As a kid, Curt Columbus was the kind of kid who other kids didn’t play with. Glasses, chubby, comic books. But then he got the chance to play the lead in the Scottish Play (I won’t even type the name since I’m sitting in a theatre), and it turned everything around. He sees the theatre as a democratic space. He said that in 500 BC, theatre and democracy were born in Athens. They used the theatre to explore how they were organized as a society.
Fast forward to Shakespeare’s time. Once again, we needed the theatre to help us explore how we organize ourselves: he looked at flawed monarchs, examined the system from within the system. The theatre was an active space: the audience was noisy, in dialogue with the action on the stage, sometimes even throwing things.
Our society is getting more and more isolated (go to the gym, wear an iPod, watch close-captioned TV), and it’s hurting democracy. “The theatre is a possibility for a democratic space… The television doesn’t know you exist.” In the theatre, ideas are presented, and you respond to them. He explains the parallels between our society’s response to global warming and The Cherry Orchard, which they are currently presenting at Trinity; the audience should ask why the characters in the play don’t do anything to stop what’s happening to them.
Walt Mossberg asked him about the cost of the theatre, guessing that 70% of the population can’t afford it. Curt responded that the cost is even more (you have to leave the house, get a baby sitter, pay for parking; he and Walt compared that to Netflix or movies over iTunes). Curt pointed out that Broadway, Vegas, etc. are not a democratic spaces. He then described how Trinity is making the theatre more accessible to kids, and offering $20 flat pricing on tickets.