Why theater is essential to democracy | Oskar Eustis

Truth comes from the collision of different ideas, and theater plays an essential role in showing us that truth, says legendary artistic director Oskar Eustis. In this powerful talk, Eustis outlines his plan to reach (and listen to) people in places across the US where the theater, like many other institutions, has turned its back -- like the deindustrialized Rust Belt. "Our job is to try to hold up a vision to America that shows not only who all of us are individually, but that welds us back into the commonality that we need to be," Eustis says. "That's what the theater is supposed to do."
Check out more TED Talks: www.ted.com
The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more.
Follow TED on Twitter: / tedtalks
Like TED on Facebook: / ted
Subscribe to our channel: / ted

[@sensorystreetkidz]

Can’t get enough of ted talks. Whether it’s directly related to my field of work or not I’ve always been able to learn some sort of lesson in all of them.

[@devilspoon8995]

Pov: this is a drama assignment

[@issahamideg7241]

Same

[@Alec776]

Drop the answers

[@konzumaspoggers6311]

bro, you got the answers?

[@sofiablanco8704]

yuppp

[@gaelbarraza8545]

I need it

[@MithCypher]

I am not american. But this message resonated with me. In history every dark age was followed by a resurrection of of culture that changed minds. This Golden Age needs to ignite, i just hope i live long enough to see it bloom. Thank you mister Oskar Eustis for this small seed of a golden age.

[@krystinadowdell2920]

“Artistry is inherent in every human being”

[@cordiality6515]

Thnx alot I am an Arabian Ted is improving my English and my culture. Thnx for ur effort.

[@IIVVBlues]

Excellent and thought provoking presentation. I have always enjoyed theater more than films, but there is so little available that I can afford to attend.

[@christopherplummer6935]

awesome talk. really liked the part about reaching a very missed population of this country. I am part of that world and I am part of the theater world and It caught me off guard and he's right

[@wolfy1612]

thank you so much for this talk !

[@SerHumano69]

Sentido de Unidad, Si !!!! Gracias por presentarlo de esa manera, aplaudo su trabajo...

[@prussianplayer4063]

I know him. I Iive in Frontenac MN and he comes down here for vacations and to visit family. My brother is good friends with him I am serious. He is here in Frontenac right now for a vacation.

[@jjclv_]

I'd never seen the serious side of Zach Galifanakis. I have to say I dig it.

[@fornavn8692]

JuanJo Calva To bad he wasn’t in the sequel, but maybe we’ll see him in Ted 3.

[@kevincarter7633]

Yes! Beautiful

[@markusgamez7954]

When is Ted gonna show up for Ted talks

[@redamasarani]

the final boss

[@markusgamez7954]

ReDa Masarani lol I was waiting for someone to say it was an anachronym so I could reply r/wooooooosh lol

[@kafkaten]

Beckett's little known play: Waiting for Ted.

[@floralpaste1977]

NGL I first thought the movie TED spanned into TED Talks…. Not the greatest moment of my life

[@jasminecorreia1175]

What do you have to say now in 21 century: it’s theater as an art of the show or performance possible? 😕

[@felipesantos2]

Man, that's a great lecture! One of the best I have ever watched! Thank you, Oskar.

[@AhmedElrahama]

Amazing

[@dbcampbell8739]

what an excellent speech

[@Apostate_ofmind]

It takes such a strong and great man to look at a boycott ans say: we failed them, lets fix this. Another man could have use the demografic evidence to say : these people are envious, these people are bitter, shame on them! But instead he saw a solution where others would have seen a scapegoat.

[@Morg1939]

It’s an amazing speech it’s powerful for all those people whose respect & love for culture can understand. I love TedX I always find interest & information

[@noodletitan9086]

Makes sense

[@shahnaseebb6175]

i love this guy, his vision and his work.

[@afarhan21]

Million bucks talk. Thank you for uploading.

[@ptl87]

my Thespian skill leveled up like 4 times during this talk

[@kingdez1998]

Im only here because I need to complete a college assignment for duel credit for high school

[@catherinelyna2393]

I can help you with your assignments at an affordable fee.😉

[@poursadegsaeed]

I want a pillow made of this guy's voice!

[@yahyaal-saeedi6112]

اتمنى ان تنشؤا ترجمه عربيه

[@mataip.kleinman2417]

same

[@liv9589]

Marx would approve of that beard

[@futurekillerful]

The title is a good one in the sense that it catches your attention lol. I’m like wha theater and democracy? So yeah good title

[@TheCarrifaery]

Bless it!

[@dlp3350]

Brilliant!!

[@l0g1cseer47]

Simply superb and enriching talk. Great one!

[@jasminecorreia1175]

What do you have to say now in 21 century: it’s theater as an art of the show or performance possible? 😕

[@user-wr3gg5nu5b]

No sé inglés 😢

[@frankhong6313]

This guy looks so Zizek

[@squintboss8552]

Squint Boss approved.

[@leveljoe]

...and actors we're considered the lowest status of human.

[@dmitriigrigorita2361]

There is no connection between theater and democracy itself. I was born in USSR, in this country art of theatre was one of the priorities - every major city with population 200 000 had at least 1 or 2 theatres. Soviet city with population about 1 million could have more than 10. Many soviet citizen would love to spend their free evening in theater rather than cinema. But nonetheless theater was not a symbol of democracy where people could have expressed their opinions. In fact, it was a instrument of propaganda, every performance was subject to checking for complying to soviet ideology.

[@MichaelBerthelsen]

You miss the point of the presentation, and it's also not applicable when the state bans freedom of speech. Theatre is based on freedom of speech. Otherwise it is, as you said, merely propaganda.

[@johngablesmith4671]

Protest theatre has specific connections with democracy, especially in countries like South Africa in the 80s

[@dmitriigrigorita2361]

Michael Berthelsen How could theatre be based on freedom of speech? In USSR there wasn't any freedom of speech but nonetheless art of theatre thrived. Soviet experience showed that it could exist without any freedom of speech. And, what's more, people loved theatre, it was very common way of having a good time. I would agree that freedom of speech is a good addition to the art, it spices it up in some way but it is not critical for its prosperity.

[@vorlonagent]

I believe this conversation has put its finger on why there was a pushback against the cast of "Hamilton". The actors who lectured Pence from the stage were seen as engaging in propaganda.

[@ytnamax]

But not all theaters thrived. Only "talented" ones. And do not forget about special "эзопов" language created by Soviet literature and theater to talk on the background. It was a game against propaganda. Ленком, Современник, Таганка (I live in Moscow so...) - would you consider these ones as a propaganda back in 60s-70s?

[@ken-xz2ty]

he kind of looks like hank from Detroit become human

[@fireflyeeeee2980]

Hey you!. Have a nice day. And a nice life :-)

[@liv9589]

Clinton Fernandes thank you

[@krystinadowdell2920]

You too :)

[@MichaelBerthelsen]

Likewise.😉

[@SawyerKnight]

Good thing the United States is a *Constitutional* *Republic* .

[@ehron214]

But what if said theater is divisive?

[@ehron214]

Alvaro Jg politics are divisive, not democracy

[@ERICdaGREAT09]

BIG NO. Hahahaha Totalitarianism is a political concept.

[@1comatose]

theatre*

[@osielescalante2785]

tedlington Doesn’t really matter. Even the theater=building theatre=art doesn’t matter.

[@joeyflint7232]

Osiel Escalante it does. They’re two different things. It’s the exact same thing as using the correct form of their/they’re/there

[@mataip.kleinman2417]

POV: you didn't watch all 13 minutes

[@Jv9569]

The world is stage, that's why.

[@VoLCoMzYaDiGG]

I think comedy is the utmost essential to a democracy.

[@DoNaCOMMENTS]

we need it to teach people how to lie in a more truthful fashion..

[@bea.c.a.m]

is it just me or this guy bears STRIKING RESEMBLANCE to mark hamill

[@cocoa105]

YES! I kept trying to figure out who he reminded me of.

[@nadiaolson4316]

wow

[@jasminecorreia1175]

What do you have to say now in 21 century: it’s theater as an art of the show or performance possible? 😕

[@Cerbyo]

looks like mark hamill

[@ShadaOfAllThings]

The problem is that all of this relies on people doing this in good faith. People lie all the time to make their points. On top of that, people drown out other's opinions all the time too. This is why there is no major Socialist movement in America, no Real Socialist Movement talking about replacing Capitalism as the mode of production and the organization of society, is present in America. People who hold that viewpoint and can argue for it never get screen time. Why? Because Capitalists have are invested in people never having that idea.

[@ShadaOfAllThings]

no u

[@maximkovalkov1334]

zio420 ... Seriously? I don’t even agree with what Shada said, but... where were you going with your comment?! “Hmm, he wrote about people silencing his opinions... Let me respond with a ‘shut up’ and prove his point!”

[@ShadaOfAllThings]

I mean this is all coming from someone who's sub'd to Amazing Atheist in 2018 so what should we really expect?

[@Kid_Legend_4_Life]

What does ted mean anyway

[@Kid_Legend_4_Life]

Anik Dey cool 👍

[@janaebert3059]

U mean Netflix?

[@wendten2]

THANK YOU! I just wasted 13:10 minutes of my life, waiting for a lightsaber duel that never came...

[@adamcarson75]

Mikael Wendt haha.that killed me

[@ShadaOfAllThings]

This is the kind of shitposting we need

[@levishhunted7593]

*theatre

[@zombielijah]

"You are coming to have a collective experience of laughing together, crying together, holding your breath together to see what happens next"... Meanwhile in the Alamo Drafthouse: you whisper something to a friend right next to you during an action scene and the staff are already descending from the rafters to read you your rights so they don't have to kick you out for disrupting someone on a power trip two rows behind you.

[@sacha6757]

It's not only America dude, speak for the world please

[@kgolaganopodile3505]

His context is American. I think it would have been strange if he claimed to speak for the entire world when that is not his context

[@Shadowstray]

I heard theater did a lot for the US democracy. Just ask Lincoln.

[@Rolroorlo]

Why nobody goes to the theater...

[@EnCey2]

What if we filmed the theater and showed it in several buildings so more people could watch it? Ah, rats, now it's a movie so it's not essential to democracy. Other forms of modern entertainment/communication probably aren't essential to democracy either, only the theater is. Only the theater provides the necessary lack of involvement of the audience that a movie can never hope to attain, thus differentiating it from movies that show a fixed plot over and over again on a big screen. The theater, on the other hand, takes us on a magical journey through a fixed plot played by human actors, contrary to the movies, which sometimes use non-democratic CGI effects in addition to human actors.

[@robertadams3925]

Added to my cringe playlist.

[@TheNizoubizou]

democracy lost it's meaning, it's just an empty shell, a word used to just smooth talk.

[@MrRishik123]

2:06 Too bad both Left wing SJW's and right wing SJW's dont want to hear the other side at all.

[@Miranox2]

What they have in common is dogmatic beliefs and dogma cannot tolerate dissent. What is truly harmful is when the mainstream media supports these people.

[@MrRishik123]

sometimes it scares me how people never seem to learn from history.

[@ShadaOfAllThings]

>Right Wing Social Justice Warrior Do you know what words mean?

[@ShadaOfAllThings]

I know that's what he's doing but this is exactly the reason why Politics is so fucked in America, because people are equating things that have no reason to ever be equated.

[@lilcolgatevert3715]

Right wingers have a somewhere around the same number of SJW's as the left does

[@JustOneAsbesto]

Two ideas happened in the same place and time THEREFORE THEY'RE THE SAME. What a dingleberry.

[@landenellis2998]

i do NOT enjoy this

[@ntomatas1]

Theater is overrated

[@Jackmerius_Tacktheritrix5733]

It really isn’t Oskar. Your hobby just isn’t that important

[@KnThSelf2ThSelfBTrue]

Theatre is so expensive to produce, that it is often necessarily presented from an aristocratic point of view.

[@chorgin]

Theater?!? haha.. oh wait you're serious let me laugh even harder AAAHAHAHA!!!

[@GuitarZombie]

Arts are not needed

[@arheru]

GuitarZombie Nope, not if you only need your body to survive. Have fun with that!

[@Cosmicweirdo96]

Well 2500 years would disagree with you

[@captainobvious6857]

I don't agree. Pull funding for the arts immediately. We need productive people. Not dreamers of dreams

[@earlaweese]

*It's not necessary for human life to exist, though. You're talking about a so-called political system... not humanity in general.*