Diane Paulus
Diane Paulus
Diane Marie Paulusis an American director of theater and opera who became Artistic Director of the American Repertory Theaterat Harvard University in 2009. Paulus was nominated for the Best Director Tony Award for her revival of Hair, and won the award in 2013 for her revival of Pippin. She has received the 2009 Harvard College Women’s Leadership Award and the Columbia University IAL Diamond Award...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDirector
CountryUnited States of America
art believe roots
Art cannot be looked at as an elite, sacred event anymore. It has to be embraced as an accessible, popular form, which is what I believe theater is at its roots.
parent theatre opera
Theatre and opera were always the twin kingdoms that I felt I had to conquer, because they were my parents' favorites.
art drama singing
Opera is the ultimate art form. It has singing and music and drama and dance and emotion and story.
america directors generations
My generation of director has no illusions that we are going to be fed and cared for by subsidized theater in America.
teaching class towns
I've gotten to the point that I don't even know what tomorrow brings. When I'm teaching, obviously I'm in town for the class every week.
beautiful gold sitting
I grew up with a beautiful gold harp sitting in our living room. My older sister played it.
directors answers feels
As a director, I never feel that I have the answers.
believe thinking ideas
The idea of making audiences feel like they matter, that the theatre matters, and that they're a partner in the event—that's what fuels me as a director . . . I believe it's actually radical to think about the audience.
creativity form
Creativity is a form of knowledge.
art computer depraved games nobody sit state technology
We're a depraved civilization. All this technology, all the computer games and the iPhones... nobody will sit for art anymore. What a dismaying state of humanity.
center civic classical england politics religion society theater
In Elizabethan England or classical Athens... theater was at the center of, not culture, but society and politics and religion and civic engagement. Those things have a different audience.
change music shakespeare tempo verse whether
Music is rhythm, and all theater is rhythm. It's about tempo and change and pulse, whether you're doing a verse play by Shakespeare or a musical.
asking audience bringing building community dialogue eat experience good people shot vegetables
You have to think about why you're asking an audience to come to the theater. It's not that they should come because it's good for them, because it's the vegetables that they should eat and the culture shot that they should get... It's about experience and building community and catalyzing dialogue and bringing people together.
auditions present rehearsal time whether
Being a director, whether you're in rehearsal or you're in auditions or you're in a creative meeting, is so much to me about being present in the moment. There's a sense of time stopping.