You may have heard his TED Talk — about theater being essential to democracy? That would be Oskar Eustis, the head of New York Public Theater and, as such, the man who essentially greenlit “Hamilton.”

He is the guest speaker at the 2018 Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Awards on Dec. 10, and he is a man whose missions includes one begun by his predecessor at the NY Public, Joe Papp — to make theater available and affordable, and in the case of “Sweat,” to take it on the road.

The play about the impact of steel’s downfall and its impact on workers in Reading, Pa., now at Pittsburgh Public Theater, had its roots in Mr. Eustis’ company. He recently sent it out on the road, to be performed in churches, libraries, community centers, wherever they were welcomed — from Erie and Crawford County’s Meadville to Wisconsin, where the performance at the Viroqua Area Rotary Club was attended by club members and Native Americans.

“No one talked about the play or the acting,” recalled Mr. Eustis, who attended many of the performances.” It was all about the issues and what it felt like when they lost their jobs … This conversation went on and on. It was just beautiful.”

Mr. Eustis said he was excited to see what Marya Sea Kaminski will bring to Pittsburgh’s Public as its new artistic director, having collaborated with her on projects while she was at Seattle Rep.

“I have a huge belief in her skills and values,” he said. “She’s a great organizer.”

As for “Hamilton,” well, he doesn’t shy away from talking about its success, although he admits it’s probably a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Maybe twice, as far as his company is concerned. Another Pulitzer and Tony winner, “A Chorus Line,” helped launch New York Public Theater 40 years ago.

“Hamilton,” though, is a level of success that theater makers can only dream about.

“As near as we can tell, nothing like ‘Hamilton’ has ever happened before,” he said. “It could be the most successful show in American history … but it’s much more than the money thing that’s extraordinary — it’s the first time I can think of that the soundtrack of a staged musical has become the soundtrack for the entire country. It’s not just something for theater people. Children who know nothing about theater are singing the entire score.”

He told a story that summed up his personal experience with “Hamilton.” Mr. Eustis is a theater historian and someone who believes deeply, to his bones, that “theater is essential for democracy,” which is the title of his well-known TED Talk.

A few weeks into the run of “Hamilton” at the New York Public, before it moved uptown to Broadway’s Richard Rodgers Theatre, there was a waiting list for celebrities and politicians. And suddenly Dick and Lynne Cheney’s names had risen to the top. Only Mr. Eustis knew this, and he is not a fan of the former vice president. But he put aside his feelings, did the democratic thing, and tickets were issued to the Cheneys.

“And then they went out and announced that they loved it, and I thought, ‘I must be doing something wrong.’ “

So he did what he always does in such cases. “I called my ‘rabbi,’ Tony Kushner,” he said of the writer of “Angels in America,” among other seminal works. “He said that I had misunderstood, that this was a fantastic response. They were positively responding, emotionally and humanly, to something that contradicts their own ideology. And that’s how theater can transform people.”

He believes Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical, which will be at the Benedum Center starting Jan. 1, is changing the world.

“I think ‘Hamilton’ is going to end up having a very real impact in the sense of people of color and immigrants being seen as the owners of the American dream,” he said. “In its simplest form, there’s the [diverse] casting, but it’s also the appropriation of hip-hop, rap, R&B, all at the core of the storytelling and not the periphery. That’s ‘Hamilton’ at its best.”

The Carol R. Brown Creative Arts Awards are at City Theatre, 1300 Bingham St., South Side. 5:30-9 p.m. Monday, Dec. 10. Tickets are free. Register at: eventbrite.com.

Sharon Eberson: seberson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1960. Twitter: @SEberson_pg. Sign up for the PG performing arts newsletter Behind the Curtain at Newsletter Preferences.

First Published: December 5, 2018, 6:08 p.m.