Storytime with Guy Mendilow (Celebrity Series of Boston) 3/5
As a lead-up to the premiere of An evening of Musical Tales, Celebrity Series of Boston released a series of interview snapshots with Guy Mendilow.
Storytime with Guy Mendilow 3/5:
Why look to stories of real people in other moments of history?
I look to the past not because of some sort of mystical pre-ordainment that history will repeat itself. That is a myth. I look to the past to understand patterns and tendencies. What MIGHT happen, when certain conditions align? What are the principles that would allow us to recognize those patterns, when circumstances shift?
I believe we can look to the past out of inspiration that, like a scientist, we can design more informed experiments based on data from previous trials. This data suggests where to direct attention, which variables matter more, what may be just noise. And finally I look to these stories to better understand my assumptions, to ask better questions, because the more I look to the past, the more I realize that individuals’ choices have often played important roles in shaping what we’ve come to call history.