Oskar Eustis: Why theater is essential to democracy
أوسكار إستيس: لمَ المسرح ضروري للديموقراطية
As the artistic director of New York's legendary Public Theater, Oskar Eustis nurtures new, groundbreaking works that shift the cultural conversation. Full bio
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art form of democracy,
الأساسي للديمقراطية،
they were born in the same city.
from the consent of the governed,
يجب أن تنبع من رضا المحكومين،
from below to above,
من الأسفل إلى الأعلى،
تقول الأسطورة أنه يدعى (ثيسبيس) -
legend has it, somebody named Thespis --
the Festival of Dionysus gathered
they would watch dancing,
ويشاهدون الرقص،
as part of the Festival of Dionysus.
what's happening right now:
and you are receiving what I have to say.
you may think I'm an insufferable fool,
وقد تعتقدون أنني أحمق بشكل لا يطاق،
taking place inside your own head.
instead of me talking to you --
onstage with me?
I'm not the possessor of truth;
conflict -- they disagree with me.
هم يختلفون معي.
two points of view.
is that the truth can only emerge
of different points of view.
you have to believe that.
فعليكم أن تصدقوا ذلك.
you're an autocrat
points of views leads to the truth.
يؤدي إلى الحقيقة.
and listen to me.
to me as a character.
to switch your mind
to the other person talking.
من تضارب أفكار مختلفة،
from the collision of different ideas
for democratic citizenship.
that when you go to the movies,
عندما تذهبون لمشاهدة الأفلام،
and if it's empty, you're delighted,
تكونون سعداء،
between you and the movie.
over the top of the stadium seats,
the collective experience
holding your breath together
وحبس الأنفاس معًا
as an individual consumer,
of yourself as part of a whole,
Joe Papp decided
في الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية،
everybody in the United States of America,
to try to deliver on that promise.
is based on a very simple idea,
على فكرة بسيطة،
the best art that we can produce,
and belong to everybody,
we can provide for free.
after he figured that out,
circle was not complete
بإنشاء كلاسيكياتهم الخاصة
create their own classics
downtown on Astor Place,
في وسط المدينة في (أستور بلاس)،
هو العرض الأول لفيلم "هير".
was the world premiere of "Hair."
that wasn't Shakespeare.
إن الأمر يبدو كما لو أخذ السيد (باب) مكنسة
that it was as if Mr. Papp took a broom
from the East Village streets
he was so proud of it.
the next years with amazing shows like
السنوات القادمة بعروض مذهلة مثل
سويسايد / هوين ذا راينبو إز إنف)،
Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf,"
example I can think of:
أستطيع التفكير به:
about the AIDS crisis,
تلك المسرحية في عام 1985،
that play in 1985,
in the New York Times
in the previous four years.
في الأربع سنوات السابقة.
the dialogue about AIDS
on Tony Kushner's "Angels in America,"
(توني كوشنر) (انجلز إن أمريكا)،
and along with "Normal Heart,"
إلى (نورمال هارت)،
was actually shifting,
in the United States.
at the Public in 2005,
العام في عام 2005،
was a victim of our own success,
كانت ضحية لنجاحنا،
قد تأسس كبرنامج للإتاحة،
had been founded as a program for access,
يمكن الحصول عليها في (نيويورك).
to get in New York City.
للحصول على هذه التذاكر.
to get those tickets.
98 percent of the population
to homeless shelters,
وإلى ملاجئ المشردين،
في جميع الأحياء الخمس
and Westchester County.
عرفناه بشكل بديهي:
that we knew intuitively:
is as powerful as their desire for food
and we've continued it.
أننا لم نتخطاه،
that we realized we weren't crossing,
from being a commodity, an object,
من كونه سلعة، أو شيء،
of the amazing Lear deBessonet,
musical pageants,
الحائزون على جائزة ( توني)
actors and musicians
and domestic workers
والعمال المنزليين
and recently incarcerated prisoners,
that artistry is not something
in being a human being.
وهم يمارسونه.
a lot more of our lives practicing it.
of the foundational story of this country
عن القصة التأسيسية لهذا البلد
الذي كان مهاجرًا لقيطًا يتيمًا
Father who was a bastard immigrant orphan
the language of the people,
who spoke the language.
باستخدام فريق من السود،
with a cast of black and brown people,
for the United States,
of the American Dream.
a wave of patriotism in me
is proving to be insatiable.
وهو حيث أريد أن أنتهي،
and it's where I want to end,
I want to talk about.
أن نائب الرئيس المنتخب (بنس)
that Vice President-elect Pence
من سكان نيويورك،
some of my fellow New Yorkers booed him.
respectful statement from the stage,
شديد الاحترام على المسرح،
listened to it,
وعاصفة من التغريدات،
of outrage, a tweetstorm,
we had treated him with disrespect.
أننا تعاملنا معه بشكل غير لائق.
أن لدينا شيء خاطئ هنا.
we're getting something wrong here.
this boycott petition,
على عريضة المقاطعة،
لمشاهدة (هاملتون) على أي حال.
"Hamilton" anyway.
في مدينة بالقرب منهم.
to a city near them.
تحمل تكلفة التذكرة،
they couldn't afford a ticket,
they didn't have the connections
بالخريطة الانتخابية للولايات المتحدة،
electoral map of the United States,
cultural institutions,"
ما قمنا بفعله في الاقتصاد،
exactly what the economy,
what technology has done,
on a large part of the country.
it has to keep going.
على جائزة (بولتزر) من تأليف (لين نوتاج).
Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Sweat."
led her to write this play
(بنسلفانيا) إلى كتابة هذه المسرحية
of Pennsylvania:
and we're touring it
organizations there to try and make sure
هناك في محاولة للتأكد
that we're trying to reach,
الذين نريد الوصول إليهم فقط،
to listen to them back
is here for you, too."
أننا لا نعرف ما هي مهمتنا.
that we don't know what our job is.
as 'twere, a mirror to nature;
كما لو كنا مرآة للطبيعة،
a vision to America
who all of us are individually,
التي نحتاج إليها،
the commonality that we need to be,
بأفضل ما يمكننا.
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