UCSD - University of California - San Diego

05/04/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 05/04/2026 18:58

Live Performance Breaks the Digital Blur — and Reconnects You

Published Date

May 04, 2026

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There's something about live theatre that demands your full attention. It could be an emotional monologue that brings tears to your eyes. Or a riveting dance sequence so synchronous that you're hypnotized.

Des McAnuff describes the performing arts as both ephemeral and timeless - a uniquely powerful way to bring people together in a moment that can't ever be replicated. A two-time Tony Award-winning director, McAnuff has dedicated his life's career to storytelling on stages around the world, including serving as artistic director of La Jolla Playhouse for over two decades, helping lead its revival and growth as a major regional theatre. He returned to the university last fall as the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Distinguished Professor of Practice in UC San Diego's Department of Theatre and Dance.

This spring, McAnuff is leading a free public lecture series. On May 8 he will explore the origins of theatre production at UC San Diego, starting with the founding of La Jolla Playhouse in 1947 by Hollywood stars Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer. And on May 13, McAnuff will delve into one of his favorite works by Shakespeare: "Macbeth." He has directed the play three times - in 1983, 1989 and 2009 - each one an exercise in evaluating personal values.

The series is already underway, with the first lecture focused on the art of live performance. In the following conversation, McAnuff reflects on those ideas and expands on themes that will carry through the talks to come.

What is it about theatre's fleeting, live existence that makes it such a powerful art form?

For centuries, physical works of art-paintings and sculptures-had been created for kings, dukes and wealthy patrons. The technologies that enabled wider distribution were labor-intensive, such as hand copying or casting. Interestingly, theater is less subject to such limitations because it exists only when being shared by artists and audiences.

The fact that theatre and dance are living arts, with no permanent embodiment in marble, bronze or canvas, gives them extraordinary freedom. During any given afternoon in the late 16th century, fully a tenth of London could be found watching a play by Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Kyd or William Shakespeare. As theater artists, we take pure information - the 400-year-old words of a Shakespearean text, for instance - and use it to create something new and alive that exists here and now, and that lasts only for the duration of the performance. That makes it precious.

What has changed in how we think about the future and what we leave behind?

Something has happened to our notion of posterity. I think our attitude began to shift in the 1940s with the advent of the atomic bomb, when the idea of a long-term human future was no longer guaranteed. Since then, a shadow of uncertainty has hung over the future, and we've begun to reexamine the value of life itself. We've started to think more about living in the present.

This has been compounded by the arrival of the digital age. We've taken a quantum leap with the advent of the internet, which enables words, images and sounds to be shared with vast numbers of people instantly - thousands of times more than those gathered at a theater in 1600. The digital age has made immediacy possible as never before. With the world's worth of digital distraction available at our fingertips, live performance is more important than ever. It's created in the present and endlessly reinvented with each new production and each new performance.

How has theatre production evolved as technology becomes more sophisticated?

Compared to film or digital media, theatre can feel slow, even conservative. Over the centuries, theatre artists have resisted change - for instance, audiences opposed moving performance indoors in the early 17th century, and there was resistance to moving from candles to gaslight and artificial lighting. Yet all of these technologies have eventually been adopted.

Today, artificial intelligence can control lighting systems, enhancing traditional backlit set pieces. New color scrollers allow us to infuse nearly any color imaginable into a scene. Some have even begun to experiment with using AI for playwriting. But I don't believe it will ever replace live performers; it is, at best, a simulation.

What makes live performance such a powerful way to bring people together?

You witness the human soul in flight during a live performance. You are sharing a real experience - a passage in your life - with an artist who is present in the flesh and going through that same passage with you. There have actually been studies that indicate the heartbeats of audiences fall into sync when they're watching a play; I find it hard to believe, but I like to think it's true.

Our presence affects the work being created. The performance only works if we as the audience agree to play our part as they play theirs. We are quite literally helping to shape the course of a production that can never be exactly replicated. It's a unique form of communion that depends on something irreducibly human: presence, mortality and shared experience. That is what gives it value.

What advice do you share with your students as they prepare for careers in theatre and dance?

Our mission, as theater artists, is to bring meaningful, transcendent experiences to people of all backgrounds - as often as we can. A successful career in the theatre requires bravery in the face of failure; ingenuity and resourcefulness; fortitude, with the ability to take criticism; and a strong sense of self.

The two pieces of advice I offer are to find your people and foster these relationships. The people sitting beside you in class, the peers you are working with on productions at UC San Diego, these are your future collaborators in the field. And secondly, become a perpetual student and continually develop your craft. Take a range of classes, even outside your area of interest - from acting and voice to combat and dance.

About the Department of Theatre and Dance

UC San Diego's Department of Theatre and Dance trains the next generation of artists and scholars to reimagine how we interpret the world through the performing arts. Through a rigorous, production-centered curriculum, students develop their craft across disciplines while working alongside distinguished faculty. Grounded in diverse traditions and approaches, the department fosters a collaborative community where emerging artists gain the skills and perspective to lead in the field.

Production of "The Rogues Trial" in winter 2025 in the Department of Theatre and Dance. Photo by Rich Soublet.
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