysus gathered
el festival de Dionisio reunió
they would watch dancing,
as part of the Festival of Dionysus.
del festival de Dionisio.
what's happening right now:
que está pasando aquí:
and you are receiving what I have to say.
y reciben lo que tengo para decir.
pensar que soy un tonto insoportable
you may think I'm an insufferable fool,
taking place inside your own head.
ocurre dentro de sus cabezas.
en vez de hablar con Uds.
instead of me talking to you --
en el escenario conmigo?
onstage with me?
I'm not the possessor of truth;
el poseedor de la verdad,
también tiene una opinión,
conflict -- they disagree with me.
ellos no están de acuerdo conmigo.
dos puntos de vista.
two points of view.
is that the truth can only emerge
solamente puede emerger
de diferentes puntos de vista.
of different points of view.
you have to believe that.
tienen que creer en esto.
you're an autocrat
de vista lleven a la verdad.
points of views leads to the truth.
y me escuchen.
and listen to me.
to me as a character.
para mí como un personaje.
su manera de pensar
to switch your mind
to the other person talking.
la otra persona que habla.
colisión de diferentes ideas
from the collision of different ideas
for democratic citizenship.
para la ciudadanía democrática.
that when you go to the movies,
que cuando van al cine,
vacía, se sienten contentos,
and if it's empty, you're delighted,
between you and the movie.
entre Uds. y la película.
over the top of the stadium seats,
the collective experience
holding your breath together
aguantar la respiración juntos
as an individual consumer,
como unos consumidores individuales,
of yourself as part of a whole,
sintiéndose parte de un todo,
de mi forma de arte.
Joe Papp decided
a todos en los EE. UU.
everybody in the United States of America,
de cumplir esa promesa.
to try to deliver on that promise.
is based on a very simple idea,
el mejor arte que podemos producir
the best art that we can produce,
and belong to everybody,
en el Central Park,
we can provide for free.
que podemos ofrecer y gratis.
after he figured that out,
de que él descubriera eso
circle was not complete
no estaba completo
create their own classics
crear sus propios clásicos
downtown on Astor Place,
en el centro del Astor Place
was the world premiere of "Hair."
fue el estreno de "Hair".
fuera de Shakespeare.
that wasn't Shakespeare.
como si el Sr. Papp tomara una escoba
that it was as if Mr. Papp took a broom
de las calles de East Village
from the East Village streets
he was so proud of it.
estaba muy orgulloso de eso.
the next years with amazing shows like
fabulosos espectáculos como:
Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf,"
suicidio cuando el arcoíris es suficiente"
example I can think of:
que se me ocurre:
about the AIDS crisis,
sobre la crisis del SIDA,
that play in 1985,
in the New York Times
en el New York Times
in the previous four years.
New York Times esos 4 años previos.
the dialogue about AIDS
el diálogo sobre SIDA
on Tony Kushner's "Angels in America,"
"Angels in America" de Tony Kushner
and along with "Normal Heart,"
junto con "Corazón normal"
was actually shifting,
in the United States.
ser gay en los EE. UU.
at the Public in 2005,
en el Teatro Público en 2005
fuimos víctimas de nuestro propio éxito,
was a victim of our own success,
had been founded as a program for access,
se fundó como un programa de acceso
de conseguir en Nueva York.
to get in New York City.
to get those tickets.
para conseguir las entradas.
98 percent of the population
to homeless shelters,
a cárceles, a refugios,
de los 5 distritos,
and Westchester County.
y a Westchester County.
that we knew intuitively:
que sabíamos intuitivamente:
is as powerful as their desire for food
es tan fuerte como su deseo por comida
and we've continued it.
y todavía continuamos haciéndolo.
rompiendo otra barrera
that we realized we weren't crossing,
from being a commodity, an object,
de una mercancía, un objeto,
el maravilloso Lear deBessonet,
of the amazing Lear deBessonet,
musical pageants,
musicales shakesperianos,
actors and musicians
ganadores de premios Tony
and domestic workers
empleadas domésticas,
and recently incarcerated prisoners,
y prisioneros recientemente encarcelados,
that artistry is not something
la destreza artística no es algo
in being a human being.
en todos los seres humanos.
a lot more of our lives practicing it.
de nuestras vidas entrenando.
of the foundational story of this country
de la historia fundacional de este país
que era inmigrante huérfano y bastardo
Father who was a bastard immigrant orphan
the language of the people,
de la gente,
who spoke the language.
que hablaba ese lenguaje.
afroamericanos y morenos para los papeles
with a cast of black and brown people,
for the United States,
este país puede ser,
of the American Dream.
en el corazón del sueño americano.
una ola de patriotismo en mí,
a wave of patriotism in me
is proving to be insatiable.
donde quiero terminar,
and it's where I want to end,
I want to talk about.
que el vicepresidente Pence
that Vice President-elect Pence
algunos de mis compañeros lo abuchearon.
some of my fellow New Yorkers booed him.
respectful statement from the stage,
una declaración muy respetuosa del elenco
listened to it,
of outrage, a tweetstorm,
una catarata de tweets,
en internet para "Hamilton"
we had treated him with disrespect.
nosotros le faltamos el respeto.
we're getting something wrong here.
haciendo algo mal aquí.
la petición del boicot,
this boycott petition,
de todas maneras.
"Hamilton" anyway.
to a city near them.
they couldn't afford a ticket,
no tendrían las conexiones
they didn't have the connections
rojo y azul de los EE. UU.,
electoral map of the United States,
cultural institutions,"
culturales sin fines de lucro",
Me creerían.
exactly what the economy,
lo mismo que la economía
y la tecnología hicieron
what technology has done,
on a large part of the country.
a una gran parte del país.
tiene que seguir.
it has to keep going.
ganador de un Premio Pulitzer.
Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Sweat."
led her to write this play
Reading, Pensilvania,
of Pennsylvania:
de Pensilvania:
and we're touring it
y vamos a hacer gira con ella
organizations there to try and make sure
comunitarias allí para tratar de asegurar
que tratamos de llegar,
that we're trying to reach,
to listen to them back
is here for you, too."
esta aquí para Uds."
that we don't know what our job is.
no sabemos cuál es nuestro trabajo.
as 'twere, a mirror to nature;
así decirlo, un espejo a la naturaleza,
a vision to America
una visión a los EE. UU.
somos individualmente,
who all of us are individually,
en la comunidad que necesitamos ser
the commonality that we need to be,
de hacer lo mejor que podamos.
as well as we can.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Oskar Eustis - Theater directorAs the artistic director of New York's legendary Public Theater, Oskar Eustis nurtures new, groundbreaking works that shift the cultural conversation.
Why you should listen
Throughout his career, Oskar Eustis has been dedicated to the development of new plays and the classics as a director, dramaturg and producer. Among the plays he's helped bring into being, you can count Angels in America, the Tony-winning Hamilton and Fun Home, with more new work constantly on the bubble. Throughout his career, he has also produced and directed Shakespeare in venues around the US, from prisons to Broadway, including The Public's 2017 free Shakespeare in the Park staging of Julius Ceasar that generated a national conversation.
Eustis has also directed the world premieres of plays by Philip Kan Gotanda, David Henry Hwang, Emily Mann, Suzan-Lori Parks, Ellen McLaughlin and Eduardo Machado, among many others. He's a professor of dramatic writing and arts and public policy at New York University and has held professorships at UCLA, Middlebury College and Brown University, where he founded and chaired the Trinity Rep/Brown University consortium for professional theater training. He has been Artistic Director of The Public Theater in New York since 2005.
Oskar Eustis | Speaker | TED.com