Steppenwolf Theatre Company Blog – Chicago Theater, World-Class Ensemble

Two deeply moving events occured this week. Chicago’ great storyteller, Studs Terkel, passed away on October 31st. And on November 4th, Chicagoan, Senator Barack Obama, became the President-elect of the United States of America. An ending and a beginning. For those of us whose lives have been touched by the words of both men, the synchronicity of these events is powerful.

Studs dedicated his life to providing a platform for the eloquence of the common man and woman to emerge. He was gloriously democratic in his regard for the spoken word: he interviewed the famous and the anonymous and he saw those stories existing on the same platform. Studs loved to talk and he loved to listen. He was interested. He trusted the word to be a powerful agent of compassion.

President-elect Barack Obama likewise, understands the power of speech. From the moment he addressed the audience at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, he galvanized a nation. His eloquence thrust him onto our national stage and marked him as a leader.

Speech matters. To whatever degree Mr. Obama’s critics have attempted to diminish his significance, his seriousness, his substance, by invoking a split between “speaking” and “doing,” they have failed to grasp that speaking IS doing. Speech is an action. Speech produces action.

Studs’ work is a testimony to the meaningfulness of the spoken word. In an interview about his work, Studs has spoken of the surprise that some of his interviewees experienced when they gave utterance to ideas they didn’t know they held. They found themselves in language, they knew themselves in story.

I think Barack Obama has had that impact on our country. He has given Americans a story of our national character that is both rooted in our history and aspirational about our future. We can surprise ourselves with the story we hold in our hearts–and we can dare to live up to ourselves.

The theater is dedicated to the action of speech. What happens on stage? People talk. They may pretend to slay one another, to make love to one another, to rush into battle, to jump off bridges, but what they actually do is talk to one another. It’s the realest thing we do on stage. We talk. When we do it right, we move our audience. We earn belief. We provoke thought. We might even provoke change in your lives. We might give you another view. We might start a way of thinking that surprises you and moves you, incrementally to change.

Speech is an action that matters. All hail two of Chicago’s beloved sons for demonstrating the power of the word to the world.

This entry was posted by Martha Lavey on Friday, November 7th, 2008 at 8:04 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.