Why theater is essential to democracy | Oskar Eustis

翻译人员: psjmz mz 校对人员: Lark Yu

Theater matters because democracy matters.

剧院很重要，因为民主很重要。

Theater is the essential art form of democracy,

剧院是民主根本的艺术形式，

and we know this because they were born in the same city.

而我们知道这一点， 是因为它们诞生于同一座城。

In the late 6th century BC,

在公元前六世纪下半叶，

the idea of Western democracy was born.

西方民主思想诞生了。

It was, of course,

当然，它仍是

a very partial and flawed democracy,

一种非常局限和有瑕疵的民主，

but the idea that power should stem from the consent of the governed,

但权力应源自于被统治者的同意，

that power should flow from below to above,

以及权力的流动方向应自下而上，

not the other way around,

而非由上而下，

was born in that decade.

这种观念就在那十年里诞生。

And in that same decade, somebody -- legend has it, somebody named Thespis --

就在这十年里，某人—— 传说，他叫泰斯庇斯（Thespis）——

invented the idea of dialogue.

发明了 “对话” 这一概念。

What does that mean, to invent dialogue?

“发明对话”是什么意思呢？

Well, we know that the Festival of Dionysus gathered

大家知道，在酒神节庆典那天

the entire citizenry of Athens

雅典城所有公民都会聚集在

on the side of the Acropolis,

卫城的一侧，

and they would listen to music, they would watch dancing,

他们会听音乐，看舞蹈，

and they would have stories told as part of the Festival of Dionysus.

他们还会讲故事， 这也是酒神节的一部分。

And storytelling is much like what's happening right now:

讲故事和此刻的情形如出一辙：

I'm standing up here,

我站在这里，

the unitary authority,

权威聚焦于我，

and I am talking to you.

我在对你们说话。

And you are sitting back, and you are receiving what I have to say.

你们坐着，接收我要说的内容。

And you may disagree with it, you may think I'm an insufferable fool,

你或许不同意我说的内容， 可能你觉得我是十足的笨蛋，

you may be bored to death,

你可能觉得无聊透顶，

but that dialogue is mostly taking place inside your own head.

这种对话大部分都是 只发生在你的脑海中。

But what happens if, instead of me talking to you --

但如果不是我说你听，会发生什么？

and Thespis thought of this --

这就是泰斯庇斯想出来的——

I just shift 90 degrees to the left,

我只要左转 90 度，

and I talk to another person onstage with me?

我对台上的另一个人讲话？

Everything changes,

一切就改变了，

because at that moment, I'm not the possessor of truth;

因为就在那一刻，我不是真理持有者；

I'm a guy with an opinion.

我只是一个有自己主张的人。

And I'm talking to somebody else.

我正在和其他人对话。

And you know what?

你知道吗？

That other person has an opinion too,

另一个人也有他自己的观点，

and it's drama, remember, conflict -- they disagree with me.

这就是戏剧，记住， 冲突——他们意见与我相左。

There's a conflict between two points of view.

两种观点之间有碰撞。

And the thesis of that is that the truth can only emerge

观点碰撞的要义在于真理只能在

in the conflict of different points of view.

不同观点的碰撞中产生。

It's not the possession of any one person.

真理不属于任何一个人。

And if you believe in democracy, you have to believe that.

如果你相信民主，你就必须相信这点。

If you don't believe that, you're an autocrat

如果你不相信民主，你就是一个

who is putting up with democracy.

正在忍受民主的独裁者。

But that's the basic thesis of democracy,

但那是民主的基本论点，

that the conflict of different points of views leads to the truth.

不同观点的冲突会带来真相。

What's the other thing that's happening?

还发生了什么事情呢？

I'm not asking you to sit back and listen to me.

我并没有让你们坐着听我说。

I'm asking you to lean forward

我想让你们身体前倾，

and imagine my point of view --

想象我的观点——

what this looks like and feels like to me as a character.

当我是个角色的时候， 看起来以及感觉起来就是如此。

And then I'm asking you to switch your mind

然后请你转变视角，

and imagine what it feels like to the other person talking.

去想象和另一个人说话时的感受。

I'm asking you to exercise empathy.

我请你们调动同理心。

And the idea that truth comes from the collision of different ideas

真理来自不同想法碰撞的观念

and the emotional muscle of empathy

以及同理情感肌

are the necessary tools for democratic citizenship.

都是民主公民权所必要的工具。

What else happens?

还会发生什么？

The third thing really is you,

会发生的第三件事其实就是你，

is the community itself, is the audience.

是共同体本身，是观众。

And you know from personal experience that when you go to the movies,

就个人经验而言，当你去看电影时，

you walk into a movie theater, and if it's empty, you're delighted,

走进影院，发现影厅中没人， 你会很欣喜，

because nothing's going to be between you and the movie.

因为在你和电影之间没有任何阻隔。

You can spread out, put your legs over the top of the stadium seats,

你可以全身舒展开来、 把腿放到前排座位靠背上，

eat your popcorn and just enjoy it.

吃着你的爆米花，好好享受。

But if you walk into a live theater

但如果你走进一个现场演出的剧院，

and you see that the theater is half full,

而且你看到观众席已坐满了大半，

your heart sinks.

你的心会沉下来，

You're disappointed immediately,

你立马就有点失望，

because whether you knew it or not,

因为不管你意识到与否，

you were coming to that theater

你去到了那间剧场

to be part of an audience.

成为观众的一员。

You were coming to have the collective experience

你是来获得一个集体的体验，

of laughing together, crying together, holding your breath together

大家一起欢笑，一起哭泣， 一起屏气凝神

to see what's going to happen next.

期待着接下来会发生什么。

You may have walked into that theater as an individual consumer,

你走进剧场时是一个独立的个体，

but if the theater does its job,

但如果剧院有做好它的工作，

you've walked out with a sense of yourself as part of a whole,

当你走出剧院时， 你会觉得自己就是整体的一部分，

as part of a community.

共同体的一部分。

That's built into the DNA of my art form.

这是内建在我艺术形式的基因中。

Twenty-five hundred years later, Joe Papp decided

2500 年后， 乔·帕普（Joe Papp） 决定，

that the culture should belong to everybody in the United States of America,

文化应当属于美国的每一个人，

and that it was his job to try to deliver on that promise.

而他的使命是实现这个承诺。

He created Free Shakespeare in the Park.

他创建了中央公园莎士比亚剧院。

And Free Shakespeare in the Park is based on a very simple idea,

公园里的免费莎士比亚剧院 基于一个简单的想法，

the idea that the best theater, the best art that we can produce,

这个想法就是：最好的剧院， 我们可以创作的最好艺术，

should go to everybody and belong to everybody,

应当走近每一个人， 并且属于每一个人。

and to this day,

直至今天，

every summer night in Central Park,

在中央公园的每个夏日夜晚，

2,000 people are lining up

会有 2000 人排队，

to see the best theater we can provide for free.

去看我们免费提供的最好的戏剧。

It's not a commercial transaction.

这并不是某种商业演出。

In 1967, 13 years after he figured that out,

1967 年，在他想出 免费戏剧表演的 13 年之后，

he figured out something else,

他感悟到一些别的东西，

which is that the democratic circle was not complete

那就是只把经典赋予人们，

by just giving the people the classics.

还不足以让民主圆圈完整。

We had to actually let the people create their own classics

我们必须要让人民创造他们自己的经典，

and take the stage.

并呈现到舞台上。

And so in 1967,

所以，在 1967 年，

Joe opened the Public Theater downtown on Astor Place,

乔在市中心阿斯托广场 开设了一家公共剧院，

and the first show he ever produced was the world premiere of "Hair."

他创作的首场演出是 《毛发》的全球首演。

That's the first thing he ever did that wasn't Shakespeare.

这也是他第一次做 莎士比亚戏剧以外的剧作。

Clive Barnes in The Times said that it was as if Mr. Papp took a broom

《纽约时报》的克莱夫·巴恩斯 （Clive Barnes）报道称，

这就好像帕普拿着扫帚

and swept up all the refuse from the East Village streets

把所有拒绝从东村街道 统统扫到公共剧院的舞台。

onto the stage at the Public.

(Laughter)

（笑声）

He didn't mean it complimentarily,

他这话并非赞美，

but Joe put it up in the lobby, he was so proud of it.

但是乔把这篇报道陈列在大厅， 并为之自豪

(Laughter) (Applause)

（笑声）（掌声）

And what the Public Theater did over the next years with amazing shows like

公共剧场在接下来几年上演的好剧有

"For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf,"

《为考虑自杀的有色女孩 / 彩虹艳尽半边天》

"A Chorus Line,"

《歌舞线上》，

and -- here's the most extraordinary example I can think of:

以及我能想到的最非凡的剧目：

Larry Kramer's savage cry of rage about the AIDS crisis,

拉里·克雷默（Larry Kramer） 对艾滋病危机的愤怒之声，

"The Normal Heart."

《平常心》。

Because when Joe produced that play in 1985,

因为在 1985 年，当乔制作那部剧时，

there was more information about AIDS

《纽约时报》的弗兰克·瑞奇 （Frank Rich）评论文章中

in Frank Rich's review in the New York Times

有关艾滋病的信息，

than the New York Times had published in the previous four years.

比《纽约时报》 前四年的报道总和还要多。

Larry was actually changing the dialogue about AIDS

拉里其实是通过写剧本改变了

through writing this play,

有关艾滋病的对话，

and Joe was by producing it.

而乔则是制作人。

I was blessed to commission and work on Tony Kushner's "Angels in America,"

我有幸受托尼·库什纳（Tony Kushner） 委托为《天使在美国》工作，

and when doing that play and along with "Normal Heart,"

而在做那部剧以及创作《平常心》时，

we could see that the culture was actually shifting,

我们可以看到文化其实正在转变，

and it wasn't caused by the theater,

它并不是由剧院所引起，

but the theater was doing its part

但剧院在其中发挥了应有作用

to change what it meant to be gay in the United States.

改变了美国同性恋带来的文化冲突。

And I'm incredibly proud of that.

我为此深感自豪。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

When I took over Joe's old job at the Public in 2005,

在 2005 年，当我接替乔 在公共剧院的工作时，

I realized one of the problems we had was a victim of our own success,

我意识到其中有个问题是 我们是自己成功的牺牲品，

which is: Shakespeare in the Park had been founded as a program for access,

那就是：中央公园莎士比亚戏剧 本是为让人们接近戏剧而建立的，

and it was now the hardest ticket to get in New York City.

现在却成为纽约城最难买到的票。

People slept out for two nights to get those tickets.

人们风餐露宿两天只为买到门票。

What was that doing?

意义何在？

That was eliminating 98 percent of the population

这就会让剩下 98% 的人群没有机会

from even considering going to it.

考虑去观看。

So we refounded the mobile unit

所以我们重建了一个行动小组，

and took Shakespeare to prisons, to homeless shelters,

把莎士比亚戏剧带到监狱， 带到游民收容所，

to community centers in all five boroughs

所有五个区的社区中心，

and even in New Jersey and Westchester County.

甚至到了新泽西，还有威斯切斯特县。

And that program proved something to us that we knew intuitively:

这个项目证实了我们的直觉：

people's need for theater is as powerful as their desire for food

人们对剧院的需求简直如逢甘霖、

or for drink.

如饥似渴。

It's been an extraordinary success, and we've continued it.

这个计划获得了极大的成功， 我们也将继续下去。

And then there was yet another barrier that we realized we weren't crossing,

然而，我们发现还有 另一个障碍没有跨越，

which is a barrier of participation.

这个障碍就是参与度。

And the idea, we said, is:

我们的想法就是：

How can we turn theater from being a commodity, an object,

我们如何能把戏剧从商品、物品

back into what it really is --

还原回其本质——

a set of relationships among people?

一组人与人之间的关系？

And under the guidance of the amazing Lear deBessonet,

在里尔·德贝森内特（Lear deBessonet） 了不起的指导下，

we started the Public Works program,

我们开启了《公共作品》项目，

which now every summer produces

现在，每年夏天都会上演

these immense Shakespearean musical pageants,

莎士比亚的音乐剧盛会，

where Tony Award-winning actors and musicians

在盛会上，托尼奖获奖演员和音乐家

are side by side with nannies and domestic workers

会与保姆和当地的工人，

and military veterans and recently incarcerated prisoners,

退伍军人和刚出狱的囚犯，

amateurs and professionals,

业余爱好者和专业人士，

performing together on the same stage.

一起同台演出。

And it's not just a great social program,

这不仅仅是一个伟大的社会项目，

it's the best art that we do.

这还是我们做过的最佳的艺术。

And the thesis of it is that artistry is not something

其核心要义是艺术性

that is the possession of a few.

不是少数人的专利。

Artistry is inherent in being a human being.

艺术性人类与生俱来。

Some of us just get to spend a lot more of our lives practicing it.

有些人只是花费更多的时间 在练习它们而已。

And then occasionally --

然后，机缘巧合——

(Applause)

（掌声）

you get a miracle like "Hamilton,"

就会出现奇迹，像是《汉密尔顿》，

Lin-Manuel's extraordinary retelling of the foundational story of this country

林-马努埃尔（Lin-Manuel） 对这个国家建国故事的非凡讲述，

through the eyes of the only Founding Father who was a bastard immigrant orphan

通过开国先驱的视角来呈现， 而他是来自西印度群岛的孤儿

from the West Indies.

是一位移民的私生子。

And what Lin was doing

而林所做的事情，

is exactly what Shakespeare was doing.

也正是莎士比亚所做的事情。

He was taking the voice of the people, the language of the people,

他是在用人民的声音，人民的语言，

elevating it into verse,

提炼升华成诗，

and by doing so,

这样做，

ennobling the language

让语言变得高贵，

and ennobling the people who spoke the language.

让语言使用者变得高贵。

And by casting that show entirely with a cast of black and brown people,

让黑人和棕色皮肤表演此剧，

what Lin was saying to us,

林要告诉我们的是，

he was reviving in us

他正在激发我们，

our greatest aspirations for the United States,

对美国最热忱的期望，

our better angels of America,

我们更好的美国天使，

our sense of what this country could be,

这个国家成就的自豪感，

the inclusion that was at the heart of the American Dream.

也包括美国梦的核心。

And it unleashed a wave of patriotism in me

它激起了我和观众们的

and in our audience,

爱国热情，

the appetite for which is proving to be insatiable.

可以证明人们的口味永远难以满足。

But there was another side to that, and it's where I want to end,

但另一方面与此相反， 我也想就此作为结束，

and it's the last story I want to talk about.

最后我想说一个故事。

Some of you may have heard that Vice President-elect Pence

你们有些人可能听说 要当选副总统的彭斯

came to see "Hamilton" in New York.

来纽约看《汉密尔顿》。

And when he came in, some of my fellow New Yorkers booed him.

当他进来的时候， 我们一些纽约人对他发出嘘声。

And beautifully, he said,

他却漂亮地回应到：

"That's what freedom sounds like."

“那就是自由的声音”。

And at the end of the show,

在演出结束后，

we read what I feel was a very respectful statement from the stage,

我们读到了我认为是 非常值得尊敬的一番陈述，

and Vice President-elect Pence listened to it,

而副总统彭斯也在场听了它，

but it sparked a certain amount of outrage, a tweetstorm,

但却引发了某些愤怒，一场推特风暴，

and also an internet boycott of "Hamilton"

还有一场针对《汉密尔顿》的 网络抵制活动，

from outraged people who had felt we had treated him with disrespect.

发起者是愤怒的群众， 他们认为我们不够尊重他。

I looked at that boycott and I said, we're getting something wrong here.

我审视着那次抵制并表示，我说， 我们一定有什么地方出了差错。

All of these people who have signed this boycott petition,

所有签署抵制请愿书的人，

they were never going to see "Hamilton" anyway.

反正他们从未想过去看《汉密尔顿》。

It was never going to come to a city near them.

该剧也从来没有前往 他们邻近城市去演出。

If it could come, they couldn't afford a ticket,

就算有，他们也买不起票，

and if they could afford a ticket, they didn't have the connections

即便买得起票，他们也没有渠道

to get that ticket.

获取相应门票。

They weren't boycotting us;

不是他们抵制我们；

we had boycotted them.

而是我们先抵制了他们。

And if you look at the red and blue electoral map of the United States,

如果你看一下美国的红蓝选举地图，

and if I were to tell you,

如果我告诉你们，

"Oh, the blue is what designates

“哦，蓝色部分标识出

all of the major nonprofit cultural institutions,"

所有的主要非盈利文化机构”，

I'd be telling you the truth.

我告诉大家真相。

You'd believe me.

大家要相信我。

We in the culture have done exactly what the economy,

我们在文化中所做的正如经济，

what the educational system, what technology has done,

教育系统，科技所做的那样，

which is turn our back on a large part of the country.

那就是背弃了这个国家中的大多数人。

So this idea of inclusion, it has to keep going.

因此包容的概念，需要继续。

Next fall, we are sending out on tour

明年秋天，我们想要展开一场巡演，

a production of Lynn Nottage's brilliant, Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Sweat."

才华横溢的林恩·诺塔奇（Lynn Nottage） 普利策奖的获奖作品《汗水》。

Years of research in Redding, Pennsylvania led her to write this play

她花了数年时间 在宾夕法尼亚州的雷丁市做研究，

about the deindustrialization of Pennsylvania:

写下了有关宾州去工业化的戏剧：

what happened when steel left,

当钢铁工业没落会发生什么，

the rage that was unleashed,

愤怒情绪被释放，

the tensions that were unleashed,

局势因此变得紧张，

the racism that was unleashed

种族主义开始抬头。

by the loss of jobs.

均由失业所导致。

We're taking that play and we're touring it

我们带着那部戏剧巡演至

to rural counties in Pennsylvania,

宾夕法尼亚州的偏远乡村，

Ohio, Michigan,

俄亥俄州、密歇根州，

Minnesota and Wisconsin.

明尼苏达州和威斯康星州。

We're partnering with community organizations there to try and make sure

我们与当地的社区组织合作，

not only that we reach the people that we're trying to reach,

以确保我们不仅能够触及 我们想要触及的人群，

but that we find ways to listen to them back

同时，也能找到方法倾听他们的声音，

and say, "The culture is here for you, too."

对他们说：“文化也为你而来”。

Because --

因为——

(Applause)

（掌声）

we in the culture industry,

我们这些在文化产业的人，

we in the theater,

我们在剧院内部的人，

have no right to say that we don't know what our job is.

没权利说我们不知道我们的职责。

It's in the DNA of our art form.

它深植在我们艺术形式的基因中。

Our job "... is to hold up, as 'twere, a mirror to nature;

我们的职责：“是持镜照自然。

to show scorn her image,

让忽视看见她的形象，

to show virtue her appearance,

让美德看见她的外表，

and the very age its form and pressure."

让这个时代见证她的形式和压力“。

Our job is to try to hold up a vision to America

我们的职责是撑起美国的愿景，

that shows not only who all of us are individually,

这个愿景呈现的不仅是 我们每个独立的个体，

but that welds us back into the commonality that we need to be,

同时，它将我们重新融入了 我们需要的共同体中，

the sense of unity,

团结感，

the sense of whole,

集体感，

the sense of who we are as a country.

我们身为一个国家的感受，

That's what the theater is supposed to do,

那是剧院应当要做的事情，

and that's what we need to try to do as well as we can.

那些都是我们应尽力而为， 且力所能及的事。

Thank you very much.

非常感谢大家。

(Applause)

（掌声）