How theater weathers wars, outlasts empires and survives pandemics | Cara Greene Epstein

28,478 views ・ 2021-03-16

TED


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:00
Transcriber:
0
0
7000
00:13
"O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention,
1
13371
4833
00:18
a kingdom for a stage, princes to act
2
18246
2542
00:20
and monarchs to behold the swelling scene!”
3
20829
3334
00:24
Though, to be totally honest,
4
24163
1583
00:25
right now, I'd settle for a real school day,
5
25788
2458
00:28
a night out
6
28246
1208
00:29
and a hug from a friend.
7
29496
1958
00:32
I do have to admit that Wrigley Field does make a pretty awesome stage, though.
8
32329
3875
00:36
The words that I spoke at the beginning, "O for a Muse of fire," et cetera,
9
36704
3792
00:40
are Shakespeare's.
10
40538
1208
00:41
He wrote them as the opening to his play "Henry V,"
11
41746
2666
00:44
and they're are also quite likely the first words ever spoken
12
44454
2958
00:47
on the stage of the Globe Theater in London, when it opened in 1599.
13
47454
3792
00:52
The Globe would go on to become the home for most of Shakespeare's work,
14
52829
3458
00:56
and from what I hear,
15
56287
1167
00:57
that Shakespeare guy was pretty popular.
16
57496
1958
00:59
But despite his popularity, just four years later, in 1603,
17
59496
2791
01:02
The Globe would close for an extended period of time
18
62329
2458
01:04
in order to prevent the spreading and resurgence of the bubonic plague.
19
64787
3834
01:08
In fact, from 1603 to 1613,
20
68621
2333
01:10
all of the theaters in London were closed on and off again
21
70996
3041
01:14
for an astonishing 78 months.
22
74037
2459
01:17
Here in Chicago, in 2016,
23
77038
2833
01:19
new theaters were opening as well.
24
79871
1625
01:22
The Steppenwolf had just opened its 1,700 theater space.
25
82079
3084
01:25
The Goodman, down in the Loop,
26
85163
1458
01:26
had just opened its new Center for Education and Engagement.
27
86663
2833
01:29
And the Chicago Shakespeare Theater had just started construction
28
89496
3083
01:32
on its newest theater space, The Yard.
29
92579
1875
01:34
Today, all of those theaters,
30
94496
1542
01:36
as well as the homes of over 250 other theater companies across Chicago,
31
96038
4458
01:40
are closed due to COVID-19.
32
100538
2458
01:42
From Broadway to LA, theaters are dark,
33
102996
1917
01:44
and we don't know when or if the lights are ever going to come on again.
34
104954
3709
01:49
That means that tens of thousands of theater artists are out of work,
35
109996
3958
01:53
from actors and directors
36
113954
1917
01:55
to stage managers, set builders, costume designers ...
37
115913
3625
02:00
It's not like it's an easy time to go wait tables.
38
120329
2667
02:03
It's a hard time for the theater,
39
123954
2292
02:06
and it's a hard time for the world.
40
126246
1750
02:09
But while theaters may be dark,
41
129163
2000
02:11
theater as an art form has the potential to shine a light
42
131163
3125
02:14
on how we can process and use this time apart
43
134288
3458
02:17
to build a brighter, more equitable, healthier future together.
44
137746
4542
02:22
Theater is the oldest art form we humans have.
45
142288
2750
02:25
We know that the Greeks were writing plays as early as the fifth century BC,
46
145538
4166
02:29
but theater goes back before that.
47
149746
2333
02:32
It goes back before we learned to write,
48
152079
1959
02:34
to call-and-response around fires.
49
154038
1750
02:35
and -- who knows? -- maybe before we learn to build fire itself.
50
155829
3292
02:39
Theater has outlasted empires, weathered wars and survived plagues.
51
159621
4250
02:43
In the early 1600s, theaters were closed over 60 percent of the time in London,
52
163913
4458
02:48
and that's still looked at as one of the most fertile and innovative
53
168371
3250
02:51
periods of time in Western theater history.
54
171621
2042
02:53
The plays that were written then are still performed today over 400 years later.
55
173663
4166
02:58
Unfortunately, in the early 1600s,
56
178913
2875
03:01
a different plague was making its way across the ocean,
57
181788
3291
03:05
and it hit the shores of what would be called "America" in 1619,
58
185079
3834
03:08
when the first slave ships landed in Jamestown, Virginia.
59
188913
3041
03:12
Racism is an ongoing plague in America.
60
192621
3000
03:15
But many of us in the theater like to think we're not infected
61
195621
3083
03:18
or that we are at worst asymptomatic.
62
198746
2375
03:21
But the truth is, our symptoms have been glaring onstage and off.
63
201579
3875
03:26
We have the opportunity to use this intermission caused by one plague
64
206079
3459
03:29
to work to cure another.
65
209579
1667
03:31
We can champion a theater that marches, protests, burns, builds.
66
211246
4833
03:36
We can reimagine the way our theaters and institutions work
67
216121
3167
03:39
to make them more reflective and just.
68
219288
2083
03:41
We can make this one of the most innovative and transformative
69
221371
3500
03:44
periods of time in Western theater history,
70
224871
2458
03:47
one that we are still learning about and celebrating 400 years from now.
71
227329
4042
03:53
What we embody in the theater can be embodied in the world.
72
233038
3708
03:56
Why?
73
236788
1333
03:58
Because theater is an essential service.
74
238121
2583
04:00
And what I mean by that is that theater is in service
75
240746
3333
04:04
to that which is essential about ourselves:
76
244121
3208
04:07
love, anger, rage, joy, despair, hope.
77
247329
3792
04:11
Theater not only shows us the breadth and depth of human emotions,
78
251663
3750
04:15
it allows us to experience catharsis,
79
255413
2833
04:18
to feel our feelings and rather than ignore or compartmentalize them,
80
258288
3833
04:22
move through them to discover what's on the other side.
81
262163
2916
04:27
Now, many art forms connect us to our emotions,
82
267121
2792
04:29
but what makes the theater unique is that it reveals us to ourselves onstage
83
269954
5709
04:35
so that we can see that our lives are about our relationships
84
275704
3167
04:38
and our connections to others --
85
278871
2083
04:40
to our parents, to our children,
86
280954
2167
04:43
to our teachers, to our tormentors, to our lovers, to our friends.
87
283163
3750
04:46
What we do when we engage with theater
88
286913
2000
04:48
is we experience in real time, in real space,
89
288954
3084
04:52
those relationships and connections changing in the present --
90
292038
3708
04:55
the relationships between characters onstage, yes,
91
295788
2375
04:58
but also the relationships between characters and the audience
92
298163
3500
05:01
and the relationships between audience members themselves.
93
301663
3125
05:05
We go to the theater because we seek connection.
94
305454
3000
05:09
And when we're in the theater, our hearts beat as one.
95
309746
2875
05:13
That's not a metaphor.
96
313954
1250
05:15
Our hearts race together, they're soothed together,
97
315204
2875
05:18
we breathe together.
98
318079
2042
05:20
Ay, there's the rub.
99
320746
1417
05:23
Who knows when we're going to be able to be together again in the same space,
100
323788
3791
05:27
breathing in the same air, breathing in the same experience?
101
327579
2834
05:31
Who knows when we're going to want to be?
102
331496
2458
05:33
We are holding our breath.
103
333954
2667
05:38
Luckily, theater doesn't just have to happen in theaters.
104
338871
4083
05:42
As theater practitioners,
105
342996
1167
05:44
we know some of the most important work we do happens offstage,
106
344204
3084
05:47
in rehearsal spaces, garage spaces, studio apartments.
107
347288
4416
05:51
At the beginning of this talk, I wished for a kingdom for a stage, princes to act
108
351746
4292
05:56
and monarchs to watch the show.
109
356038
1500
05:57
But the truth is, none of that is necessary.
110
357579
2792
06:00
In fact, some of the most important theater I make
111
360371
3792
06:04
happens on Monday mornings in an empty hospital meeting room
112
364163
3541
06:07
with just a handful of folks,
113
367704
1459
06:09
and only two of us are theater artists.
114
369204
1875
06:11
The Memory Ensemble, as we call ourselves,
115
371746
2208
06:13
is a collaboration between the Lookingglass Theatre
116
373996
2750
06:16
and Northwestern's Center for Cognitive Neurology
117
376746
2667
06:19
and Alzheimer's Disease Research.
118
379413
2166
06:21
We begin each session with a mantra:
119
381579
2792
06:24
"I am a creative person.
120
384413
1750
06:26
When I feel anxious or uncertain,
121
386204
2334
06:28
I can stop, breathe, observe
122
388579
3375
06:31
and use my imagination."
123
391954
1875
06:34
Anyone else feeling anxious or uncertain right now?
124
394788
2958
06:38
Let's say it together.
125
398663
1666
06:40
I am a creative person.
126
400829
2084
06:42
When I feel anxious or uncertain,
127
402913
3166
06:46
I can stop,
128
406079
1209
06:48
breathe,
129
408246
1500
06:49
observe
130
409746
1583
06:51
and use my imagination.
131
411329
1792
06:53
Let's look at the first part of that statement:
132
413954
2209
06:56
I am a creative person.
133
416163
1583
06:58
Many of us have been taught
134
418329
1375
06:59
that creativity is a talent only some of us have,
135
419704
2667
07:02
a skill reserved for artists,
136
422413
3250
07:05
inventors, big thinkers,
137
425704
2042
07:08
that it's not something for regular people with quote, unquote real jobs.
138
428579
3750
07:12
But that's not true.
139
432996
1625
07:14
All humans are innately creative.
140
434621
2208
07:16
It's part of what makes us human.
141
436829
2167
07:19
And if there was ever a time for us to exercise our creativity, it's now --
142
439038
4083
07:23
not to solve or fix our anxiety and uncertainty,
143
443121
3375
07:26
but to learn from it and to move through it.
144
446496
2792
07:29
So the first step is to stop.
145
449954
2334
07:33
That's harder than it sounds;
146
453496
1708
07:35
busy is a coping mechanism that we use
147
455913
2500
07:38
to deal with our anxiety and uncertainty,
148
458454
3000
07:41
and our society is addicted to it.
149
461496
2333
07:43
So we find ourselves making all the TikToks,
150
463829
3209
07:47
baking all the bread,
151
467038
1833
07:48
taking all the Zoom meetings.
152
468913
1875
07:51
Maybe you've even seen that meme
153
471746
1583
07:53
about how Shakespeare wrote "King Lear" during his pandemic,
154
473371
3667
07:57
which I think is supposed to inspire us,
155
477038
1916
07:58
but instead just makes us feel guilty
156
478996
1792
08:00
that we're not creating our own masterpieces right now,
157
480788
2666
08:03
you know, in addition to taking care of our children
158
483496
2667
08:06
or our parents or our students,
159
486204
1625
08:07
our patients, our clients, our customers, our friends,
160
487829
2917
08:10
ourselves.
161
490746
1292
08:12
So A, screw that guilt;
162
492704
2084
08:14
and B, that's, like, the opposite of what "King Lear" is actually about.
163
494829
4334
08:19
Towards the end of Lear, one of the main characters, Edgar, says,
164
499204
3792
08:22
"The weight of this sad time we must obey;
165
502996
3042
08:26
speak what we feel, not what we ought to say."
166
506079
3334
08:30
The lesson of Lear is not about pushing or producing
167
510788
2958
08:33
or doing what you think you should do.
168
513746
1875
08:35
The lesson of Lear is about stopping
169
515621
2292
08:37
and taking the time to appreciate who and what you have in your life
170
517913
4041
08:41
and discover who you want to be while you have it.
171
521954
2667
08:47
We're at an intermission,
172
527121
1625
08:48
and intermissions are important,
173
528787
1542
08:50
because they give ourselves the opportunity to take care of ourselves
174
530329
3333
08:53
physically and emotionally:
175
533662
1292
08:54
go to the bathroom, get a snack, get a drink
176
534996
2458
08:57
and also take a moment to feel the weight of what just happened onstage,
177
537496
4041
09:01
maybe begin to process any emotions that that brought up.
178
541579
2958
09:05
I reached out to my community of artists,
179
545329
1958
09:07
and I asked them what plays were speaking to them
180
547329
2375
09:09
and helping them process this time.
181
549704
2000
09:12
Many of the characters in the plays they sent
182
552371
2208
09:14
don't share my lived experience.
183
554579
2333
09:16
And I think their words are important to hear.
184
556912
2417
09:19
My friend Jeremy sent me a monologue by Sarah Ruhl from her "Melancholy Play."
185
559371
4750
09:24
In it, the character is talking about how she's feeling, and she says,
186
564162
4250
09:28
"It's this feeling that you want to love strangers,
187
568412
3209
09:31
that you want to kiss the man at the post office
188
571621
2541
09:34
or the woman at the dry cleaners.
189
574162
1750
09:35
You want to wrap your arms around life, life itself, but you can't.
190
575912
4417
09:40
And so this feeling wells up in you,
191
580329
2292
09:42
and there's nowhere to put this great happiness,
192
582662
2250
09:44
and you're floating, and then you fall.
193
584912
2500
09:48
And you,
194
588662
1459
09:50
you feel unbearably sad,
195
590162
1792
09:53
and you have to go lie down on the couch."
196
593329
2375
09:58
I've felt that monologue a lot during this pandemic.
197
598246
2875
10:01
Sometimes I feel this great happiness,
198
601621
2458
10:04
and sometimes I have to go lie down on the couch.
199
604079
2292
10:07
My theater practice teaches me that both are OK.
200
607121
2916
10:10
We stop so that we can feel our feelings instead of covering them.
201
610954
4750
10:16
Next, we breathe.
202
616537
1875
10:21
When we inhale,
203
621746
1458
10:23
we give ourselves the opportunity to breathe in the present moment
204
623246
4250
10:27
and be aware of what's happening right now inside of us, as well as outside of us.
205
627496
4583
10:32
When we exhale,
206
632121
1291
10:34
we allow ourselves to release the moment
207
634204
2125
10:36
so that we can be present for the next one and the next one
208
636371
2958
10:39
and the next one.
209
639329
1208
10:41
When we feel anxious or uncertain, we tend to hold our breath.
210
641371
3958
10:45
We're scared about what's going to happen next,
211
645329
2250
10:47
and so we hold onto what's happening right now,
212
647579
2417
10:50
which prevents movement, which keeps us stuck.
213
650037
2500
10:53
Far from helping us, holding our breath holds us back.
214
653621
3000
10:57
So we stop.
215
657329
1625
10:58
We breathe.
216
658996
1458
11:00
And then we observe:
217
660454
2083
11:02
What's happening around us?
218
662537
1917
11:05
How do we feel about that?
219
665162
1750
11:07
My friends Greg and Kanisha
220
667621
2083
11:09
told me that I should watch the play "Pipeline" by Dominique Morisseau.
221
669746
3750
11:13
At the beginning of the play,
222
673537
1417
11:14
maybe the character has been onstage for a minute.
223
674996
2375
11:17
Omari turns to his girlfriend, and he says that he’s just, like modestly,
224
677412
4417
11:21
without intentions, just observing.
225
681829
2208
11:24
And his girlfriend says, "What you gotta be observing for?"
226
684037
3167
11:27
And Omari says, "To take in my surroundings, learn the world,
227
687662
4417
11:32
not be just tied up in my own existence and nothing else."
228
692079
3250
11:36
That observation is the key
229
696496
2166
11:38
to unlocking our empathy and our curiosity about the world
230
698662
3542
11:42
and igniting our imagination about how we can make it even better.
231
702204
3458
11:46
My friend Jazmin introduced me to the play "Marisol" by José Rivera.
232
706162
3542
11:50
And in it, the guardian angel is talking to Marisol, and she says,
233
710079
3958
11:55
"I don't expect you to understand
234
715246
1875
11:57
the political ins and outs of what's going on.
235
717162
2792
11:59
But you have eyes.
236
719996
2833
12:02
You've asked me questions about children and water
237
722829
3000
12:05
and war and the moon,
238
725871
1750
12:07
questions I've been asking myself for a thousand years.
239
727662
3584
12:11
The universal body is sick, Marisol.
240
731287
3209
12:14
The constellations are wasting away.
241
734912
1875
12:16
The nauseous stars are full of blisters and sores.
242
736787
3125
12:19
The infected earth is running a temperature
243
739954
2667
12:22
and everywhere, the universal mind is wracked with amnesia, boredom
244
742662
5542
12:28
and neurotic obsessions."
245
748246
1708
12:30
Sound familiar?
246
750704
1333
12:32
We stop.
247
752871
1291
12:34
We breathe.
248
754204
1208
12:35
We observe.
249
755454
1167
12:37
And we use our observations to imagine a world that is fiercer, braver,
250
757537
4084
12:41
more beautiful.
251
761621
1416
12:44
We use our imaginations to create something new
252
764871
3958
12:48
based on our connections to the world and ourselves.
253
768871
3291
12:54
One of the things that I know is this:
254
774704
2083
12:57
there's always been a certain amount of uncertainty in the theater,
255
777371
3500
13:01
but this is the most anxious and uncertain we've ever been in my lifetime.
256
781496
3833
13:05
In order to move forward, there's going to have to be a lot of change.
257
785746
4500
13:10
Luckily, all great theater provides the opportunity for transformation.
258
790246
5208
13:16
We can use this intermission to stop, breathe, observe,
259
796329
4750
13:21
and use our imaginations to create a more beautiful world onstage and off,
260
801079
4083
13:25
one that is more equitable,
261
805162
1709
13:26
more reflective
262
806912
1167
13:28
and more just.
263
808079
1458
13:30
As Prior says at the end of Tony Kushner’s masterpiece about the AIDS epidemic,
264
810704
4125
13:34
"Angels in America,"
265
814871
1291
13:37
"I'm almost done.
266
817287
1292
13:38
The fountain's not flowing now,
267
818579
2083
13:40
they turn it off in the winter, ice in the pipes.
268
820662
2625
13:43
But in the summer, it is a sight to see. I want to be here to see it.
269
823287
3750
13:47
I plan to be.
270
827037
1375
13:49
I hope to be.
271
829246
1500
13:52
This disease will be the end of many of us,
272
832246
2083
13:54
but not nearly all,
273
834371
1166
13:55
and the dead will be commemorated, and they will struggle on with the living,
274
835579
3667
13:59
and we are not going away.
275
839287
1875
14:01
We won't die secret deaths anymore.
276
841204
1917
14:03
The world only spins forward.
277
843162
2459
14:05
We will be citizens.
278
845621
1250
14:06
The time has come. Bye, now.
279
846871
2625
14:09
You are fabulous creatures, each and every one.
280
849912
2375
14:12
And I bless you:
281
852329
1875
14:14
more life.
282
854204
1250
14:16
The great work begins."
283
856496
2083
14:20
The theater has weathered wars,
284
860412
1834
14:22
outlasted empires
285
862287
1167
14:23
and survived plagues.
286
863454
1792
14:25
It'll continue.
287
865287
1459
14:26
I don't know how or when or what it'll look like,
288
866746
3291
14:30
but it will.
289
870037
1167
14:31
And so will we,
290
871246
1500
14:32
as long as we do the essential work of staying connected
291
872787
3417
14:36
to that which is essential about ourselves,
292
876246
2166
14:38
our communities
293
878454
1250
14:39
and our world.
294
879746
1125
14:42
The great work begins.
295
882162
1500
14:45
Thank you.
296
885371
1208
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7