"What's possible when the arts belong to everybody?" That's the question that director Lear deBessonet and actor Brian Stokes Mitchell asked in their recent joint TED Talk, which was performed at the TED Conference 2024 in Vancouver this past April. 

The talk can be viewed in the official TED website here.

In the 15-minute speech, deBessonet, who is also Artistic Director of the Encores! series at New York City Center, discusses her work in bringing regular community members and professional actors together on the stage. And she talked about theatre as a way of building bridges in an increasingly isolated world, saying, "Loneliness is now an epidemic in our world, and the growing belief that we have nothing in common with people who believe differently from us, politically or religiously, is tearing our social fabric apart. Participating in something much bigger than yourself, working hard towards a shared good, this restores our sense of connection. And in the realm of the imagination, perhaps even behind feathers and sequins, what becomes visible is the divine spark in every human being and in our one collective humanity."

At the close of the talk, Tony Award winner Mitchell performed one of his signature songs, "The Impossible Dream," from the musical Man of La Mancha (with help from the audience). He was accompanied by Todd Almond and a marching band.

Of the experience, Mitchell tells Playbill that he's watched "hundreds" of TED Talks. To be able to help deliver one was a dream come true. "We were one of the last talks to go up at the convention, and it seemed to be a huge hit," says Mitchell. "Everybody was telling me, 'Oh my goodness, that was my favorite thing. That was really, really great.' And I found it interesting that at this conference where everybody's talking about computers and AI and satellites, what seemed to really resonate the most with people was this incredibly human connection that Lear talks about, and we got a chance to establish with the audience—they got to feel what she was talking about in her talk as well."

The talk is also part of deBessonet's Arts for EveryBody campaign. On July 27, artists, civic leaders, and community health providers in 18 cities and towns across America will simultaneously premiere an original work inspired by the phrase "No place like home," using the stories of their communities. The initiative is inspired by the 1936 Federal Theatre Project.  

At the annual TED Conference, experts in science, technology, entertainment, business, and more deliver short speeches on a variety of topics. Those talks are then posted online, as a way to spread new and innovative ideas. The 2024 conference speakers also included RuPaul Charles (of RuPaul's Drag Race), playwright David Finnigan, and musician Reggie Watts.