Natasha Tsakos' multimedia theatrical adventure

59,289 views ・ 2009-08-31

TED


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

00:18
I love theater.
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00:21
I love the idea that you can transform, become somebody else
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00:24
and look at life with a completely new perspective.
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00:27
I love the idea that people will sit in one room for a couple of hours and listen.
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00:35
The idea that in that room at that moment,
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00:37
everyone, regardless of their age, their gender, their race, their color, their religion,
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00:44
comes together.
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00:46
At that moment, we transcend space and time together.
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00:50
Theater awakens our senses and opens the door to our imagination.
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00:55
And our ability to imagine is what makes us explorers.
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00:58
Our ability to imagine makes us inventors and creators and unique.
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01:04
I was commissioned in 2003 to create an original show,
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01:09
and began developing "Upwake."
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01:12
"Upwake" tells the story of Zero,
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01:14
a modern-day business man, going to work with his life in a suitcase,
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01:18
stuck between dream and reality and not able to decipher the two.
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01:23
I wanted "Upwake" to have the same audiovisual qualities as a movie would.
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01:27
And I wanted to let my imagination run wild.
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01:30
So I began drawing the story that was moving in my head.
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01:38
If Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the author of "The Little Prince," were here,
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01:42
he would have drawn three holes inside that box
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01:44
and told you your sheep was inside.
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01:47
Because, if you look closely enough, things will begin to appear.
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01:50
This is not a box; these are the renderings of my imagination
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01:53
from head to paper to screen to life.
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01:57
In "Upwake" buildings wear suits, Zero tap dances on a giant keyboard,
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02:02
clones himself with a scanner, tames and whips the computer mice,
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02:06
sails away into dreamscape from a single piece of paper and launches into space.
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02:11
I wanted to create environments that moved and morphed like an illusionist.
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02:15
Go from one world to another in a second.
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02:18
I wanted to have humor, beauty, simplicity and complexity
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02:23
and use metaphors to suggest ideas.
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02:25
At the beginning of the show, for example, Zero deejays dream and reality.
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02:31
Technology is an instrument that allowed me to manifest my visions
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02:35
in high definition, live, on stage.
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02:38
So today, I would like to talk to you about the relationship
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between theater and technology.
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02:45
Let's start with technology.
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02:48
(Fuse blowing)
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02:52
All right. Let's start with theater.
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02:55
(Laughter)
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03:19
(Buzzing)
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03:29
(Click, click, bang)
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03:58
(Laughter)
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05:50
(Applause)
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05:56
Thank you.
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05:58
"Upwake" lasts 52 minutes and 54 seconds.
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06:02
I project 3D animation on all the four surfaces of the stage
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06:06
which I interact with.
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06:09
The use of animation and projection was a process of discovery.
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06:12
I didn't use it as a special effect, but as a partner on stage.
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06:17
There are no special effects in "Upwake," no artifice.
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06:20
It's as lavish and intricate as it is simple and minimal.
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06:25
Three hundred and forty-four frames, four and a half years and commissions later,
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06:30
what started as a one person show became a collaborative work
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06:34
of nineteen most talented artists.
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06:36
And here are some excerpts.
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09:22
(Applause)
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09:27
Thank you.
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09:29
So this is, relatively, a new show that we're now beginning to tour.
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09:32
And in Austin, Texas,
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09:34
I was asked to give small demonstrations in schools during the afternoon.
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09:37
When I arrived at one of the schools, I certainly did not expect this:
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09:42
Six hundred kids, packed in a gymnasium, waiting.
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09:45
I was a little nervous performing without animation, costume -- really -- and make-up.
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But the teachers came to me afterward and told me
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09:53
they hadn't seen the kids that attentive.
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09:55
And I think the reason why is that I was able to use their language and their reality
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09:59
in order to transport them into another.
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10:03
Something happened along the way.
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10:05
Zero became a person and not just a character in a play.
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10:08
Zero does not speak, is neither man nor woman.
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10:12
Zero is Zero, a little hero of the 21st Century,
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10:16
and Zero can touch so many more people than I possibly could.
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10:21
It's as much about bringing new disciplines inside this box
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10:25
as it is about taking theater out of its box.
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10:30
As a street performer, I have learned that everybody wants to connect.
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10:33
And that usually, if you're a bit extraordinary, if you're not exactly of human appearance,
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10:38
then people will feel inclined to participate and to feel out loud.
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10:42
It's as though you made something resonate within them.
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10:45
It's as though the mystery of the person they're interacting with and connecting
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10:49
allows them to be themselves just a bit more.
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10:52
Because through your mask, they let theirs go.
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10:55
Being human is an art form.
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10:58
I know theater can improve the quality of people's lives,
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11:00
and I know theater can heal.
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11:02
I've worked as a doctor clown in a hospital for two years.
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11:05
I have seen sick kids and sad parents and doctors
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11:08
be lifted and transported in moments of pure joy.
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11:11
I know theater unites us.
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11:14
Zero wants to engage the generation of today and tomorrow,
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11:18
tell various stories through different mediums.
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11:22
Comic books. Quantum physics video games.
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11:25
And Zero wants to go to the moon.
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11:27
In 2007, Zero launched a green campaign,
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11:29
suggesting his friends and fans to turn off their electricity
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11:33
every Sunday from 7:53 to 8:00 p.m.
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11:36
The idea is simple, basic. It's not original,
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11:40
but it's important, and it's important to participate.
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12:30
There is a revolution.
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12:33
It's a human and technological revolution.
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12:36
It's motion and emotion.
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12:38
It's information.
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12:40
It's visual. It's musical. It's sensorial.
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12:43
It's conceptual. It's universal. It's beyond words and numbers.
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12:46
It's happening.
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12:48
The natural progression of science and art
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12:50
finding each other to better touch and define the human experience.
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12:55
There is a revolution in the way that we think,
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12:57
in the way that we share, and the way that we express our stories,
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13:02
our evolution.
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13:05
This is a time of communication, connection and creative collaboration.
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13:11
Charlie Chaplin innovated motion pictures
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13:15
and told stories through music, silence, humor and poetry.
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13:23
He was social, and his character, The Tramp, spoke to millions.
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13:28
He gave entertainment, pleasure and relief to so many human beings
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13:34
when they needed it the most.
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13:37
We are not here to question the possible; we are here to challenge the impossible.
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13:43
In the science of today, we become artists.
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13:46
In the art of today, we become scientists.
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13:50
We design our world. We invent possibilities.
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13:54
We teach, touch and move.
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13:59
It is now that we can use the diversity of our talents
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14:02
to create intelligent, meaningful and extraordinary work. It's now.
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14:09
(Ringing)
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14:12
Thank you.
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14:14
(Applause)
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